Scotland’s only exam board is facing further pressure after senior teachers raised “significant and grave concerns” over its marking policies.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has been accused of “moving the goalposts” for Higher History after the exam took place and subjecting students to an “unfair” system.

The organisation insists that nothing has changed, and that a huge drop in exam scores was simply down to poor performance from pupils, but the release of official marking instructions has revealed clear changes compared to previous years.

Having originally declined to intervene, education secretary Jenny Gilruth has now confirmed that she will meet senior SQA officials to discuss “concerns”.

The Herald can now reveal that a group of senior History teachers has submitted a lengthy and detailed list of concerns regarding the handling of this year’s Higher exam papers, all of which it says were “unanimously agreed”.

The document, a copy of which has been seen by The Herald, explicitly refers to “a shift in how marking points were to be interpreted”, pointing out that students would no longer receive marks for answers in one part of the paper unless their comments were “connected with a named Scot”, something that had not been the case in previous years.

The teachers clearly state that the standard was “changed retrospectively, after learners had sat the exam”, meaning that there was no opportunity to advise students of the changes.

A “clear disparity” between marking instructions from this year and those used for previous exams is also highlighted. Marking guides are publicly available and The Herald has highlighted the increased level of detail now in place. The group of teachers refer to a different example but still conclude that significant changes have been introduced. They state that “for the SQA to maintain that ‘nothing has changed’ in the national standard is not acceptable".

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One possible explanation for the marking problems is provided by the group, who suggest that a significant number of papers were returned unmarked after staff withdrew from the process, forcing the SQA to adopt a new approach “in a very tight timescale.” They say that they believe this led to student papers being marked “in a rush” and with little effective oversight.

Finally, the teachers raise concerns about the SQA failing to run sessions for teaching staff in which the new approach is explained. The organisation has announced a series of online ‘Understanding Standards’ events for the coming months, including one for National 5 History, but the official website currently shows no sessions confirmed for Higher History, although The Herald has been told that the SQA does plan to run such an event in November.

In response to these concerns, The Herald approached the SQA with a number of questions about its handling of Higher History marking and the subsequent complaints about its processes.

We asked if the organisation stood by its existing comments that there had been no change to marking standards, and that teachers were, therefore, wrong, despite the latest developments.

We also asked if the SQA had carried out any sort of investigation into the matter or had simply rejected the criticism and the existence of any problems with its marking approach. If an investigation had taken place we asked for details of the form it had taken.

Additionally, we requested confirmation of the number of markers who had withdrawn their cooperation, and information about what actions the SQA had taken to address that issue.

A spokesperson for the SQA refused to answer these questions and said: “The Chief Examiner will meet with the Cabinet Secretary for Education next week to discuss Higher History.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government confirmed that Jenny Gilruth will meet with “both the Chief Examiner and the Chair of the SQA on 18 September” and that “issues raised over the marking of Higher history will be discussed".

They added: “The creation of Qualifications Scotland, alongside other reforms, will bring about real change and help strengthen the national education landscape. The governance model for the new qualifications body will ensure the knowledge and experience of pupils and teachers are central to decisions taken on qualifications and assessment, and drive greater transparency and accountability towards them.”