Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 June 2021
I thank Mr Whitfield for that point, which it is key to put on record in the debate. Many of the subject-specific sets of guidance that the SQA produced were published only in December, just before we entered the period of remote learning. So, when pupils were in school—albeit in a disrupted way—during the August to December period, the teachers did not even know what the evidential requirements would be.
Telling those pupils that the assessments were not exams was not the only example of their being gaslighted during that process. We have been told that the model has been co-produced by young people, but both the SQA and the Government know that that simply is not the case. Cameron Garett MSYP said this morning:
“As the only young person who sits on”
the SQA’s
“NQ21 group and the only member representing young people, I have not had an equal input into discussions around the appeals process this year at NQ group meetings. Young people have been let down and ignored by this process.”
That was also the verdict of Liam Fowley MSYP, who sits on the education recovery group. He said:
“The appeals system announced today is simply not fit for purpose, it’s another example of young people being an afterthought. We’ve been tirelessly representing young people’s views and experiences for months - only for it to be ignored by the SQA. Young people have been let down.”
The Scottish Youth Parliament, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and others are clear that the process does not uphold young people’s rights. The SQA has not even given young people the opportunity to directly ask questions of it, despite parents—quite rightly—being given that opportunity.
Something can still be salvaged through the appeal process, at least. If the Government and the SQA can accept now, rather than in August, that they have called this one wrong, they can immediately develop a process for appeals that is based on exceptional individual circumstances and adopt a no-detriment policy to avoid young people having to take a perverse gamble if they decide to appeal. This is an opportunity for the Government to prove to young people and to teachers that it has eventually started to listen.
I move amendment S6M-00204.4, to leave out from “and welcomes” to end and insert:
“but regrets the additional stress and anxiety felt by students, teachers, parents and carers as a result of the 2021 Alternative Certification Model; believes that this could have largely been avoided had the SQA taken on board the conclusions of the Priestley review into the 2020 Alternative Certification Model, and more effectively prepared for the impact of COVID-19 in 2020-21; further believes that the 2021 appeals process should adopt a no-detriment policy and that provision should be made for appeals based on exceptional individual circumstances; notes with regret the repeated underperformance of the SQA, and expresses its lack of confidence in the body’s ability to fulfil its duties.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.
- S6M-00204.4 Education Motion