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It has now been more than two months since The Herald first reported on what has become the latest in a seemingly endless line of SQA scandals.

First we reported that teachers were speaking out after the exam board ‘moved the goalposts’ for Higher History students. This, we were told, was achieved by changing the marking standards after the exam had taken place – a decision that might go some way to explaining the collapse in overall pass rates and the huge drop in performance levels in the Scottish History paper.

The SQA insisted that there was nothing to see here, but rather than allow ourselves to be fobbed off we kept digging as more and more individuals and organisations raised concerns.

A month after our initial reporting we revealed that the SQA had, very quietly, opened an investigation into the marking of Higher History – despite having previously called our reporting on the matter “misleading”.

The investigation is being carried out by a member of SQA staff rather than someone independent, which has prompted obvious and inevitable questions about the exam board marking its own homework. This is an organisation so dysfunctional and lacking in trust that it functions as a standalone punch line, yet the people running it seemed to think it has the credibility to investigate its own failures. It’s the sort of arrogance that would be........

© Herald Scotland