The boss of Scotland's under-fire exams body has once again refused to apologise for the fiasco that saw thousands of pupils downgraded last year.
Fiona Robertson, chief executive of the taxpayer-funded Scottish Qualifications Authority, was asked in two separate interviews yesterday whether she would say sorry to the 125,000 young Scots who were caught up in the shambles - but refused to do so.
The traditional end-of-term exam diet for senior pupils was scrapped in 2020 for the first time in 130 years as schools were forced to close as a result of the pandemic.
A replacement system created by the SQA - which saw teacher estimates of pupil performance externally moderated - was scrapped by then education secretary John Swinney just hours after grades were issued last August following a massive public backlash.
Nicola Sturgeon apologised in parliament after claims the algorithm used by the SQA to award grades unfairly penalised pupils at schools which had not performed well in the past.
The Scottish Government subsequently announced the SQA would be scrapped.
Pupils sat in-class assessments this year and many already know their individual grades - but the overall performance of the system won't be known until next week.
Robertson defended the new system in an interview with BBC Scotland but again refused to apologise.
"I think I said at the time that obviously we regretted the circumstances in which we all found ourselves in," she said.
"We worked hard to ensure that the ministerial direction, which was to award teacher assessed grades, was delivered and in taking forward the approach this year that we worked very much with the system to ensure that grades were awarded reflecting the skills and achievements of young people."
In a separate interview with the Times Education Supplement, Robertson was pressed on whether she would apologise.
She said: “I think everyone working in Scotland in public services absolutely acknowledges the circumstances that people have found themselves in and have huge empathy around the challenges and the disruption to learning that young some young people have faced.
"But, as I said, there’s been a huge effort, right across the education system, including SQA, to ensure that young people get the awards that they deserve.”
Shirley-Anne Somerville, the new education secretary, has hinted the traditional exams system may be scrapped entirely after an international review of Scottish education found that pupils view them as boring.
Scottish Greens education spokesman Ross Greer said: “The SQA leadership’s refusal to apologise is symptomatic of the institutional arrogance at the top of the organisation.
"The education secretary and First Minister both apologised for their role in last year’s grading scandal, so it says a lot that one year on SQA managers still refuse to do so.
"The exams authority has acted like a law unto itself for too long; failing to listen to teachers and casually disregarding the views of young people even when their feedback has been asked for.
"Its replacement organisation must be show far more respect to those it exists to serve and support.
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