Students fear consequences of exam downgrades
Parents are telling MFR of their fears their childrens' exam results may not earn them a place on their chosen university courses.
Around 125,000 results were downgraded by the SQA which overruled more than a quarter of teachers' judgements.
Gayle Wilson, from Wishaw, in North Lanarkshire, says her daughter, Amy, is going to be appealing in the belief the moderation process has ended her hopes of training to become a vet.
"It's heartbreaking that she's gone through her whole life with this goal, this dream, and it potentially could be hanging in the balance on whether this appeal comes through.
"I don't understand why they wouldn't give these kids a chance, and listen to the teachers who've worked with these kids for many years, and taken on board what they predicted.
"Unless universities look to lower the entrance grades I fear that my daughter, along with other kids, will not be able to persue their dream career.
"My other concern is the volume of appeals. Will they take them and do a blanket approach again?"
At National 5 level, the pass rate for the poorest pupils was 74% when teachers' estimates would have led to an 84.5% pass rate without moderation.
For the least deprived, the 92.3% estimated pass rate fell to 87.1% after the SQA's moderation.
The exam board's criteria for moderation included the historic performance of of schools and grades were adjusted "where a centre's estimates were outside the constraint range for that course'', according to the SQA chief examining officer Fiona Robertson
New schools without previous exam results were unchanged.
Despite the downgrading, exam pass rates rose at every level and Education Secretary John Swinney said they would have been the highest on record without the SQA intervention.
The body representing Scottish uni students is also concerned at the way the moderation process has worked, with NUS Scotland President, Matt Crilly, saying the country's poorest pupils were hit the hardest:
"Young people from the poorest areas were downgraded from a pass to fail at twice the rate of their most affluent peers, predominatly based on their school's previous performance. It's a worrying inequity in society.
"We need to look at the moderation process which has taken place.
"It shouldn't be acceptable that those from the most deprived backgrounds are being marked down at a higher rate."
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