Scotland's new exam body will 'not repeat mistakes of the past', Chief Examiner insists
There are big plans for new exams body Qualifications Scotland but it will take time before learns feel the effect
Scotland’s new exams body will not repeat the mistakes of the past, the Chief Examiner has insisted.
The country’s newest public body - Qualifications Scotland (QS) - starts work today with plans to overhaul the exams system over the next five years.
QS replaces the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which was scrapped following controversies over exam marking in recent years.
A delivery date for the full revision of qualifications is 2031 but Ms Stewart said incremental changes will be made in the meantime, such as reduction in exam length.
That follows the removal entirely of exams from cake craft, woodwork and metalwork qualifications.
Ms Stewart said: “We are absolutely committed to not making the mistakes of what happened before.”
She added: “Essentially 2031 is not a ‘Big Bang’ but a combination of processes that will happen over the next five years.
“We need to be cognisant of whether the system is ready for a Big Bang but we do know the system is ready just now for much more agile qualifications, we’re ready for reduced workload for teachers and reduced assessment for learners.”
It is expected that QS will announce specifics of the first tranche of changes later this week.
The new organisation was created by the Education (Scotland) Act 2025, passed by the Scottish Parliament last year, and will give learners, teachers and lecturers much stronger influence.
The organisation is currently looking at the reform of qualifications, asking pupils and teachers for feedback on plans to place less reliance on high-stakes exams in several subjects.
Ms Stewart said the qualifications offered by the organisation must be “fit for purpose in a modern and flourishing Scotland.”
Ms Stewart said that it would be possible some qualifications may not continue but, currently, there are no plans to abolish subjects with low uptake.
Using Gaelic as an example, she said: “It may have low uptake, but it has such importance in our community and in our society.”
The new exams body is currently taking views from school pupils, college students, teachers, lecturers and business leaders in a process the Chief Examiner said is not a finite consultation exercise but a “conversation” that will continue throughout the development of the new system.
Its newly-formed School Partnership Team will see the addition of four classroom teachers.
The body said it will “open up” to bring in learners, educators and other interested parties to sit on a variety of advisory groups.
There are also plans to strengthen the accreditation function to reinforce its independence within the organisation, under the leadership of the new Chief Accreditation Officer, Liz Barron-Majerik.
Recruitment opens today for two Interest Committees - one for learners and one for teachers and practitioners.
The Interest Committees will advise Qualifications Scotland on how qualifications – and the policies and processes that support them – operate in real settings, from studying the qualifications to what it is like for schools, colleges, training providers and employers to deliver them.
Members of the committees will share their own experiences and opinions to shape future developments in qualifications and assessment.
Sarah Brown, head teacher of Perth and Kinross High School, is in charge of a school partnership team and has been canvassing schools for feedback.
Plans are being progressed for a similar scheme for colleges, Ms Stewart said.
Nick Page, the organisation’s Chief Executive, said he wanted to be clear that the new organisation is actively listening to schools and colleges and using that information to be “agile, adaptive and relevant” with the evidence of change obvious in the next 12 to 18 months.
He said: “We have to deliver a set of assessments right now this year, so we are making that steady, intelligent, grounded change.
“We are absolutely, fundamentally changing.”
QS insists it is working with businesses, as well as schools and colleges, to ensure a system that produces the workforce Scotland needs.
Chris Kelly, Head of Policy at CBI Scotland, said: “A modern, responsive qualifications system is essential to Scotland’s economic future, and business stands ready to play its part.”
A Transition Board – made up of representatives of learners, teaching unions, colleges, training providers, universities, businesses and local authorities – has met regularly to provide support and challenge during the replacement work.
Andy Harvey, National Officer for the EIS teaching union, said it was vital the new organisation can “rebuild trust” with the profession.
He said: “The establishment of Qualifications Scotland presents an opportunity for the new body to demonstrate that it has teacher voice at its core, and to work with teachers as trusted partners. “This opportunity must be grasped, to rebuild trust with the profession and to help deliver an enhanced senior phase based on rich learning which celebrates the achievement of all our learners.”
The work of Qualifications Scotland coincides with an overhaul of the curriculum - the curriculum improvement cycle - being carried out by Education Scotland and Ms Stewart said the two organisations are working closely together.
The new body has been met with criticism that it is a “superficial rebrand” rather than a fundamentally different new organisation.
The membership of the QS board includes five practicing teachers or lecturers and, Mr Page added, those who can “represent the interests of learners, employers and employees”.
A new strategic advisory council has also been set up and five new board members and a new governance structure are in place.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “For pupils and students, they will have a strengthened role in shaping decisions on qualifications and assessment, ensuring qualifications are fit for purpose in modern Scotland - with less reliance on high-stakes exams and greater recognition of achievement in all its forms.
"With four classroom teachers joining the new School Partnership Team and practising educators sitting on the Board, teachers will have genuine influence over how qualifications work in real classroom settings.
"For Scotland's education system, this is about building something we can all trust.”
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