Results Day: Higher passes exceed 150,000 for third year in a row

The whole country should be proud of the qualifications gained by Scotland’s young people, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said this morning. Mr Swinney was speaking as around 136,000 students across Scotland receive their results for a wide range of SQA qualifications including National 5, Highers and SQA Awards. Early indications are that results in Edinburgh are positive, with improvements in key areas.

Higher passes have exceeded 150,000 for the third year in a row and pass rates are consistently strong. The number of skills-based awards has more than doubled in the past five years, from 24,849 in 2012 to 50,148 this year.

On a visit to Bannerman High School in Glasgow, Mr Swinney said: “I would like to congratulate our young people, and their teachers, for their hard work and effort. The whole country should rightly be proud of the excellence and achievement in Scottish education demonstrated by these results.

“We expect to see small variations in pass rates year-on-year, which demonstrate the high standards, strength and integrity of our national qualifications. This is of paramount importance.

“The much greater range of qualifications and skills-based awards demonstrates Curriculum for Excellence is successfully meeting the needs of young people and giving them the best chance of success in further learning, life and work. It is the right reform for Scottish education.

“The further steps we have set out to close the attainment gap and raise standards for all will build on these solid foundations.”

In Edinburgh, early indications are positive with candidates once again making improvements on their performances in several areas from last year and the City of Edinburgh Council schools’ overall good performance has been maintained.

A total of 40,141 resulted awards were certificated for 7,965 candidates (includes special schools, adults and mainstream secondary schools) in over 83 subjects ranging from Accounting to Urdu.

A particular strength continues to be attainment of pupils by the end of S5 and S6 where the strong levels of attainment have either been maintained or improved at Highers.

Highlights include:

• By the end of S4, 44% of the S4 roll achieved 5 qualifications at National 5 level which is an increase of 1 percentage point from last year, and an increase of 6 percentage points since the first National 5 examinations in 2014.
• By the end of S5, 38% of the S4 roll achieved 3 or more Highers – a 1 percentage point improvement on last year and a 7 percentage point improvement since 2012.
• By the end of S5, 19% of the S4 roll achieved 5 or more Highers – a 1 percentage point improvement on last year.
• By the end of S6, 47% of the S4 roll achieved 3 or more Highers – a 1 percentage point increase on last year.
• By the end of S6, 33% of the S4 roll achieved 5 or more Highers – a 1 percentage point increase on last year.

Liberton High School pupil Calum Arnott, 17-years-old, achieved 7 As in his Highers. He said: “It was quite difficult during the exam period taking the seven subjects especially as one of them was ‘crash’ Physics but the teachers at Liberton were really supportive. I’m taking five Advanced Highers next year and hoping to do engineering at University.”

Councillor Ian Perry, Education Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, welcomed today’s results. He said: “Early indications from the SQA exam results show that 2017 has been another really positive year for our pupils with improvements in several key areas. It’s a real achievement to have not only sustained but built on the successes of previous years.

“By the end of S4, 44% of our pupils have achieved 5 qualifications at National 5 which is up from last year and a 6 percentage point improvement since the exams were first introduced in 2014.

“I want to congratulate all our teaching staff on their commitment to delivering learning experiences of the highest standards. Our pupils should be very proud of themselves too and are to be congratulated on their hard work and successes over the past year. And let’s not forget parents who have supported their children during this difficult time.

“The Council is also committed to making sure all school leavers enter a positive destination of employment, training, or further education through initiatives such as the Edinburgh Guarantee and I look forward to seeing many more placements and positive results.”