The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has budgeted for rebranding costs associated with its transition into the new body Qualifications Scotland in December.
A Tes Scotland freedom of information request revealed that the total bill for associated rebranding was expected to be £307,000, with £72,000 being budgeted for trademarks, £26,000 for signage and £209,000 for marketing.
However, when Tes went back to the SQA for fresh comment yesterday, a spokesperson said that since the FOI response was prepared in August, the budget has been updated and now only includes the trademarks and signage costs - with no sum allocated for marketing - for a total of £98,000.
The spokesperson said: “Qualifications Scotland will start work in December. There will inevitably be some branding costs but these are being kept to a bare minimum and our focus is firmly on ensuring the new body delivers - and delivers differently - for learners, teachers and others.”
Rebranding for SQA successor
Responding to the initial figures, School Leaders Scotland (SLS) said it was difficult to justify any non-frontline spending “at a time when school and council education budgets are so stretched with so many pressures”.
SLS general secretary David Barnett called for any costs incurred to be fully funded by the government “without impacting qualification services for young people”.
Meanwhile, the EIS teaching union said “real culture change” - not “shiny new branding” - was what the teaching profession, students and parents were “crying out for”.
A spokesperson reiterated the union’s concerns that the recently passed Education (Scotland) Bill “missed real opportunities to ensure delivery”. They said it remained to be seen if Qualifications Scotland would be “more meaningfully accountable to the teaching profession and other key stakeholders”.
In the wake of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development review of Curriculum for Excellence in 2021, the Scottish government announced the replacement of the SQA. The OECD review was critical of the high-stakes qualifications system experienced by students in upper-secondary schools, saying it was at odds with the ambitions of Curriculum for Excellence.
The SQA’s reputation had also been damaged by the 2020 grading fiasco during the Covid pandemic.
Education secretary Jenny Gilruth has said that the SQA’s replacement, Qualifications Scotland, will ensure that the knowledge and experience of pupils and teachers are “at the heart” of Scottish school qualifications.
However, after the bill was passed in June, the EIS described it as “an opportunity missed”. The union was “less than persuaded” that teacher professional voice would be central to decision-making at Qualifications Scotland.
Frustrations over reform
The EIS also criticised the fact that accreditation was to remain within the reformed body - something that has been likened to Qualifications Scotland being allowed to mark its own homework - and hit out at the failure to implement fully the recommendations from Professor Louise Hayward’s 2023 review of qualifications and assessment.
Responding to the initial figures uncovered by the Tes Scotland freedom of information request into rebranding costs, the EIS called for “real transformation of senior-phase learning, teaching and assessment, from a treadmill of high-stakes exams to a richer, more equitable and enjoyable experience”.
The union warned that “an expensive rebrand” would not be enough to distract it from change that would be “worth its weight in gold to learners, the teaching profession and Scotland as a whole”.
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