EDUCATION Secretary Jenny Gilruth has congratulated students across Scotland as they receive their Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) exam results today.
Around 145,000 students – the highest number since 2015 – achieved a wide range of qualifications including National 5, Highers, Advanced Highers and SQA Awards with results published on Tuesday.
It’s the first year that saw the return of full coursework for Scottish students' assessment following the disruption during the pandemic.
The pass rates for Advanced Highers was 75.3%, Highers 74.9% and 77.2% at National 5 level, data from the Scottish Qualifications Authority shows.
This marks a fall from past years with the Higher pass rate at its lowest level since 2007.
The Higher attainment gap has also risen to its highest level since the new qualifications were introduced.
The SQA noted that there had been different approaches to awarding in each year since 2019 which do not allow for "meaningful conclusions to be drawn on changes in education performance".
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “Congratulations to all of Scotland’s young people receiving their results for this year. Their resilience is remarkable, and their achievements all the more impressive given the significant disruption to learning due to the pandemic at the end of primary school and start of the secondary school journey.
"Today is a chance to celebrate the full breadth of achievements attained by Scotland’s young people.
“I also want to give my thanks to the teachers, lecturers and staff in our schools and colleges – and, importantly, Scotland’s parents and carers – for supporting each individual young person.
“Among those achievements, I’m really heartened to see a record high 90,045 vocational or technical qualifications have been awarded this year, up almost a quarter on 2023’s results.
“Young people now have a much wider range of choice than ever before, allowing them to find the route into employment or further education that is right for them and we know that the poverty related gap has reduced by 60% since 2009 for young people leaving school and going on to a positive destination, such as work, training or further study.
“Of course Scotland is not unique – and like countries the world over, our education system is still in recovery from the pandemic. Undoubtedly, that has contributed to some of the variability we have seen in results this year, particularly with the full return to qualifications requirements for the first time since the pandemic.
“I am determined to work with our teachers, school staff and local authorities to drive further improvements in our schools.
“The curriculum improvement cycle is already underway, with mathematics and numeracy being prioritised first, which is being led by the recently appointed new national specialist in Mathematics.
"In the coming weeks, I will publish the Behaviour Action Plan, set out new action to improve attendance and confirm the Scottish Government’s next steps on qualifications reform early in the new parliamentary term.
“I am also conscious that there is a wide degree of variation in results between our 32 local authorities. To that end, I will be meeting with all local authority directors of education, the chief examiner and the interim chief inspector to consider the context of these results and how the Scottish Government can work with our councils to drive the improvements we all want to see.”
