History teachers in Scotland are lacking confidence in their courses and unsure of overall exam standards due to ongoing failures by the SQA, The Herald can exclusively reveal.

Unresolved concerns about marking for the 2024 Higher exam, and a lack of communication from Scotland’s only exam board, means that teachers have “no idea how to guide” their students in relation to the SQA’s expectations.

Concerns have also been raised that students are moving away from the subject as a result of the problems that have now rumbled on for months.

In August, The Herald revealed that teachers, including current exam marks, had accused the SQA of ‘moving the goalposts’ and subjecting students to an ‘unfair’ marking process for this year’s Higher History exam.

They explained that more detailed answers had been demanded than has previously been the case, with the SQA therefore accused of “moving the goalposts” after the exam had taken place.

Critics argued that this decision was behind a 25% drop in pupils’ performance levels in the Scottish History part of the exam, and a thirteen percentage point decline in the overall pass rate.

The SQA had originally insisted that marking has been “consistent with previous years” and described The Herald’s reporting as “misleading”. The exam board claimed that the sudden falls in test scores and pass rates was simply down to poorer performance from students. 

However, during a meeting with education secretary Jenny Gilruth, the SQA confirmed that it had u-turned and that an investigation had been launched, although this review is being carried out by a member of SQA staff rather than an independent organisation or individual. No public announcement of these decisions had been made.

Now, History teachers have told The Herald that they have been left unsure of the standards that are to be applied by the SQA, which has provided them with no meaningful information.

One teacher said: “The lack of communication has led to a lack of confidence of what I am delivering this year for what I previously thought was a strong, robust course.  There is no information on how to improve, change or meet the unspecified criteria.”

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Another explained that their workload has increased as they have been “trying to find extra examples to add” while “hoping that this is enough information” for students to pick up marks in the exam. They added: “We still don’t know if what we are adding is what the SQA is looking for.”

Additional comments included a warning that History teachers now “don’t know what [they] are aiming for” and that, despite joining the profession to help students, they have been left with “no idea how to guide them.”

One teacher was particularly scathing of the lack of assistance and clarity from the SQA. They argued that a great deal of training must be made available, but said: “There is nothing - and we are now in the middle of October. We are a third of the way in. We need support now and it needs to be readily available to all teachers.”

Another summarised current morale by saying: “It’s just quite crushing.”

Teachers have also highlighted that students are already choosing not to study History in part because expectations “are so much harder than for Higher Modern Studies.”  They warn that “student trust in teachers is going to be eroded” if the current problems continue.

In response, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government said that the “provision of guidance around teaching requirements for Highers and other national qualifications is an operational matter for the SQA.” They then reissued statements previously provided to The Herald.

The SQA was approached for comment on History teachers’ concerns, and also asked to explain its decision-making and timescales around the ongoing internal review.

Their spokesperson repeated an earlier statement claiming that the review is being "carried out independently by the SQA's Head of Standards", but will also be "subjected to independent external review and the final report will be published."

On the processes around the review, they added: “SQA's decision to submit the findings to independent external review, and to publish those findings publicly, was made at an early stage.

“That commitment was made by SQA entirely independently of the review itself, and ahead of any findings. There are no plans for reviews of any other subjects.”

The SQA declined to confirm how many students may be entitled to grade changes when the review finally concludes. More than 10,000 students sat Higher History in 2024.