Scotland: Exam chief knew 20pc of results were wrong--computer errors apparently caused problems

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Tuesday 3 October 2000

Exam chief knew 20pc of results were wrong--computer errors

By Nick Britten, Scotland Political Correspondent

THE chairman of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, the body at the centre of the exams crisis, was warned that up to 20 per cent of exam results were wrong a month before they were due out.

David Miller said that he had been warned by a member of staff that one in five could be incorrect but accepted assurances from senior officials that everything "would be all right on the day". Mr Miller also said that the SQA would be forced to ask the Scottish Executive to rescue it after he revealed it was more than #600,000 over budget.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament's education committee's inquiry into the crisis, Mr Miller said that Bill Arundel, the acting head of operations, had approached him around the end of June to warn that as many as 20 per cent of exam results were wrong. Mr Miller then met chief executive Ron Tuck. He was assured by him that the problem was considerably smaller.

He told MSPs the first he knew of the reality of the situation was on the day results were due to arrive. He went to the SQA's office and saw "thousands of unposted envelopes". He said it contradicted what he had been told by Mr Tuck, who resigned shortly after the crisis broke, that the numbers were in the hundreds.

Mr Miller said he believed Mr Tuck had also been "misled" along with the board, but could not say by whom because there is a person awaiting a disciplinary hearing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000122257519214&rtmo=lnknSb7t&atmo=FFFFFFtX&pg=/et/00/10/3/nsqa03.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 03, 2000

Answers

Below is the supporting story related to the above

Friday 11 August 2000

Pupils are left in dark by exam results shambles

By Auslan Cramb, Scotland Correspondent

THOUSANDS of pupils expecting Higher results were disappointed when their certificates either failed to arrive, or were incomplete when they opened them yesterday. Sam Galbraith, the Education Minister, said receiving the results was "a life event" for schoolchildren and their parents and too many people had been disappointed. The Scottish Qualifications Authority, which is responsible for the Government's new exam system, admitted that it had made errors, mostly blamed on computer problems, which would not be repeated. About 1,400 pupils, one per cent of the total sitting Highers, Standard Grades and Intermediate exams, had final grades missing from some subjects on their certificates. A further 2,000 received no information. The lack of results will delay decisions by universities on student intakes for this year. University results were also affected. Opposition MSPs criticised the shortcomings, but pupils were assured that they would all have their results within a week, and that university places would not be affected. The promises were small compensation for those who received nothing while friends celebrated. Caroline Brodie, 16, of Grice High School, Renfrewshire, was waiting for the postman at her home in Bridge of Weir, near Glasgow, at 7.30am, but he had nothing for her. She was expecting the results of her five Higher exams and felt "stressed and sick" that they had not arrived. Juliet Austin, the head teacher of the Kilgraston School, a fee- paying school at Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, reported scenes of "complete confusion" as teachers and pupils tried to find out results. She said: "We have had calls from some pupils living abroad asking for results, but we cannot get them. One pupil called to say that she had received someone else's." She added that the new system for processing results was the worst she had seen. "Normally we get them at the same time and sometimes even the day before the pupils, which is a great help as it is a fraught time for everyone. If they could not get the results to the school on time, then it would be better to delay the whole thing. It is not complicated. All it requires is more time and thought and if necessary delaying things by a few days." David Gray, the principal of Stewart's Melville College and Mary Erskine School, in Edinburgh, said staff and pupils had been "hugely inconvenienced". He had been told in a fax at 6pm yesterday only that he would not get the results for the 720 fourth and fifth year pupils. The school would not have a clear picture of its pupils' performance, he said, making it hard to advise children who fell just short of their expectations. "Everyone accepts it is a new exam system and everyone is sympathetic, but for the authority not to provide us with this information is really not good enough. It's rather like the patient knowing what the diagnosis and the treatment is, but not the doctor." He advised pupils not to contact universities to ask about their applications before Monday. The 2,000 pupils who received no information are expected to get their certificates today. Ron Tuck, chief executive of the authority, said it was dealing with the complexity of education reforms and a computer system set up to process results, but he regretted the difficulties and promised they would not happen next year. The authority would co-operate fully with the inquiry ordered by Mr Galbraith. 10 August 2000: 1,400 pupils left in the lurch over exam results

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et? ac=000122257519214&rtmo=qXJXsdt9&atmo=rrrrrrbq&pg=/et/00/8/11/nexam11. html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 03, 2000.


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