Ministers have pledged to fund extra places to accommodate students if necessary - with the money coming from Henry McLeish's enterprise and lifelong learning department budget. But he said he now wanted to verify all the Standard Grade and intermediate results. Questions over the marking of exam papers have been raised by head teachers who are increasingly concerned that problems with marking has caused a collapse in grades and will lead to a flood of appeals. SQA staff worked throughout the weekend Mr Morton said the issue would be examined as part of a review into the problems surrounding this year's exams. My objective is to try and offer reassurance and not to have scaremongering running freely.
Schools can usually predict exam results from the previous year's standard grades.
But that has not been the case at schools like St Columba's in Kilmacolm. Donald Mathieson, of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland, predicted the number of appeals would soar. Mr Morton admitted that the SQA was expecting an increase in the number of appeals from its usual figure of about 40,000 a year. There have also been fresh calls for the resignation of Scottish Education Minister Sam Galbraith over the continuing crisis. The Scottish National Party said Mr Galbraith's position was becoming increasingly untenable.