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RE-COMMITTING TO FAIR ACCESS: A PLAN FOR RECOVERY
Commissioner for Fair Access
gov.scot/commissionerforfairaccess
Professor Sir Peter Scott
6th Floor, 5 Atlantic Quay
150 Broomielaw
Glasgow
G2 8LU
T: 0131 244 1266
The substitution of teacher-assessed grades has had a number of effects.
• The first and most obvious that grades have been higher, leading to an increase in the number
of qualified applicants. This has posed an immediate capacity challenge to universities.
Nearly all admitted more students to the first year in 2020-21, because the increase in grades
led to more qualified applicants. There will be a repeat this year, 2021-22. As a result, most
universities will soon have two over-large age cohorts which will further strain capacity. There
is currently no guarantee that additional funded places will be provided. Without these extra
places the prospect of under-funded third and fourth years will open up.
• The second is that it has called into question the reliability, and in particular the consistency over
time, of grades. A particular difficulty will arise in 2022 and subsequent years when, presumably,
public examinations are reinstated. Will it be acceptable simply to remove the alleged inflated
grades assessed by teachers and revert to the pre-Covid profile of grades?
• The third is that it has drawn attention to the contextual factors that have always influenced
examination grades, even though the SQA guidance is clear that grades must be based on
demonstrated achievement and not take into account personal circumstances (which is where
contextual admissions comes in).
As a result, it is no longer possible to treat the grades achieved by applicants as a fixed point,
or 'gold standard'. In practice, of course, universities have always contextualised their admissions,
with the most important contextual element being the calibration of entry grades to fill the number
of available places.
There are two further issues:
1. The SQA guidance is clear: grades must reflect achievement not personal circumstances. It is
difficult to see what other guidance an examination body could have given. But the implications
are serious. In effect, teachers are being asked to ignore school interruptions and all the other
negative effects of the Covid-19 emergency in determining the grades they give. This means
that, if teachers follow the SQA guidance (which in human terms may be difficult), young people
from more deprived communities, who have suffered disproportionately from these negative
effects, will be further disadvantaged. The responsibility then passes to universities to take
full account of the unequal impact of the Covid-19 emergency in their contextual admissions
policies, which may be difficult to reconcile with holding the line on MERs. The increase in
overall applications, and subsequent pressure on places and capacity may mask but it does
not remove that responsibility.