SQA publishes additional information on 2023 appeal outcomes
Tuesday 5 December 2023
SQA has published additional information regarding the National Qualification appeal outcomes; by subject and SCQF level, by sex, by centre type, and by SIMD level.
This follows the publication of the provisional summary of appeals on Tuesday 7 November when learners across the country were also informed of the outcome of their individual appeal requests.
This year, 39,660 (7.3%) of the 540,920 certificated grades for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher were appealed in 2023. In total, 3,980 appeals (10.0%) resulted in an upgrade.
- 18,025 appeal requests were received for National 5 (5.6% of 321,360 entries).
- 19,680 appeal requests were received for Higher (10.3% of 191,810 entries).
- 1,955 appeal requests were received for Advanced Higher (7.0% of 27,750 entries).
The proportion of entries resulting in an appeal request this year was highest for Higher level courses and lowest for National 5.
- There were large differences in upgrade rates between subject groupings. The lowest upgrade rates were found in Science at 2.4%, and Mathematics at 6.9% whereas Home Economics, and Care had the highest upgrade rates at 22.2%, and 25.6% respectively.
- Local authority schools submitted 36,590 appeals (92.3% of all appeal requests). Independent schools made 2,700 appeals (6.8% of all appeal requests). Colleges submitted 330 appeals (0.8% of all appeal requests).
- 21,375 appeals were from females. 18,270 appeals were from males.
Fiona Robertson, SQA’s Chief Executive and Scotland’s Chief Examining Officer, said: “Every year, SQA’s role is to evaluate learners’ performance in assessments in an equitable and fair way, while ensuring standards are maintained so that our qualifications remain credible – and this year was no different.
“The appeals service is the final stage of the National Qualifications awarding process in 2023 and gave learners across the country a safety net so they could query any unexpected result, directly and for free. Today, we have published additional information on appeals outcomes in 2023.
“Our appointees – experienced teachers and lecturers from across the country – are essential to qualifications delivery in Scotland, and we called upon their expertise again during the appeals process. Their understanding of standards ensures that young people have the best opportunity to successfully demonstrate their knowledge and skills and have their achievements recognised and recorded fairly. This provides a strong foundation on which to build the next stage of their learning, training, or employment.”
Links to published reports
Read the reports on the appeals pages of our website - this includes the Summary of Appeal Outcomes 2023; Appeals Reports Tables 2023; Appeals Report Tables 2023 - Centre Type; and Appeals Reports Tables 2023 - SIMD.