The introduction in Scotland of the reformed examinations system in 2000 was criticised in the press and by the Government after a series of administrative and computer errors led to several thousand incorrect Higher and Intermediate certificates being sent out by post. The crisis took several months to resolve, and several management figures including the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, Ron Tuck, resigned or lost their jobs as a result.

Timeline

*26 June 2000 The Scottish Qualifications Authority announces 'teething problems' with the marking system, but promises that students will receive their results on time. *9 August 2000 The Scottish Qualifications Authority publicly admits that pupils sitting Higher Grade examinations may not receive the correct results. *10 August 2000 Thousands of students across

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

receive incomplete or inaccurate exam results. Schools are left in disarray as 5% of all schools have not been sent ''any'' results at all, accurate or otherwise. *12 August 2000 Ron Tuck, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, resigns, stating his regret and accepting responsibility for "this unfortunate episode". The

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

coalition Scottish Executive ignores demands by the Scottish National Party for

Sam Galbraith Samuel Laird Galbraith (18 October 1945 – 18 August 2014) was a Scottish politician and neurosurgeon who served as Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture from 2000 to 2001 and Minister for Children and Education from 1999 to 2000. Galbra ...

, the Education Minister, to resign. *13 August 2000 The Scottish Qualifications Authority and Scottish Executive claim that the errors are due to the correct results being incorrectly collated, due to a serious fault in the new computer programme, not exams being marked wrongly in the first place. *14 August 2000 Bill Morton is appointed as acting Chief Executive, to replace Ron Tuck, who resigned. *15 August 2000 Students are assured that their marks will not go down. However this leaves a problem for

UCAS The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS ) is a UK-based organisation whose main role is to operate the application process for British universities. It operates as an independent charity, funded by fees charged to applicants an ...

, who has no way of knowing if students with high grades actually earned them or not. UCAS accepted the validity of all results. *18 August 2000

admits in a statement that many of the students whose certificates contained errors could lose out on a university place that they would have received had the results been accurate and on time. *20 August 2000 The Scottish Qualifications Authority claims that over 2,000 students with inaccurate certificates will receive the correct ones the next day, and the rest will be fixed 'in a matter of days.' *22 August 2000 Now realising that 21 August was not a realistic deadline, the Scottish Qualifications Authority vow to sort out the worst affected pupils' results by 20 September 2000. *27 August 2000 The Scottish Qualifications Authority sorts out

Higher Grade In the Scottish secondary education system, the Higher () is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualification ...

exam results. *28 August 2000 Bill Morton orders an internal investigation at the Scottish Qualifications Authority. *29 August 2000 Over 4,000 Standard Grade students are discovered to have received incorrect certificates. *29 October 2000

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister ...

becomes the new Education Minister. Sam Galbraith is removed to Environment Minister. *31 October 2000 A leak reveals that the Scottish Qualifications Authority failed to sort out non-urgent

exam results within the planned deadline—and the new Chief Executive was not told. *9 November 2000 Jack McConnell appoints a new Scottish Qualifications Authority board. 16 of the 24 members have been replaced. *25 November 2000 The Scottish Qualifications Authority begins sending out accurate exam certificates to students—three months after they were supposed to be delivered. *10 August 2001 Media reports suggest that the exam results fiasco cost the people of Scotland over £11,000,000. *10 January 2002 It emerged that an eighteen-year-old student has decided to sue the Scottish Qualifications Authority for compensation after she spent her time retaking a subject she had passed in, but wasn't notified about it until nine months later.Girl to sue exam authority over lost university place ''Guardian''
/ref>

References

External links

to the Scottish Parliament of the difficulties experienced in 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sqa Examinations Controversy 2000 in Scotland Education in Scotland Political history of Scotland Political scandals in Scotland History of the Labour Party (UK) History of the Liberal Democrats (UK) Scottish Labour Scottish Liberal Democrats Education controversies in the United Kingdom