SQA chief executive Fiona Robertson and SQA director of qualifications Gill Stewart about to face questions at @SP_EduSkills. FR making opening statement. Thread starts here. @TesScotland @tes @Emma_Seith #SQa #SQAresults #resultsday2020
Fiona Robertson: Historic school attainment had to form part of the moderation process but other factors also considered. "Schools and colleges were not seen as postcodes at all," she says.
Fiona Robertson: SQA was ready for higher volume of appeals and there has been "misreporting" around that.
Fiona Robertson: Important to emphasise "the value we placed on teacher estimates".
Fiona Robertson: Acknowledges that, especially in this year's circumstances, moderation felt "very impersonal" to young people. She very much appears to be defending the SQA's approach.
Fiona Robertson: "SQA delivered on the Scottish government's initial requirements." She says SQA is "an organisation of integrity".
Deputy @SP_EduSkills convener @DJohnsonMSP tells Fiona Robertson it is "unfortunate" that she began with a 15-minute defence of the SQA's processes.
SQA had discussions with small number of schools that had "anomalous" results, and this would have formed parts of appeals process, says Fiona Robertson.
Johnson suggest that SQA broke the link between "individual learner performance and the grade they finally received".
SQA qualifications director Gill Stewart: "We did test out our methodology on a number of occasions."
Now @jamiegreeneUK asks SQA if it will say sorry, given John Swinney+Nicola Sturgeon had. Fiona Robertson says it was "very difficult" to see reactions to results and "I regret how young people have felt", but she had also been contacted by students pleased about their results.
Who signed off on methodology that disproportionately downgraded students from more deprived areas, asks Greene. Gill Stewart says process was completely anonymised so no opportunity for bias. Also on methodology, Robertson says "equality duties" were fulfilled.
Greene presses on who takes ultimate responsibility for how results process was handled. Fiona Robertson says SQA "fulfilled our role" in the way it was asked to do by government in March.
Fiona Robertson: "This wasn't about taking grades off young people, this was about achieving fairness."
Next up @alasdairallan asks if system flagged up situations where students fell by a number of grades when "contentious algorithms" were applied. Fiona Robertson says despite emphasis on historic attainment "the approach that we took allowed for some flexibility".
Allan presses on whether system could flag up outliers eg students who went from an A to a C. Robertson says SQA approach "sought to minimise as far as possible those multi-grade changes"; some media reporting mentioned moved from A to F, even though no F grade in Scotland.
Robertson says she understands that getting a C when expecting an A would have "felt like a tough result".
Now @Ross_Greer gives example of outstanding maths student who ended up with a D at Advanced Higher - did methodology make it impossible for him to get an A because school did not have a track record of such high attainment? Robertson says "it should be possible".
Greer asks if an SQA statistician resigned during moderation process; Robertson confirms that this happened. Greer asks if this was statistician resigned because of moderation process; Robertson suggests not appropriate to go into details.
We now have @GailRossSNP asking about the 9,000 grades that were moderated upwards+how this could affect, for example, progression from N5 to Higher, meaning pupils may be presented for awards they're not ready for. Robertson says it's right that moderation does not only go 1 way
Could SQA have done more to communicate the moderation process, asks @BeatriceWishart. Robertson says there was "some good material" but she has to accept and reflect on it if "the perception is that we haven't done enough".
Anonymised data a "red herring" says @IainGrayMSP - point is that SQA signed off moderation system largely based on past performance, knowing pupils in schools with poorer past performance would be heavily impacted. "I wouldn't quite accept that characterisation," says Robertson.
Gray cites driving test analogy by leading statistician (see link) - point being that qualifications in Scotland are not truly moderated at a national level. Robertson doesn't accept that SQA didn't trust teacher estimates. tes.com/news/SQA-resul…
Gray says exams were cancelled on 19 March, then 30 July report given to John Swinney. But when did SQA sign off and begin moderation scheme? Robertson says she can follow up in writing, but approach was being finalised "well into July".
.@jhalcrojohnston asks if Robertson is comfortable with John Swinney decision y'day. SQA was consulted on decision, as legally required, says Robertson. Asked again if comfortable, she says: "I don't think we will be able to compare this year's results [to those in other years]."
The @SP_EduSkills warned SQA on 1 May that developing moderation "in secret" would "end in tears", says @AlexNeilMSP. Shouldn't SQA learn to listen to pupils, parents and teachers much more, he asks. "I think it has been a very challenging year for everyone," says Robertson.
Neil says issue not principle of moderation but lack of detail about moderation process used, and disproportionate effect on pupils in deprived areas. Will SQA undertake to put processes out in the open in future, he asks, adding "it cannot be done in secrecy ever again".
SQA's claim of taking a "child-centred approach" is disputed by @RonaMackayMSP, who asks for details and cites recent intervention of children's commissioner (see story below). Robertson gives examples such as work with Scottish Youth Parliament. tes.com/news/childrens…
Back to @Ross_Greer, who asks if concerns of Equalities and Human Rights Commission were satisfied. "To my knowledge, yes," says Robertson. @EHRCScotland
Session ends. Convener @ClareAdamsonSNP extends some sympathy to SQA staff, saying it "cannot have been easy" for them in past week or so. Story from @Emma_Seith to follow shortly. #SQAresults #SQA #resultsday2020
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