Gina Wilson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland’s Head of Strategy, said:
“Young people have the right to participate in all decisions that affect them and adults are duty-bound to involve them, listen to them, and take them seriously. While we welcome the SQA 2021 Appeals Process Consultation, we are concerned that it was not accessible to young people and did not encourage them to participate. The language used was incredibly complex in places and we have heard from young people that they found it challenging to complete. They found the different options were not easy to distinguish, making it hard to form an opinion. The tight timeframe of two weeks also made it hard for young people to get support to respond. Young people are SQA’s most important stakeholders. They are the ones most impacted by these decisions and SQA must make it as easy as possible for them to have their voices heard.”
