London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Jul 26, 2025

Sturgeon 'sorry' over Scottish exam results

Nicola Sturgeon has apologised after accepting her government "did not get it right" over Scottish exam results.

With no exams sat this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) ran a system based on teacher assessments.

However, officials then applied a moderation technique which led to about 125,000 estimates being downgraded.

The first minister said this approach was too focused on the "overall system" and not enough on individual pupils.

Education Secretary John Swinney will set out the government's plan to fix the issue on Tuesday, with Ms Sturgeon saying the onus would not be on students to submit appeals.

Opposition parties are pushing for a vote of no confidence in the education secretary, but Ms Sturgeon said she had faith in Mr Swinney and that the row was "not party political".

A-level results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due out on Thursday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he understood the "anxiety" over grades, and that "we will do our best to ensure that the hard work of pupils is properly reflected".

Exams across the UK were cancelled this year due to the pandemic, leading to the use of systems based on teacher assessments.

In Scotland this was moderated at a national level by the SQA, a process which led to thousands of pupils complaining that they had received lower grades than originally estimated.

There was particular criticism after Higher pass rates for pupils in the most deprived data zones were reduced by 15.2%, in comparison with 6.9% for pupils from the most affluent backgrounds.



Pupils and parents took part in demonstrations last week



The Scottish children's commissioner's office said pupils from more deprived areas had been downgraded based on the historic performance of their school rather than their performance.

Ms Sturgeon said young people in more deprived areas might be concluding that "the system is stacked against them", and that she was "not prepared to have that outcome".

Mr Swinney had signalled a u-turn on Sunday, saying he had "heard the anger of students" over the row.

At her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said steps would be taken to "address concerns" and "ensure that every young person gets a grade that recognises the work they have done".

She said ministers had taken "decisions we thought were the right ones" in unprecedented circumstances, but after "a lot of soul searching" had now accepted they were not right.





She said: "Our concern, which was to make sure the grades young people got were as valid as in any other year, perhaps led us to think too much about the overall system and not enough about the individual pupil.

"That has meant too many students feel they have lost out on grades they should have had, and that that has happened not as a result of anything they have done but a statistical model or algorithm.

"Despite our best intentions I do acknowledge that we did not get this right and I am sorry for that."

Ms Sturgeon said her government would not "dig our heels in and defend a position that in our hearts we know we didn't get right".

Mr Swinney will set out plans for how to address the issue at Holyrood on Tuesday, but the first minister said "we will not expect every student who has been downgraded to appeal".

She added: "This is not the fault of students, and it should not be on students to fix it - that's on us, and we will set out tomorrow how we intend to do that."

The education secretary could also face a no-confidence vote tabled by Labour in the Scottish Parliament when it returns from recess this week.



Mr Swinney said he had "heard the anger of students"



The Conservatives say they will support the motion and the Scottish Greens have indicated they would consider backing it if no changes are made.

Scottish Labour's education spokesman Iain Gray told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that the "simplest and fairest" way would be to return grades to what teachers originally projected, saying that "anything else would fall short".

The Tories, meanwhile, have called for pupils to either be given a grade based on their prelim score or to be allowed to sit an exam in the autumn.

Ms Sturgeon said she had confidence in Mr Swinney, noting that governments in other parts of the UK were taking "broadly the same approach" to exam results "in difficult circumstances".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×