An exam fiasco involving the distribution of mask is unfolding in Scotland, with students taking to the streets to complain about the unfair system that was used to award marks to them. The government has, however, defended the marks awarded.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, has continued to defend a controversial exam grading system developed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority(SQA). The exam fiasco created by the system, however, has far more reaching political consequences, with criticism growing on how the marks were distributed to students.
Due to the spread of coronavirus in the country, the schools had to shut down and students had to continue with their learning from home. Sitting for exams became impossible, as it would have involved students returning back to schools, which posed a challenge since the virus was still spreading across the country.
Exam fiasco
Therefore, the country decided to give teachers the ability to grade the students according to their perceived students’ performance. However, when the teachers submitted their results to the exam board, a new formula, which the students and teachers were not told about beforehand was used in grading students’ exams.
The result of the new SQA formula was a total exam fiasco, with students’ grades being downgraded. The results that were submitted to the exam board had an 85 percent success rate. The final results that students received had been reduced, with an estimated 90 percent of students getting their grades lowered.
Unequal attainment gaps
However, that was not the most controversial thing about this reduction. Teachers would later find out that, for students who lived in poorer backgrounds, the grade reduction was more significant than students from rich neighborhoods.
Data showed students from poor backgrounds had their results reduced up to 15.2 percent between the teachers’ estimates and the final results. However, for richer students, their grades were only reduced by 6.9 percent.
Students took to the streets to demonstrate the poor distribution of the exam marks, complaining that the grades were issued based on the postcodes of students. They said that the results gave an edge to students from rich backgrounds, highlighting the continuous attainment gap that exists between the poor and the rich students in the country.
While addressing the exam fiasco, Sturgeon said that students would be given an opportunity to appeal to their results. However, many parents and students felt that this would not have been necessary if the government had done its job right. They also criticized her government for the handling of the exam fiasco issue, which its end does not seem on sight.
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