As schools go back in Scotland and exam results are issued in England many are questioning “what is education really for?” For all the talk of “equity” “empowerment” and “excellence”, those words sound hollow rhetoric against the harsh reality of education policy-makers’ decisions leading to statistics driving results. Callous mindsets still prevail as it becomes evident that structural and systemic biases were deeply rooted as the guiding roadmap for decision making within SQA and Ofqual. Let us remind ourselves that the height of injustice and inequity is the use of historical outcomes to curtail the opportunities of individuals.