SQA to be scrapped and replaced as MSPs vote through education reform
The Scottish Qualifications Authority is set to be replaced with a new organisation in autumn 2025.
MSPs have voted to pass legislation which will see Scotland's exam body scrapped and replaced.
The existing Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) will be dissolved, and a new organisation called Qualifications Scotland set up in its place. It is expected to be running by this autumn, after exam results have been released.
Plans are also in place to appoint a chief inspector for educational settings. The changes come nearly five years after the exams scandal in 2020, where marks for over 124,000 pupils were downgraded after formal exams had to be cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
However, they have prompted objections from opposition parties that the replacement organisation is "little more than a rebrand", after the legislation was passed by 69 votes to 47.
Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy said: "Instead of abolishing the SQA today the Bill allows the current leadership to transfer wholesale."
She insisted that "on reform this is a job unfinished".
Similarly, Scottish Conservative education spokesperson Miles Briggs said the changes, in the Education (Scotland) Bill would not deliver the "meaningful reform for Scotland's education system which is urgently needed".
He argued that the new exams body was "little more than a rebrand of the SQA".
Mr Briggs added: "The SQA needed an overhaul, not a cosmetic makeover, and the changes proposed fall way short of what is required to ensure the organisation can operate effectively and is properly accountable."
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has rejected those claims. She said the Bill would "fundamentally create a new and a different type of organisation which works with the teaching profession differently".
In addition, it will establish a new chief inspector of education, who will be tasked with inspecting nurseries, schools and colleges across Scotland.
She added there was a "cast-iron guarantee" that the person who takes up this post would have "suitable teaching and educational leadership experience".
Ms Gilruth said: "Through the creation of a new qualifications body and an independent inspectorate, the Bill enables a more responsive, trusted and effective national education infrastructure."
The legislation, passed after two nights of late sittings at Holyrood, will provide "the scaffolding which supports the wider range of education reform", she added.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Mr Briggs, however, said: "It does feel like the Bill has been rushed through Parliament in the last week of term."
He added that "this Bill has not been the opportunity many of us had hoped it would be", claiming it was "clear SNP ministers' policies and half-baked reforms are not delivering for our young people".
Ms Duncan-Glancy was also critical, saying: "We needed a qualifications system fit for the future, one that respects the efforts of learners, supports the judgment of teachers, and earns the trust of employers and universities.
"We needed a curriculum that is broad and inclusive, we needed an inspectorate that can challenge where necessary but also celebrate excellence. But on reform this is a job unfinished."
Ms Gilruth said afterwards: "The successful passage of this legislation shows this Government is serious about implementing the changes needed to drive improvement across Scotland's education and skills system.
"The creation of a new, national qualifications body is about building the right conditions for reform to flourish - the new body will ensure that knowledge and experience of pupils and teachers are at the heart of our national qualifications offering.
"The new inspectorate body will also have greater independence and the power to set the frequency and focus of inspections, moving this function away from ministers, to His Majesty's Chief Inspector."
She added: "Taken together, our major programme of education and skills reform will bring about the changes needed to meet the needs of future generations of young people."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Western Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Starmer seeks to win round welfare rebels with promise of ‘fairness'
The talks ahead of Tuesday's Commons showdown come after 126 Labour MPs publicly backed a move to block it. Sir Keir told MPs he wanted the reforms, which will restrict access to sickness and incapacity benefits, to demonstrate 'Labour values of fairness'. The Prime Minister told MPs there was 'consensus across the House on the urgent need for reform' of the 'broken' welfare system. 'I know colleagues across the House are eager to start fixing that, and so am I, and that all colleagues want to get this right, and so do I,' he said. 'We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. 'That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday.' The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill has its second reading on Tuesday, the first opportunity for MPs to vote on it. If the legislation clears its first hurdle, it will then face a few hours' examination by all MPs the following week – rather than days or weeks in front of a committee tasked with looking at the Bill – with a plan for it to clear the Commons a little over a week later on July 9. Ministers have said they will listen to suggestions to improve the legislation, but opposition appears entrenched and the swift timetable for the Bill could add to critics' concerns. Commons Leader Lucy Powell told MPs: 'As the House would expect, the Government actively engages with parliamentary opinion throughout a bill's passage, as we are doing intensively with the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.' Overnight, six more Labour MPs added their names to the rebel amendment that would halt the legislation in its tracks. The reasoned amendment argues that disabled people have not been properly consulted and further scrutiny of the changes is needed. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces the most serious revolt of his premiership (Ben Stansall/PA) The new names take the total number of Labour backbenchers supporting the amendment, tabled by Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier, to 126 out of a total of 162 backers from all parties. The plans restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit. The Government hopes the changes will get more people back into work and save up to £5 billion a year. One backbencher preparing to vote against the Bill told the PA news agency: 'A lot of people have been saying they're upset about this for months. 'To leave it until a few days before the vote, it's not a very good way of running the country. 'It's not very grown-up.' They said that minor concessions would not be enough, warning: 'I don't think you can tinker with this. They need to go back to the drawing board.' The Daily Telegraph reported that potential concessions being considered include a commitment to speed up payment of support to help people back into work and offering assurances that reviews of policies in this area will be published. Meanwhile, The Times reported some MPs opposed to the plans had blamed Sir Keir's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney and suggested the time had come for 'regime change' in Downing Street. Asked if Sir Keir had confidence in his chief of staff, the No 10 spokesman would not comment on Downing Street staffing matters. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank indicated that 800,000 fewer working-age people are expected to receive a Pip daily living award in 2029–30 as a result of the reforms. The tighter criteria are set to lead to 430,000 new applicants – who would have received an award without reforms – receiving no award, and 370,000 existing claimants losing out following reassessment. Most of the 800,000 losers will receive £3,850 per year less in Pip. The 2.2 million existing claimants of the health element of universal credit who are expected to still be claiming in 2029–30 are estimated to see a £450 real decline in their support in that year because of the freezing of the payment. There are also set to be 700,000 new claimants who will typically receive £2,700 a year less than they would have done under the current system, the IFS said. NEW: Government's benefit reforms could reduce annual spending by around £11 billion in the long run – but still leave health-related benefit bill far above pre-pandemic levels. Read @TomWatersEcon, @LatimerEduin and @matthewoulton's new report: — Institute for Fiscal Studies (@TheIFS) June 26, 2025 It will be well into the 2030s before the reforms are fully rolled out and, in the long-term, the savings could amount to around £11 billion a year, the IFS said. A little over a quarter of the public are supportive of the proposed reforms, according to polling published on Thursday. Of 2,004 people surveyed by More in Common over the weekend, just 27% said they supported the planned changes to the benefits system and half (51%) said they believe the cuts would worsen the health of disabled people. A similar proportion (52%) said the cuts would increase pressure on the NHS while six in 10 said the Government should look at alternative cost-saving measures instead. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the Government should pull the Bill and 'go back to the drawing board' instead of 'cutting vital support from thousands of vulnerable people'.
Telegraph
26 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Softly, softly schools fuel bad behaviour
Teaching assistant Katherine Hall* has witnessed behaviour in primary schools that has shocked her: pupils turning over desks, climbing on furniture, assaulting their peers and hurling equipment across the class. But what disheartens her most is the lack of action to tackle and change such behaviour when it first manifests as lower-level disruption. 'While most children fall into line, some struggle to adjust to the environment. Instead of teaching them how to adapt and exercising teacher authority when necessary, those poorly behaved children learn they will not receive meaningful consequences for unacceptable and anti-social conduct so they never learn to adapt,' she says. 'Little 'situations' keep getting managed and accommodated,' she continues. 'Then eventually, the child explodes and something bad happens and they get suspended and on and on it goes.' The approach – with labels such as 'child-centred', 'trauma-led' or 'restorative' education – relies on prioritising children's feelings. It means that, rather than nipping poor behaviour in the bud as soon as children start school, it becomes ingrained, says the 45-year-old. The end result is disastrous for pupils. As they get further up the school, and the nature of the misdemeanours become more serious, they are being kicked out. Recent data from the Department of Education shows that suspensions and expulsions at state primary schools are soaring – rising from 22,694 in the spring term 2018/19 to 30,831 at the same point in 2023/24. More than half of exclusions are driven by 'persistent disruptive behaviour'. Other shocking categories include use or threat of use of a weapon, physical assault, damage to property, sexual misconduct, bullying, verbal abuse and inappropriate use of IT, social media or online tech. Some 77 primary pupils – that's four to 11-year-olds – were suspended for behaviour related to drugs and alcohol. The factors behind the rise in this troubling behaviour are myriad and complex. Many on the Left blame the impact of poverty – primary pupils on free school meals are four times more likely to be excluded than other pupils. Others point to family breakdowns; the Department for Education figures show that children from groups with higher proportions of households led by a married couple, such as Asian and African families, have lower exclusion rates than their white and Caribbean-heritage classmates. According to the Centre for Social Justice, children suffering from the consequences of family breakdown are 50 per cent more likely to have behavioural difficulties, anxiety or depression, fail at school, and struggle with relationships. At the same time, pupils are more distracted than they have ever been. According to a 2023 Ofcom report, more than half of eight to 11-year-olds across the UK own a mobile phone. Children's concentration levels have fallen off a cliff, reducing their ability to cope with anything requiring effort and focus in class. Few of them are reading books, preferring instead a diet of three-second TikTok clips, warp-speed gaming or even porn, with half of children being exposed to explicit content by the age of 13, according to a study for the Children's Commissioner for England. Then there is the rise of 'gentle parenting'. While definitions vary, this type of parenting focuses on guiding children's behaviour through empathy and rewards rather than discipline, and has been slammed by Katharine Birbalsingh, head teacher of Michaela Community School in London, who argues that a lack of boundaries can be harmful and stunt development. Also in the mix is the seemingly exponential rise in the number of children with special educational needs (SEN). One of the fastest-growing categories is the catch-all of social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). Schools have to make 'reasonable adjustments', such as special 'sensory' areas, headphones to block out noise, time-outs and reduced timetables. Suspension rates among SEN pupils, with or without a formal diagnosis, are significantly higher than average. At the first sign of behavioural issues, school and parents are in hot pursuit of a diagnosis of some kind, spurred on by social media. The new flavour of the month on parenting sites is rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), a term used to describe 'intense emotional reactions to perceived or actual rejection or criticism'. It can manifest as 'emotional dysregulation, low self-esteem and difficulty managing relationships' and is frequently linked to ADHD. It troubles Hall that the approach to children who have 'mislearnt' behaviour is to look for a diagnosis that might take years to secure, if ever, rather than immediately explore how to change the behaviour and train pupils to adapt to more social, formal settings. 'Where I think the line is being blurred is that the misbehaving children are not necessarily SEN,' she says. 'Any child that is running around and refusing to stay put is assumed to need an assessment. Yes, possibly something is going on. But a child's inability to focus and do what they are told is almost immediately filed under the heading of neurodiversity or ADHD. And the behaviour then becomes something that they are deemed not to have any control over.' For Hall, the tragedy is that many of these children will never get 'a formal diagnosis of anything because they don't qualify and will just always be that troublesome child because no-one has set them boundaries'. Indulging bad behaviour Let down as toddlers by parents who struggle to set clear expectations of behaviour or employ effective parenting techniques, some children are then failed by schools which adhere to the principle that 'all behaviour is a form of communication'. The ill-defined concept of 'wellbeing' is superseding the core purpose of education, Hall warns. And in this environment, showing displeasure at a child's behaviour, whether by a stern look, a raised voice or a sanction, is heresy – as is simply telling pupils what to do and expecting them to do it. When bad behaviour is indulged and there are no apparent consequences, other pupils take note. 'Other kids see this as preferential treatment,' says Hall. 'Then everyone thinks that they have a choice: 'if I'm in a good mood I'll stay at this desk, but if I'm bored or annoyed, it doesn't matter if I kick off'. It is actually confusing for children.' At the older end of primary school, behaviour can become violent; while the teacher pretends they are not alarmed and frightened classmates look on. One former teaching assistant from Sussex describes how she was hit, kicked, bitten and sworn at by primary age pupils in the course of her work. She quit when she realised that 'this isn't going to stop'. Matters are made worse, not better, by attempts to teach young children 'emotional literacy' in personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons. 'It is teachers acting as amateur therapists,' says Hall. 'Saying to children 'This is what anger looks like, this is sadness' is not the same as helping them to manage or 'self-regulate' their feelings, but we assume it is. We teach that all feelings are valid but we know that, in fact, our feelings might be unhelpful, wrong, misplaced or fleeting. What we are doing in classrooms is woolly and ill-thought-out.' What you will never hear, adds Hall, is a teacher saying 'let's put aside our feelings and concentrate on learning'. Therapeutic education The UK's largest teaching union, the National Education Union (NEU), advocates for therapeutic education – a holistic approach to learning that addresses not only academic needs but also emotional and social development. At its core is the belief that everyone is, to some extent, shaped or harmed by their childhood – and that what was once considered a treatment for mental health problems can, in fact, be nurturing for all. In an NEU toolkit for teachers, it says that behaviour management should start with asking 'What has happened to you?' rather than 'What have you done?'. This approach, it claims, creates safe learning environments, and addresses the challenges of student mental health. Its influence on government policy is clear. New guidance proposed by the Department for Education advises teachers, when dealing with violent pupils, to pause and consider whether the children have 'experienced adverse life events or past traumas or neglect,' or may have undiagnosed medical conditions, before resorting to restraint or isolation. To preserve the 'dignity' of out-of-control pupils, staff are also encouraged to think twice before intervening 'in front of their peers.' But some in education have concerns about the efficacy of the therapeutic approach. According to David Didau, a former English teacher and the author of What If Everything You Knew About Education Is Wrong?, the aims of therapeutic education appear antithetical to those of academic education. 'Our preoccupation with therapy and wellbeing makes the normal, abnormal and far from teaching resilience, it seems to make us all more fragile and unhealthily aware of our vulnerability,' he writes. 'It teaches us that we're damaged and that we need professional help to undo this damage.' As Tom Bennett, the Government's lead behaviour adviser puts it, the teacher can become 'a children's entertainer to a room full of child Napoleons, terrified of upsetting their child-emperors'. 'Restorative practice feels right; it appeals to our sense that, with enough discussion, everyone will realise they should do the right thing,' he says. 'But I am weary of working with schools that have leaned so hard into restorative practice they fell over, and need to be rebooted because behaviour is so chaotic.' Hall is far from an advocate of the ultra-strict discipline regimes that lead to silent classrooms, but she points out that in unruly lessons, it is often the autistic child who loses out most. Another casualty of staff time spent sitting in sensory tents or kicking a ball with a child who has acted out are the pupils who need extra academic support – often those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Teaching assistants who are assigned to police the non-SEN 'problem child' have less time to tutor small groups who need extra input to bring them up to the expected level. 'I don't know what the answer is, but my instinctive feeling is that when schools start pandering and going from a position of 'I'm in charge' to negotiating with pupils, the game is lost,' says Hall. 'Children who push against boundaries and go on low-level power trips need discipline more than others, not less. All the child-centred approach achieves is to reinforce unacceptable behaviour and the irony is that it ends up with those children being kicked out of school.'
Glasgow Times
36 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Starmer seeks to win round welfare rebels with promise of ‘fairness'
The talks ahead of Tuesday's Commons showdown come after 126 Labour MPs publicly backed a move to block it. Sir Keir told MPs he wanted the reforms, which will restrict access to sickness and incapacity benefits, to demonstrate 'Labour values of fairness'. The Prime Minister told MPs there was 'consensus across the House on the urgent need for reform' of the 'broken' welfare system. 'I know colleagues across the House are eager to start fixing that, and so am I, and that all colleagues want to get this right, and so do I,' he said. 'We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. 'That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday.' The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill has its second reading on Tuesday, the first opportunity for MPs to vote on it. If the legislation clears its first hurdle, it will then face a few hours' examination by all MPs the following week – rather than days or weeks in front of a committee tasked with looking at the Bill – with a plan for it to clear the Commons a little over a week later on July 9. Ministers have said they will listen to suggestions to improve the legislation, but opposition appears entrenched and the swift timetable for the Bill could add to critics' concerns. Commons Leader Lucy Powell told MPs: 'As the House would expect, the Government actively engages with parliamentary opinion throughout a bill's passage, as we are doing intensively with the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.' Overnight, six more Labour MPs added their names to the rebel amendment that would halt the legislation in its tracks. The reasoned amendment argues that disabled people have not been properly consulted and further scrutiny of the changes is needed. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces the most serious revolt of his premiership (Ben Stansall/PA) The new names take the total number of Labour backbenchers supporting the amendment, tabled by Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier, to 126 out of a total of 162 backers from all parties. The plans restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit. The Government hopes the changes will get more people back into work and save up to £5 billion a year. One backbencher preparing to vote against the Bill told the PA news agency: 'A lot of people have been saying they're upset about this for months. 'To leave it until a few days before the vote, it's not a very good way of running the country. 'It's not very grown-up.' They said that minor concessions would not be enough, warning: 'I don't think you can tinker with this. They need to go back to the drawing board.' The Daily Telegraph reported that potential concessions being considered include a commitment to speed up payment of support to help people back into work and offering assurances that reviews of policies in this area will be published. Meanwhile, The Times reported some MPs opposed to the plans had blamed Sir Keir's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney and suggested the time had come for 'regime change' in Downing Street. Asked if Sir Keir had confidence in his chief of staff, the No 10 spokesman would not comment on Downing Street staffing matters. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank indicated that 800,000 fewer working-age people are expected to receive a Pip daily living award in 2029–30 as a result of the reforms. The tighter criteria are set to lead to 430,000 new applicants – who would have received an award without reforms – receiving no award, and 370,000 existing claimants losing out following reassessment. Most of the 800,000 losers will receive £3,850 per year less in Pip. The 2.2 million existing claimants of the health element of universal credit who are expected to still be claiming in 2029–30 are estimated to see a £450 real decline in their support in that year because of the freezing of the payment. There are also set to be 700,000 new claimants who will typically receive £2,700 a year less than they would have done under the current system, the IFS said. NEW: Government's benefit reforms could reduce annual spending by around £11 billion in the long run – but still leave health-related benefit bill far above pre-pandemic levels. Read @TomWatersEcon, @LatimerEduin and @matthewoulton's new report: — Institute for Fiscal Studies (@TheIFS) June 26, 2025 It will be well into the 2030s before the reforms are fully rolled out and, in the long-term, the savings could amount to around £11 billion a year, the IFS said. A little over a quarter of the public are supportive of the proposed reforms, according to polling published on Thursday. Of 2,004 people surveyed by More in Common over the weekend, just 27% said they supported the planned changes to the benefits system and half (51%) said they believe the cuts would worsen the health of disabled people. A similar proportion (52%) said the cuts would increase pressure on the NHS while six in 10 said the Government should look at alternative cost-saving measures instead. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the Government should pull the Bill and 'go back to the drawing board' instead of 'cutting vital support from thousands of vulnerable people'.
