We expect parents, carers and learners to have lots of questions about how this year’s qualifications will be awarded given the challenges we are all facing with the pandemic.
Our earlier blog about the Alternative Certification Model for National 5, Higher, and Advanced Higher courses answers some of those questions, by setting out the timescales, roles, and responsibilities for four of the five stages of the awarding approach we will use this year.
We know of course that many people will want to know more about the fifth stage, the appeals process.
Appeals are a process for ensuring that young people can have confidence that they have been graded appropriately and the procedures that safeguard their assessment are in place and have been followed appropriately.
Today SQA has published a consultation asking for views on our proposed approach to appeals and how it might work.
The consultation outlines how we propose to make sure that fairness and equity are a central part of the appeals process this year. Importantly this includes young people having the ability to directly appeal their results and the appeals service being free of charge.
To get to this point, SQA has had discussions with a range of stakeholders. We want to hear from parents, carers and learners themselves, to inform our final proposals.
The consultation asks for your views on possible ways of managing appeals, with each needing involvement from schools, colleges, training providers and SQA in different ways and at different times.
The consultation is open until Friday 26 March, and the findings, and final appeals process will be published in early May. The consultation can be found here.
* The National Qualifications 2021 Group includes senior representation from the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES), Colleges Scotland, Education Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), School Leaders Scotland (SLS), the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS), Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), the Scottish Government, National Parent Forum of Scotland, and the Scottish Youth Parliament.
