Behind the Headlines: Education must learn high-tech lesson

The UK education sector must be subject to more stringent regulation than industry when it comes to IT failures.

In the wake of the IT melt-down at the Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA), which ruined the exam results of 2,000 school-leavers, the panel on this week's Behind the Headlines called for an overhaul of the SQA's processes, with one guest calling for immediate legal action to be taken against the organisation.

Mary Cockroft, MD of consultancy firm Pagoda Associates, said: "They have a cottage industry. A teacher is paid £1 to evaluate an A-level paper. They do it at home, they do it anywhere they like. The whole thing is an absolute disgrace. The process should be re-looked at and treated with the seriousness it deserves."

Thomas Power, director of Ecademy, said: "It's all fine looking forward. But under today's law, sue the agency under data protection."

Michel Khan, IT director of Specsavers, said it was more important to concentrate on improving the business processes than legal redress, claiming that IT itself was not at the heart of the SQA's problems.

All the guests demanded sweeping changes in the education sector to make procedures more effective and more accountable. Cockroft called for action from the UK Parliament, the Scottish Assembly and the Department of Education and Employment. Khan agreed it is a government issue.

This week's Behind the Headlines also covers the possibility of a court case against BT, and the latest on IT in the boardroom.