The SQA has now announced some details of how N5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications will be awarded this year when there will be no exams or marked coursework. It was clear pretty much instantly that lots of people were deeply concerned about what had been announced.

I asked if people could get in touch and let me know what they thought. And they did.

But first of all, let's try to translate the key parts of the SQA statement into normal language, since I've seen plenty of complaints about that too.

Translation: teacher will use the work their students have done AND what they know about them to estimate a grade that reflects their overall ability

Translation: teachers don't need to gather additional evidence for those estimates, nor do they have to mark the coursework that is now not being sent to the SQA

Translation: But we're not sure we can trust teachers' judgements about their pupils in the absence of exams and coursework, despite starting off by praising them.

Translation: So we're going to make teachers re-do estimates with even more bands for each grade, and then we're going to get them to rank their students

Translation: This will let us change teachers' estimates based on what happens in other schools and what has happened in previous years

Translation: We still haven't figure all this out entirely, so you'll have to wait for more info (which will come during the holidays) and teachers will need to re-do estimates already submitted.

Translation: This obviously means we'll have to revive the appeals system we killed off a few years ago but, again, we're not quite sure how. We'll get back to you.

So the key thing to note is this: although teachers know their students best, the grade that they predict might not be the one the SQA awards. Not because of a poor exam performance or weak coursework, but because of averaged data.

You don't need to think very hard to see how this is likely to create big problems.

So let's move on to what teachers told me. What follows is an anonymised summary of the main concerns, condensed for brevity (because it's already Friday night and I'm tired)

The first thing, and a major issue, is this - the SQA say schools don't have to collect more evidence but crucially haven't said they shouldn't.

One of the people who got in touch is a tutor who told me they've had an "influx of messages from parents asking me to write essays for their kids".

Messages like this one:

They say this isn’t necessarily a new thing but that they've had a huge increase.

But it's a problem that teachers getting in touch with me can also see coming:

Another (this one from a school serving a deprived area) sent me this

That teacher was also worried that some of their students who are borderline passes (but still passes) might end up being failed when all the data is averaged out. That sort of concern came up a lot.

In fact, lots of teachers were unhappy with the way in which the SQA plans to 'adjust' estimates.

One said:

They added:

Some of the criticism of the SQA went even further, with one department head saying: "I have no faith in the grades my kids will get despite our estimates and evidence."

They were worried that the averaging of data would mean that their current class, which is great, would be penalised by the poorer performance of previous cohorts. Again, a point made by several people, for example:

That teacher actually added that they are "highly unimpressed with these proposals" and "disgusted with the EIS for not defending teachers against them."

Another said: "The reality is there are candidates that are going to be short-changed" and that SQA plans "make a mockery of teacher judgement" and threaten to turn borderline pupils into "sacrificial lambs".

Another said simply that they don’t want "borderline kids who have worked really hard to be penalised because of a bell curve plan."

Forming estimates is also going to be an issue if coursework isn't effectively marked (for free) by teachers because, as one pointed out to me, without that information "we can't arrive at an accurate estimate."

I can explain this from my own subject - English. The folio - which apparently I don't need to collect or mark - represents 30% of the final grade, and a really good/bad one can have a big impact.

Grades in previous years have been directly affected by folios, so if I want to submit estimates that are accurate (both for my current students and in the context of averaged data) I'm going to need to see finished folios.

This problem was pointed out by teachers from a number of subjects at both Higher and National 5.

Finally, I got quite a few concerns about the pressure being put on teachers either by school leaders or parents. Some teachers report demands to have estimates in today when there wasn't any guidance for doing for - and they'll now have to be redone.

Another told me that they had already received emails from parents trying to pressure them into giving particular grades, an issue that seems to have been exacerbated by the way in which this has been handled by the SQA.

There may well be answers to some of this forthcoming, but that doesn’t help pupils, parents and teachers who are going into the Easter break facing significant anxiety and uncertainty.

Quite a few criticised the time it has taken for the SQA to get to this point as well as the fact that this was all announced the day before the break. "Their whole handling of this has been farcical" said one teacher.

Will a restored appeals system address some of it? It's going to have to, because the SQA is DEFINITELY going to have to be transparent about the number of teacher estimates they changed (and in what direction - how many were predicted to pass but were then failed).

There's no way they'll be able to prevent that data from becoming public and, as one dept head told me, every single instance of a prediction being changed based on stats and averages should be strongly challenged.

But that might take us back to inequality, because given the circumstances it is quite likely that pupils from more affluent backgrounds&schools serving more affluent catchments will be better able to utilise the appeals system than those from further down the social ladder.

What I would say to parents and pupils is that teachers will, as always, do absolutely everything they can to make sure students get what they deserve. But they're going to be put under huge pressure and there are still major grey areas.

And, to be frank, the system being proposed by the SQA looks very, very flawed.

As I've said, my personal view is that it would be better to award based on teacher judgements and offer a route for those unhappy with the estimate- either exams or submission of some work in August perhaps?

Not only would such a system err on the side of students (when what has been proposed seems to err on the side of statisticians) it might also mitigate any pressure on teachers to inflate estimates.

It would certainly be much easier to stand by a prediction that is lower than a student expects / needs / demands if a system is in place to let them prove they deserved better. Optional exams / submissions could achieve that.

It also seems that worries about "too many passes" are taking precedence over worries about some students failing when they shouldn't, but I think that's hugely misguided.

A student being failed when they shouldn't have been is having their options limited, perhaps for the rest of their life. A student getting a slightly better award than they might have deserved isn't as big a problem, particularly with circumstances taken into account.

But then again I don't worship at the altar of the Almighty Bell Curve.

@threadreaderapp unroll please