Scotland’s young people have recorded another highly successful set of results for this year’s SQA qualifications with more pupils getting a university place on exams results day than ever before. This was the second highest number of Higher passes on record, despite a fall in the size of the year-groups involved. Continue reading Congratulations! Exams success for Scotland’s school students
Free helpline for students expecting SQA results today
A free helpline offering advice, information and support for young people and their parents has opened, ahead of today’s SQA results. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has a free helpline which will be open from 8am to 8pm today and tomorrow and then from 9am to 5pm until 17 August. Continue reading Exam results: help and advice available
Scottish students achieve record number of Higher passes
Students across Scotland have achieved a record 156,000 Higher passes this year – up 5.5 per cent on 2014. Welcoming the figures, Education Secretary Angela Constance said the results are ‘very encouraging’.
Results certificates have been sent to 142,862 candidates sitting a wide range of qualifications – including new Highers for the first year and Nationals for the second year; and existing Access, Intermediates, Highers and Advanced Highers.
Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) show attainment is again high this year, with Higher English passes up 17.7 per cent to 27,902, and Higher modern languages passes increasing by 15.2 per cent to 7,419.
The pass rate for the new Maths Higher was 70.8 per cent, similar to that in previous years. The SQA awarding process continues to take into account the level of difficulty of the exam.
Advanced Higher passes have increased by 4.0 per cent to a record level of 18,899.
This year also saw significant shifts onto the new National Qualifications at other levels, as the process of transition into the new system continued. For example, there was a large increase in National 5 course entries, particularly among those taken beyond fourth year – with 229,870 A-C grades awarded.
There has also been strong performance in qualifications related to wider skills for life and work, with attainment in Awards, National Certificates and National Progression Awards up 22.8 per cent, to 33,931.
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Angela Constance said: “This is another strong performance by our young people. They have worked hard, and I congratulate each and every one of them, as well as the families and carers, and teachers and lecturers who have provided support.
“Scotland has seen record numbers of Higher and Advanced Higher passes. Students are performing particularly well in English and in modern languages.
“Despite concerns about the new Higher Maths exam, it’s clear that the system worked, that candidates have been treated fairly, and that standards have been maintained. The checks and balances in place ensure that students who would have gained a particular grade in a qualification in any previous year will still have done so at the same grade this year.
“This year we have already seen a record percentage of school leavers in employment, education or training. Today’s figures show that qualifications recognising life and work skills – such as Awards, National Certificates and National Progression Awards – are up a massive 22.8 per cent. This is very encouraging, as we support schools to do more to prepare our young people for the world of work.
“We now have a curriculum and assessment system designed to get the very best out of students and give them every possible chance of entering employment, training or further education.
“If you have not done as well as you had hoped or if you’ve done better than expected – help is on hand to discuss your future options by calling the exams results helpline on 0808 100 8000.”
Higher and new National Qualification results out today
Students across Scotland have achieved a record number of Higher passes in the last school year, it’s been revealed today. Over 140,000 candidates across Scotland received their results this morning, and Schools Minister Dr Alasdair Allan has congratulated pupils and teachers on their hard work and effort.
In addition to Access, Intermediates, Highers and Advanced Highers, this year saw the first students study for the new National Qualifications – part of the ongoing implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.
This year saw a record number of Higher passes, with the overall pass rate remaining virtually unchanged – 77.1 per cent this year compared with 77.4 per cent last year. The number of Highers sat was 191,850 across all subjects – an increase of more than 9,000.
Students also received the first ever results for National 3 and 4 – assessed during the year– and National 5, assessed during the year and through a traditional end-of-year exam. The pass rate was 93.0 per cent for National 4 and 81.1 per cent for National 5.
While direct comparisons between the new National qualifications and Standard Grade pass rates cannot be made, as a broad comparison, National 5 is the same level of challenge as Intermediate 2 and Standard Grade Credit.
Of the tens of thousands of students who received their results today, 37,237 chose to be informed by text message or email. All candidates were also notified by post.
Dr Allan said: “Congratulations to the thousands of young people who have worked so hard, their families who have supported them and the teachers who have worked tirelessly to prepare them. Today sees them well equipped to progress to new challenges, whatever those may be.
“Our education system has taken another significant step forward today. The new National qualifications represent a shift towards deeper learning and a greater emphasis on analysis, engagement and understanding. These are the qualities on which we will continue to strengthen our education system.
“Scotland’s teachers have been key to delivering our new curriculum and new qualifications. They have worked outstandingly hard and I thank them for all they have done. I know it has been a challenging year for them and, once again, I’ve been hugely impressed by their commitment to supporting Scotland’s young people.
“So many pupils have achieved strong grades in their Highers, Advanced Highers, Intermediates, Access and new Nationals – against very rigorous standards – and are now in a position to make exciting decisions about what they do next. My congratulations also go to the thousands of young people across Scotland who have achieved a wide variety of qualifications which meet a wider range of learners’ needs, such as SQA awards, National Progression Awards and Skills for Work and Personal Development.
“The fact that there has been such a marked increase in the number of Highers attained is a real success story. Students are now sitting a greater number of Highers, demonstrating real ambition and aspiration among young learners to achieve the best qualifications they can.
“I am also encouraged to see so many young people attaining National Qualifications, which are an important component within Curriculum for Excellence.
“This is a significant achievement for our learners and our schools, and clear evidence of continued improvement in Scottish education.
“As we celebrate these achievements I also offer my thanks to all of the parents and carers who have risen to the challenge of supporting them through their new qualifications.
“Clearly not everyone will have received the results they had hoped for, while others may simply be unsure of what to do next. Rest assured, help is available through the exam results helpline on 0808 100 8000 for those who may not have got what they needed.”
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of teachers trade union EIS, said: “Scotland’s pupils and teachers deserve high praise for a strong set of exam results which have been achieved during a very significant period of change for Scottish education.
“It is of great credit to the work of our schools, pupils and teachers that the diet has been so successful, at a time when budgets have been declining and workload pressures increasing.
“Pupils, parents and teachers should be extremely proud of this strong set of results and the EIS sends its congratulations to all pupils who have been successful in their exams this year.”
Early indications are that candidates in Edinburgh have once again exceeded expectations and that the city’s overall good performance has been maintained.
A total of 42,780 resulted awards were certificated for 8,402 candidates.
Highlights include:
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, welcomed today’s results. He said: ““Recently published figures from Audit Scotland showed Edinburgh is outperforming similar city and neighbouring local authorities and early indications from the SQA exam results show that 2014 has been another really positive year for our pupils, with performance rising yet again.
“This year’s provisional results are very encouraging with 100% of pupils achieving an English qualification by the end of S5. By the end of S6, an impressive 61% achieved one or more Highers which is a 13 percentage point improvement since 2009.
“I want to congratulate all those who sat exams this year, and thanks must also go to all our teaching staff who have been working extremely hard for the introduction of the new National exams.
“Another key aim is to make sure all school leavers enter a positive destination of employment, training or further education. Initiatives such as the Edinburgh Guarantee are going a long way to making this a reality for many of our ex-pupils.
“This year a record 91% of young people achieved and sustained a positive destination. This is something we will continue to build on in the coming years and look forward to seeing many more placements and positive results.”
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A report to the city council’s Education, Children and Families Committee sets out how Edinburgh Schools have been performing in the last year – and the report shows that, in the majority of indicators, city schools are performing above the national average.
Changes of note include improvements for some of the lowest achieving pupils, who have made considerable improvement over the last three years to within one per cent of the national performance level. Overall evaluation of improvements in early years level have been classified as ‘very good’ and there has been an improvement in Maths and English by the end of S4 which now sits above the national average. This clearly demonstrates the impact a renewed focus on employability skills is having.
Across the board there has been significant improvement in PE by the end of S4 which can be linked to Health and Wellbeing education under the Curriculum for Excellence and the 2 hours of quality PE prescribed by it. In Higher exams, there has been very good performance across the city in English, Mathematics, French, Physics, Computing and German.
High Schools that achieved very good examination results include The Royal High School, Boroughmuir HS, Currie HS, Firrhill HS, James Gillespie’s HS and St Thomas of Aquin’s, with significant improvements having been made at Craigroyston HS and Wester Hailes Education Centre.
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education, Children and Families Convener said, “I would like to congratulate schools for their continued improvement, the report shows how much is being achieved across the city. It’s clear from this report that some schools are making significant improvements and I would like to congratulate them for that. We will be looking to all our schools and continuing to work closely with them to ensure the upward trend continues.”
