SCOTLAND'S exams body (SQA) has been plunged into new turmoil as one in ten staff have left, while the rest are considering strike action as ministers are accused of failing to come up with a coherent plan to scrap it.

The staff shortages come as talks to avoid potential strike action at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) which could severely disrupt the appeals process for school pupils have so far failed to reach a breakthrough.

Staff have previously complained that they have been "locked out" of discussions over their futures and a proposed new educational standards body - which is due to be phased in this winter.

The Scottish government announced in June that the SQA is to be scrapped as part of a "substantial" overhaul of education.

The exams body is to be broken up and replaced, with pupils, parents and teachers to be consulted on changes.

Three new education bodies will be created - a qualifications body, a national agency for Scottish education, and an independent inspection body.

The SQA has been under fierce criticism from pupils, teachers and opposition politicians for allegedly failing pupils.

In 2020, the exams body used a now infamous algorithm to lower the grades of thousands of pupils after exams were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, it cancelled Nat 5 exams, but committed to physical exams for Highers and Advanced Highers to take place, only to U-turn months before exams were set to begin.

The government said in June, last year that the changes would be made in response to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report on the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) which backed the curriculum as a whole but it said there was too much focus on exams in later years of schooling.

The pandemic also brought particular focus onto the school qualifications system, with criticism about how grades were decided after formal exams were cancelled two years running.

In response to this, the government announced that the SQA was to be replaced, with schools agency Education Scotland also set for a shakeup and a new independent system for school inspections to be set up.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said at the time there would be a "period of change" to "improve, to achieve more and to deliver for Scotland's pupils".

But union leaders say that since then morale has slumped amongst the 1000 staff within the SQA with still little information of what will happen in the new regime.

According to the union Unite, which represents hundreds of workers at the exams body, some 130 people have left SQA since last year, combined with a rise of sickness absences at four per cent, while the vacancy rate is at 11.6%.

It is feared that the absences will hit the organisation's ability to do its job.

The Herald:

Unite regional officer Alison MacLean (above) said: "The staff have been forgotten about and treated terribly, tarred with the brush of being part and parcel of the SQA without any distinction drawn to the fact they are not decision makers and have been left to pick up the pieces for terrible decisions which ultimately brought about the scrapping of the SQA. "They had no say in this and have no idea about their futures hence why there are so many vacancies, turnover is high and there is increased sickness absence.

"The proposed pay uplift only adds insult to injury hence why they’ve had enough. The blame lies right at the Scottish Government's and senior management's door."

Professor Ken Muir, the former chief executive of the General Teaching Council, has been leading efforts to replace the SQA with a new specialist agency for curriculum and assessment and investigate moving the inspection function away from Education Scotland.

But Ms McLean said moves to gain certainty over the re-organisation have been "as slow as treacle" leaving staff in limbo.

Concerns have been raised about a lack of assurances over job roles and locations, conditions and pay within any new organisation.

The government has committed to the new model being fully operational by 2024.

But Ms MacLean said: "There is nothing moving on it. It has almost come to a standing stop. They were talking about having an operational model by November this year but we haven't seen or heard anything about that.

"In terms of the longer term for the staff at SQA, they don't know whether or not if there is a bun fight for jobs.

"We don't know what organisation they are going to be involved in.

"We have a perfect storm here. We have staff that are disgruntled anyway to begin with because their future isn't clear. They are going to have to go through the biggest organisation that they have every been involved with. The whole organisation is being disbanded and put back together again.

"There may be voluntary severance, there might be people hived off to other parts of the civil servants. We just don't know yet.

"They are expected to get on with it and have business as usual and to add insult to injury, they are getting a terrible pay offer." The offer is worth a maximum of four percent for some staff but a significant number of long-serving SQA staff will get just 1.7 percent, just as inflation has soared to nearly 10%. Unite say lower grades should get 7.6% and those on higher incomes would get 4.3%. "Morale is rock bottom. And the problem with SQA is they get a kicking all the time, but it is not the ordinary staff that are to blame for the failures of senior.

"Parents, stakeholders and teachers don't appear to have sympathy. It is easy for people to think there is a dispute, but who cares. But these are people who have had a lot of stress over recent years. They are left to pick up the pieces."

She said the pay increase they are suggesting was "realitic" and remains a real terms pay cut.

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On an 85% turnout, 95% of union members rejected the pay offer, with 84% indicating they would be prepared to strike.

The union has now launched an industrial action ballot.

Unite say the strikes or industrial action short of strikes would hit the appeals process for students, which is expected to be busier than normal.

Last week the pass rate for pupils sitting exams in Scotland dropped from the levels seen in the two years when they were affected by Covid pandemic measures - although they rose from pre-Covid levels.

At Higher level, the number of pupils getting an A to C pass was 78.9%, down from 87.3% last year.

This was higher than the rate of 74.8% in 2019, the last year in which formal exams were sat across the country.

The pass rates for National 5 and Advanced Highers followed a similar pattern.

Students were extra support, with a "generous" approach taken to grading due to ongoing disruption.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said this would make it difficult to draw comparisons between attainment over recent years, but said universities and employers could still have confidence that standards had been maintained.

"The most immediate potential impact of any strikes at the SQA would be on the appeals process," said Ms Maclean "The appeals process is different this year. What used to happen was that it used to be that candidates would have to get a centre's approval to go ahead with an appeal. This year the candidates themselves are able to appeal so long as their result was below their estimate. They are expecting a lot more appeals this year.

"There could be as many as 95,000 appeals and there are people that get priority appeals, because they are contingent on a college or university place. Those have to be done by September 6. Others go on till the end of October. "If we get a strike mandate, we have to serve two weeks notice by law. The earliest we would take strike action is the first week in September. So it would have an impact on the majority of appeals."

A record 60.1% of Scottish students gained a place at their firm choice university, up from the pre-pandemic level of 57.5% in 2019.

Operating models of the new organisations were due to be developed this winter before a period of so-called ‘shadow operation’ for the new bodies ahead of them being fully operational in 2024.

At this point, the SQA and Education Scotland will cease to exist.

The new examinations body will take on the SQA’s remit for the design and delivery of Scotland’s qualifications such as Nat 5s and Highers.

It will also take on responsibility for the exam diet, including writing exams and marking, alongside certification.

An SQA spokesman said:“We’re really disappointed by these comments, and in a week in which learners across Scotland received their results. SQA staff have pulled out all the stops to deliver for Scotland’s learners in very challenging circumstances and we’re now focussed on ensuring we deliver our appeals service and preparing for the new academic year.

"We continue to attract and retain talented, committed staff and remain in dialogue with our trade unions on pay and the Scottish Government’s reform programme.”