Higher appeals

[Parrish]

Hearing from lots of schools round here (Edinburgh) that there were not many successful Higher appeals this year. Despite what the SQA promised teachers and pupils earlier in the year, they seem to have messed up again or lied. Prelim results and school
assessments have not been taken into account in the way the SQA said they would. On emailing them regarding our situation, I was told “tough luck” in not so many words and there’s no further appeal. I didn’t even think the SQA were still working in the same way and were disbanded after 2021. Another exam fiasco affecting our covid kids.

Yes, my 6th year DD said she doesn't know anyone at her school who had their appeal upheld - and a couple got high As in 2 sets of prelims so teachers thought it was a sure thing. Awarded B in exam.

A colleagues daughter found out yesterday she got her grade moved from B to A but again all her friends stayed the same.

Very disappointing for them because the teachers spent so much time gathering and submitting evidence. They were lead to believe it was straightforward to get grade increased.
Once again the procedure was not worth the paper it was written on.

DD reported similar - East Dunbartonshire. She was no personally affected but lots of her S6 group had appealed H grades and had them refused.

The SQA really is a pile of shit, isn't it?

My daughter was unsuccessful in her appeal (Fife) despite the school fully supporting it. She's very upset about it all. Can't believe that yet again the SQA say one thing and do another though why I'm surprised by that I've no idea.

My DD went from a D to a B in Higher Mods but as she left, we have no idea how others got on. That's Aberdeenshire and not very helpful, I know!

There is a petition.
amd apparently teachers are approaching their union to organise a freedom of information request about the appeals process this year.

I think you're allowed to post them on another board:

Petitions and activism

I was going to start a post about this thank you.

my child’s appeal was not successful. Had an A in prelim, got a B band 3 in exam - higher English. School made appeal.

I am so disappointed as would have made such a difference to their confidence in themselves for s6 and for chances of getting into university.

I think it is so poor from the SQA as that guidance they posted out to all candidates (presumably at great expense) just BEFORE they sat their exams, certainly seemed to give the impression that if there was evidence through prelim grade and course work that a successful appeal was possible.

It just seems like such a huge waste of time for schools and SQA staff and why put candidates through that when this group have already had a difficult time in the key stage of their education.

I am very interested in an FOI to find out how many appeals were actually successful.

piggplumpie that is great for your daughter pleased that someone got a successful appeal at least!

Ds appealed his AH Physics and was unsucessful. He is disappointed.

The SQA said they would look at school evidence and exam evidence during an appeal. I can only assume the school evidence in conjunction with his exam performance was not strong enough to warrant an upgrade.

What did the SQA say they would do that they didnt? Successful appeals were never guaranteed.

More would have appealed this year and therefore more would be unsucessful and disappointed. But it is the right thing to get grade inflation under control to show the differention between pupils achievements.

Ds screwed up his exam, he got his right to appeal. He needs to own that now.

Several of DD's friends appealed. We don't know anyone who was successful.

When they turn it down are sqa effectively saying that the standard that school marked as an A in prelim, coursework etc is not an A standard?

@Tig33
**
I am very interested in an FOI to find out how many appeals were actually successful.

SQA publishes 2022 appeals outcomes

11% of grades were appealed. 30% were upgraded.

Thank you survey99. That is interesting 30% seems quite reasonable actually.

My understanding was that the schools would only make an appeal if they felt the evidence was strong enough so guess there is a difference between what schools consider to be strong enough evidence and what the SQA does.

They had no knowledge of learners’ exam grades or estimates and assessed the evidence provided by schools and colleges against national standards

From the link. They didnt look at the schools grade, they looked at the alternative evidence/pupils answers and determined it didnt support an A against national standards.

That could be because the evidence didnt cover enough of the course, wasn't challenging enough or the pupil didn't achieve high enough marks in the "easier assessment" to warrant an A at national standards level.

Would be interesting to see when the prelims were taken for the rejected appeals - this is the reason our school uses for keeping the prelims to after Christmas- do them in December and you haven’t covered enough of the course.

Thank you, that makes sense @Survey99
I'm not sure that's quite how the DC understood it!

I can't see how the remarkers could have known the date of the evidence supplied. Nothing on the info sent in said this.
A vast VAST amount of extra work was generated for teachers because of these appeals. I can't speak for other schools but I know the quality of evidence some colleagues submitted but didn't get the appeal.
Has anyone heard of appeals leading to a downgrade?

Ds was similar, thought the schools grade would be a slot in. But he read what he wanted to see. If schools grades were to be slotted in what would have been the point of exams? It validates those that did achieve this year that there has been a more robust appeals process where evidence was independently assessed.

Ds didnt do as well as he/we expected for his AHs. It doesn't mean the school or exam process was at fault.

The people doing the remark would certainly have known the marks given as they were given marked scripts - so the marks were on them. We had to specify the strength of evidence involved too - just from looking at the evidence a marker could not always tell this, how "blind" the test was etc.

The appeal process was also supposed to take into account the fact that so many school students missed so much class time last year due to catching covid. The autumn term was terrible for not having people in class.
Sooner the SQA are gone the better. It's rare to hear a teacher who rates them highly.

Appeals Summary 2022

17,300 appeal requests (29.8%) resulted in an upgrade and fewer than five (less than 0.05%) resulted in a downgrade. The remainder of requests resulted in no change.

Thanks, Survey

I appealed two for my students - both were upheld and got their As. It was their folios that made the difference and it was very obvious the marking has been dire. Apparently there had been some new (and clearly dreadful) folio markers this year.

My understanding is not that the evidence was 'marked' - rather that the re-markers looked at the set of evidence holistically and assigned it a grade. You could not assign a band, for example.

“A review of your alternative assessment evidence and SQA
coursework demonstrates a higher grade than the grade
on your certificate.
You will be awarded
the higher grade.”

this was the advice that the pupils were given before the exams started. My son did two sets of prelim assessments (graded B) and the school thought he had a case for a better grade so submitted his coursework. Nothing. And, in my correspondence with the SQA, they have acknowledged NO allowance has been made for covid absences or his additional support needs. I have written to my MP and signed the petition. Why the SQA are allowed to continue running the exam system for the benefit of the SQA and not the pupils is beyond me. (And the way I was talked to in the emails is something else…when the stock answer the SQA had prepped ran out and the mask slipped.)

My reading of the appeal guidance beforehand suggested to me that the appeals would go through if the teacher predicted grade was higher so I assumed that the vast majority would succeed. I’m shocked to see only 29.8% successful. My DDs Modern was upgraded from B(4) to an A, so presumably her prelim result (84%) plus coursework/assessments was sufficient evidence.
I see the same appeal system will be in place for next year but I’ve now emphasised to DD that she was lucky and she needs to put more work in.

@Poorlybynight I've been trying to find out what next year's system will be - can I ask where you got the info?