A student whose exam results were downgraded during Covid says she still wants answers from education bosses after their decisions changed the trajectory of her life. Erin Bleakley's plans were ruined after she was awarded Bs, Cs and Ds in her highers in 2020 after an emergency marking system was introduced. Despite her results being eventually adjusted, she never got the A grades her prelims suggested she would get and she had to change course.
As former SQA head Fiona Robertson prepares to give evidence to the Scottish Covid Inquiry later, Erin wants someone to take accountability for what happened. After lockdown came into force in March 2020 and schools were closed to pupils, teachers were instructed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to estimate exam grades for pupils. A later review, external found there was no consistency with how this was carried out around the country.
In June, the SQA then lowered 125,000 of these grades using an algorithm, saying the grades did not tally with the outcomes of previous cohorts at the same schools. Public outrage grew when it became apparent that pupils who had gone to schools in deprived areas formed the bulk of students who had their results downgraded from teacher estimates. Grades were then restored to teacher estimates for those who had been downgraded.
But by then it was too late for some pupils who had already lost their chance of a specific university course, because they had entered clearing. Plus, some students were surprised that the restored teacher estimates didn't match prelim results. Erin can't forget the moment she opened her exam results in August 2020.
She'd been studying for six Highers and after getting A grades at prelim, was hoping to study veterinary medicine. "I remember being quite excited," she said. "I didn't think anything was going to go wrong.
I thought I'd set myself up really well." Then the postman arrived and Erin remembers opening the envelope, receiving three Bs, one C and two Ds. "My legs buckled beneath me, I remember feeling I just couldn't believe this had happened," she said. "It did not reflect anything that I'd done over the last two years." Erin had never failed a class in her life.
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