The chief executive of the exams quango behind the controversial pupil grading system is to give evidence to a Holyrood committee.
Fiona Robertson of the Scottish Qualifications Authority will be asked to account for a new set up that has seen over 100,000 results downgraded.
The coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of this year’s exams for the first time in more than 100 years.
Final results were instead determined by a combination of teacher judgment and the SQA’s controversial "moderation" scheme.
About a quarter of all results – 133,000 – were adjusted, with more than 90% of these being changed downwards.
However, the moderation process involved past attainment data from schools, meaning that final results were influenced by the performance of pupils in previous years.
The Higher pass rate for pupils from the poorest areas dropped by 15.2% between teacher estimates and the final results, but only by 6.9% for pupils in the most affluent areas.
Calls have been made to scrap a system that has caused heartache to pupils and replace it with a ‘no detriment’ policy relating to prelims.
Holyrood’s Education and Skills Committee will take evidence from Robertson on Wednesday.
