Education

The heart-breaking stories flooding social media yesterday, demonstrated a scandalous truth: that the life chances of many Scottish children are doomed, regardless of individual effort and ability. They evaporated the illusion of free will, the idea that through grit and determination you can transcend the disadvantages of multiple deprivation and poor schooling. 

The outcry has been predictable, from individual pupils and parents, politicians on all sides, and educationalists. The latter group warned months ago that the SQA moderation process was dodgy. Unlike the equivalent examining body in England, the SQA was allowed to hide its methodology from scrutiny, despite suggesting to the Scottish parliament that they would explain their methods and discuss adjustments with teachers. 

This morning, like many parents in Scotland, I was up early for results day. A few minutes after 8am, my daughter appeared to relay the news. But, something didn’t seem right. Instead of As, two of her results, for Physics and Computing Science, were Bs.

My mind went back to her last parent-teacher conference, just as the Coronavirus crisis was starting. Her Computing Science teacher was effusive in praise. ‘I’ll be recommending an A,’ he said.