ROBBIE DINWOODIE THE Scottish Qualifications Agency faces a torrid time in front of a cross-party committee today when its executives admit for the first time that last year's exam results backlog is still being cleared while youngsters start this year's examinations.

Standard grade exams started yesterday for many school students, but the SQA's written submission to today's education, culture and sport committee states: "We have a team dedicated to resolving outstanding cases from last year. "As the questions have been resolved, this team has been reduced to two or three people. 3000 certificates have been posted out in the last week,

including successful appeals resolved to date from the independent appeals review. Just over 200 cases remain to be resolved."

While last year's problem has not been resolved before the start of this year's round of examinations, the SQA submission talks of the stress to its own staff of the debacle. The paper speaks of a "stress audit" and a "stress management strategy" involving workshops starting yesterday, and adds: "We are also providing ad hoc counselling facilities as required."

Michael Russell, the SNP education spokesman, said of the 200 outstanding cases: "Whilst these are mostly further education college cases, the fact remains that the SQA has not cleared up last year's mess in time to start the new diet and that must be a cause of real worry to all who want this year's exams to succeed.

"I shall be questioning Bill Morton about this tomorrow. I asked him about this last time and I was assured everything would be all right by the end of April."

-May 15th

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/15-5-19101-0-33-8.html

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001

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Scotland: SQA sacks expert over leak

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001