SQA officials say exam organisation abolishment promise is just 'sexy rebrand'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Exam board officials have boasted a three year delayed government promise to abolish their failing education agency will be nothing more than a “sexy rebrand”.The discredited Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) was caught up in the latest in a catalogue of failures last week when hundreds of children received blank certificates.It was announced in June 2021 that it would be replaced as part of a “substantial” overhaul of education, following an independent review.The government said changes would be made in response to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) report on the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).But more than three years later the organisation - led by CEO Fiona Robertson - still exists with little change to function or personnel.A source said: “The government has insisted the SQA will finally be replaced in 2024 with a new body Qualifications Scotland, but in meetings senior management have openly said that this will be little more than a sexy rebrand.“There doesn’t appear to be any worry that it is going to result in meaningful change.

There will be various reports and all the rest of it but in the end it seems there will be an expensive new logo, some small structural changes and that will be about it.“It is just like so many other things were the Scottish Government talks a good game but in the end nothing really seems to change because you have government ministers who are not really equipped with the experience or know how to restructure a big organisation.”The SQA has been mired in scandal and claims of incompetence for year.In 2019 the Sunday Mail revealed a culture of foreign junkets to repressive regimes for top officials while standards fell at home.Get the latest news