THE head of Scotland’s exam body is stepping down after eleven years in the post.
Dr Janet Brown, chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, will retire next year once a successor has been appointed.
Ms Brown, 67, who joined the organisation in 2007, has overseen a difficult time for the exam body with the controversial roll-out of new qualifications.
Teaching unions criticised the SQA for its handling of the introduction of new Highers, with particular concerns over a maths paper in 2015 that officials admitted was “too hard”.
In 2016 the SQA had to apologise after a number of coding errors appeared in the National 5 computing science paper.
A particular concern for teaching unions has also been the tone of correspondence from the SQA.
Two weeks ago a letter to schools introducing random spot checks to clamp down on inappropriate coaching of pupils was described as “wilfully insensitive”.
Internally the SQA has also hit problems with the handling of a restructuring of departments overwhelmingly criticised by staff in a ballot by the Unite union.
However, Ms Brown has also been seen as a leader who sees the SQA as a body which should celebrate the success of pupils.
David Middleton, chair of the SQA, paid tribute to the leadership of Ms Brown over the past decade.
He said: “I have conveyed to Janet the thanks of the SQA board for her outstanding service. The process of recruiting Janet’s successor will begin shortly.
“In the meantime I know Janet’s strong commitment to SQA and to Scotland’s learners will continue as she will remain in post until a suitable candidate has been appointed. This will ensure the continued delivery of SQA’s commitments.”
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union, said: “The SQA plays an important role in Scottish education and, while the EIS has contested aspects of the practice of the SQA in recent years, we have always enjoyed a respectful and constructive working relationship with Dr Brown.
“We wish her all the best for her forthcoming retirement, and hope to establish a similarly productive future working relationship with the next chief executive.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel