The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Closed petition PE2014: Revert to the appeals system used in 2022 for SQA exams
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to implement a revised SQA appeals process which takes into account evidence of the pupil’s academic performance throughout the year, particularly prelim results.
Previous action taken
I have contacted my local MSP Oliver Mundell to highlight the concerns of school pupils about changes to the appeal system.
Background information
Because of the continued effects of the pandemic on teacher and pupil attendance as well as the difficulties we continue to face as a consequence of the break in our education in 2020 and 2021, it is incredibly unjust to take away the support mechanism of appeals as they were carried out in 2022. The strike action being taken by teachers also means more lost days in our education.
A feature of Scotland’s education system is equity, yet the changes to the appeals process in 2023 will lead to very unequal outcomes. Any pupil who is going through tough times will be judged on one day rather than the work completed across the year.
Also, because of the withdrawal of assignments in many subjects, we will be the only generation judged solely on our performance on one day. This would appear to go against the principles of an education system that purports to value the whole child.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
633 signatures