The Scottish government has U-turned on its decision to downgrade thousands of students’ exam results. Instead, pupils in Scotland who had their grades lowered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) will be able to rely on teacher assessments of their results, the Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney has announced.
The U-turn comes after Nicola Sturgeon was forced into a humiliating apology yesterday for her administration’s handling of the exam results fiasco, which saw pupils in Scotland’s most deprived areas have their pass rate downgraded by more than students in wealthier areas. According to the Scottish children’s commissioner, grades had been lowered by taking into account the historic performance of a child’s school – a policy that seemed to unfairly punish those in poor-performing schools who were doing unexpectedly well.
Around 125,000 Scottish students will now have their grades reviewed, and the national pass rate in Scotland will increase to levels dismissed by Nicola Sturgeon as ‘not credible’ last week.
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