The second year of a survey looking at satisfaction levels with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has found that trust in the body has fallen in schools.
The same survey also found improvements across most measures, but there is still a long way to go in rebounding from Covid and meeting ambitious 2027 targets set for its successor organisation.
The SQA said that today’s showed “significant progress” against baselines set out in the recent Prospectus for Change (PfC) and towards the ambitious targets set for 2027.
But the report points to “decreasing beliefs that SQA can be trusted, is an enabling organisation and is a progressive organisation”.
When asked “how strongly would you agree or disagree that SQA can be trusted?”, 55 per cent of school staff either “agreed” or “strongly agreed”; in 2023, the figure was 69 per cent.
‘Resetting’ relationship with teachers
The SQA published the PfC corporate plan in November, in which it promised to “reset” its relationship with teachers and students and “win back their trust” as it prepares to change into a new body called Qualifications Scotland in 2025. That report included a series of measures to assess the organisation’s progress in this year-long process.
November’s report stated that, by 2027, the SQA will: double teachers’ “engagement score” in schools; double the score for credibility with teachers in schools; increase learners’ engagement score in schools by 50 per cent; and increase learners’ credibility score in schools by 50 per cent.
Today’s 2024 research results cover areas including: the credibility of national qualifications; how good a job SQA does in consulting and communicating; and overall satisfaction levels. It shows year-on-year increases across 31 of 38 measures and decreases in three measures - parents and carers were the group most likely to be dissatisfied - but the scores remain some way short of the 2027 targets.
The independent research published today - from , which has been carrying out research for the SQA since 2001 - involved more than 1,000 students and hundreds of teachers and school leaders; parents and carers from across the country were also asked for their views on the SQA.
The SQA has been in the headlines recently over a controversial review of Higher history, but today’s results do not drill down into satisfaction levels with individual subject areas.
The report finds that “engagement”, “satisfaction” and “communications” scores among classroom teachers had “increased significantly” since 2023, although these started from a low base. Satisfaction with the SQA has also risen among school leaders and students since 2023.
In , a total of 59 per cent of teachers surveyed in November and December 2023 also said SQA credibility was “low”; 36 per cent said it was “high”, and 5 per cent could not say. Some 220 teachers took part.
However, this was a marked improvement on a previous poll carried out just a few months earlier in February and March of the same year where 82 per cent of teachers rated the SQA’s credibility “low” and just 16 per cent rated it “high”.
When asked why they provided a low rating, 17 per cent of teachers said “inaccurate marking of exams” and “lack of consistency within SQA overall”; 15 per cent said “SQA bringing back assessments”; 14 per cent said “having issues with SQA’s assessment procedures”; and 12 per cent said “too many changes”.
Meanwhile, the SQA finds “room for improvement” when it comes to parents and carers; it is working on “an action plan to improve communication and engagement with this critical group”.
The two years of data in the current survey also need to be set against similar surveys the SQA carried out in previous years. While it says that these were less detailed and did not include comparable data, the SQA told Tes Scotland that satisfaction levels with the SQA had dropped during the Covid years.
Credibility of SQA qualifications
Views of the credibility of qualifications showed improvements at National 5, Higher and Advanced Highers in today’s report.
However, the “most significant improvements” were at National 3 and National 4.
SQA communications director John Booth said that, overall, the results showed that the body was “well on the way towards our ambitious 2027 targets”, adding: “It is particularly pleasing to see strong increases among groups who previously felt that SQA did not listen to them, including classroom teachers, who are the heart of our education system.”
Mr Booth also said: “We recognise that in many areas there is still much more work to be done”.
The results for 2025 are due to be published at around the same time next year.
Mr Booth said: “Our journey to Qualifications Scotland is guided by the principles of openness and accountability.”
He added that publishing the annually “allows us to transparently track our progress [and] ensures that the voices of learners, educators, and parents and carers are at the heart of our decisions”.
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