Campaigning Benbecula school-girl name checked in Holyrood statement as Swinney u-turns on results

In his statement to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Swinney praised the North Uist school girl, Eva Peteranna, and thanked her, along with other campaigners, for the “passion and clarity they had brought to the discussions”.

In her letter last week to Mr Swinney, she had said that the experience of having her grades “knocked down so significantly” had not only made her “reconsider her career path”, it had made her “lose confidence” in herself.

She said that it was clear to her that her grades had been adjusted because she went to a school “which is classed as underperforming”, and concluded that the marking system had been “nothing but discriminatory and needs to be urgently investigated”.

The results moderation process had seen many children from schools in poor areas have their marks down-graded from their teachers’ recommendations on the basis that the marking system should, according to the Scottish Government, reflect the results of previous years to ensure that they had ‘credibility’.

Pupils who had seen their grades marked up in the moderation process will, however, retain the higher mark awarded.

Eva had seen the grade for one of her Highers turned from her teacher’s recommended grade C to an F in the moderation process, but after Mr Swinney’s announcement in Holyrood, that will now be restored to the higher grade given by her teacher.

Earlier this week First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Our concern - which was to make sure that the grades young people got were as valid as those they would have got in any other year - perhaps led us to think too much about the the overall system and not enough about the individual pupil”, and added that “despite our best intentions, I do acknowledge the we did not get this right”.

A spokesperson for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the local authority which runs the school Eva attends, said: “The Comhairle welcomes today’s announcement on down-graded exam results and honouring teachers’ markings. We very much welcome the Depute First Minister’s engagement with young people and the recognition of the efforts made by Eva and all the other young people who have made their case.”

In the Scottish Parliament, in his statement, Mr Swinney apologised to school pupils and said: “We now accept that the risk of undermining the value of qualifications is outweighed by a concern that young people, particularly from working class backgrounds, may lose faith in education and form the view that no matter how hard you work, the system is against you. Education is the route out of poverty for young people in deprived communities and we cannot risk allowing that view to take hold.”

Mr Swinney added: “The SQA will issue fresh certificates to affected candidates as soon as possible and, importantly, will inform UCAS and other admission bodies of the new grades as soon as practical in the coming days to allow for applications to college and university to be progressed.”

As part of a series of announcements, Mr Swinney said that additional places would now be available at Scottish Universities to ensure that students were not “crowded out” as a result of the results u-turn, and that a review would now be conducted of this year’s grading process and to make recommendations for the coming year with an initial report within five weeks.