SNP accused of 'shameful' failure as attainment gap widens amid exams chaos

SNP ministers have been accused of “shamefully” letting down youngsters from Scotland’s most disadvantaged areas after the poverty-related attainment gap widened again.

The difference in the performance at Higher between pupils from the most deprived and least deprived areas was 17.2 percentage points this year, up from 16 points last year, and 14.9 points in 2022.

It is the largest gulf since the new qualifications were introduced in 2015, wider than the 16.9 per cent recorded in 2019, before the Covid pandemic caused massive disruption to the education of pupils. A fall in attendance rates since the coronavirus crisis has been highlighted as one factor potentially impacting the figures.

The trend has reignited concerns about the performance of Scotland’s education system, which recorded its worst ever scores in the OECD’s Pisa tests last year.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth also highlighted a “wide variation” in overall pass rates between local authority areas in Scotland in 2024, which she plans to raise with council chiefs.

Statistics show the pass rate at Higher varied from 65.8 per cent in Angus and 68 per cent in Clackmannanshire, to 84.9 per cent in East Renfrewshire and 81.8 per cent in East Dunbartonshire at 81.8 per cent. Across Scotland, it was 74.9 per cent this year, down from 77.1 per cent last year and just above the 74.8 per cent in 2019.

Meanwhile, the data also shows a “disturbing” fall in the number of pupils taking key subjects at Higher, including Biology, Physics, French and German.

The results were published following a chaotic start to the day, with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) sending out blank exam result emails to more than 7,000 learners.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon famously described closing the poverty-related attainment gap as the “defining mission” of her government.

In the wake of this year’s results, Scottish Labour’s education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “The results speak for themselves - the poverty-related attainment gap is at its highest-ever level, while attainment has also fallen for all.

“Higher pass rates are equal to the lowest level on record and pass rates are well below the pre-pandemic standard. Despite the best efforts of teachers, staff and Scotland’s young people, they are being forced to pay the price of 17 years of SNP failure and SQA chaos.”

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Liam Kerr said: “The widening of the attainment gap continues to shamefully let down pupils from our most deprived backgrounds. The reality is that the SNP have failed a generation of Scotland’s pupils during their time in office.

“Nicola Sturgeon wanted to eliminate the poverty-related attainment gap in our schools, but it has widened year after year. John Swinney cannot escape his role in this scandal, having been a former education secretary and having sat around the Cabinet table for all but one of the 17 years his party have been in charge.”

Lindsay Paterson, emeritus professor of education policy at Edinburgh University, said: “Inequality of attainment relating to social deprivation has barely changed, and in some respects has become worse.

“The SQA measures this by comparing attainment by students from the most and least deprived neighbourhoods - not a perfect measure, but better than nothing. In the proportion passing at Higher, for example, this gap rose from 16.9 percentage points in 2019 to 17.2 points in 2024. At National 5, the gap rose from 17.0 to 17.2.

“The changes are quite small, but they do show that, in the past five years, no progress has been made towards the goal of closing the poverty-related attainment gap.“

First Minister John Swinney said “The results present a mixed picture across qualifications and demonstrate that we need to constantly focus on improvement in education. The Scottish Government will do that. The challenges in closing the attainment gap remain significant and we know are exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.”

Despite the gap, new figures published on Tuesday showed an 11 per cent increase in students from the most disadvantaged areas gaining a place at university, taking the number to the highest level since 2015. Claire McPherson, director of Universities Scotland, said: “This reflects a concerted effort from universities to support widening access.”

With the SQA data, Prof Paterson also highlighted a decline in the number of learners studying some subjects at Higher since 2019, which he described as “disturbing”.

“Overall between these dates, there was a 5.6 per cent rise in the number of attempts at Higher,” he said. “But in the major sciences, there were falls: down by 7.2 per cent in biology, down by 1.4 per cent in chemistry, and down by 3.1 per cent in physics.

“There was also a fall in mathematics (down by 0.6 per cent). There has been falls in modern languages, some very serious - down by 32.7 per cent in French, 29.9 per cent in German and 0.7 per cent in Spanish. 

“By contrast, the number sitting Higher rose in, for example, physical education (up 17.9 per cent), modern studies (up 9.6 per cent), history (up 2.8 per cent), geography (up 10.3 per cent) and business management (up 14.4 per cent),

“Important though PE and the social subjects are, it is unfortunate that they seem to be gaining at the expense of science, mathematics and languages.

“These falls in people sitting Highers in science and mathematics are especially striking when compared to the situation for A levels in England, where numbers sitting these subjects rose between 2019 and 2024: biology up 7 per cent, chemistry up 5.8 per cent, physics up 10.7 per cent and mathematics up 17.5 per cent (all within the context of an overall rise of 10.7 per cent in the number of attempts at A level).” Overall in Scotland, the A to C attainment rate at Higher was 74.9 per cent this year, down from 77.1 per cent last year and just above the 74.8 per cent in 2019. At National 5, the pass rate dropped to 77.2 per cent this year, below the 78.2 per cent in 2019, and lower than 78.8 per cent last year.

Meanwhile, at Advanced Higher it was down to 75.3 per cent, from above 79 per cent in both 2019 and 2023. This was in part due to an 18 per cent rise in the number of pupils sitting Advanced Highers since 2019.

Meanwhile, it emerged more than 32,000 pupils received special exam arrangements like different rooms or extra time this year, a rise of 59 per cent since 2019, amid increased anxiety levels since the pandemic, and soaring numbers of pupils additional support needs (ASN).

The results were announced following confusion for many learners on Tuesday morning as blank exam result emails were sent out to more than 7,000 learners.

SQA chief executive Fiona Robertson said she was "really sorry" about the "technical glitch”, which was said to have been resolved by 9.30am. The agency is investigating the issue and has had initial talks with a "supplier".

The results for this year come after the end of a “generous” and “sensitive” grading system operated in 2022 and 2023 to take account of the disruption to education when schools were closed for extended periods during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Grading essentially returned to pre-pandemic conditions this year, although the SQA said it would take into account any impact on learners who have been completing coursework for the first time, following the return of full course assessment this year.

Ms Robertson said learners had “coped well” with the return of course assessments, and that it did not have the negative impact some had expected.

She said: “While there is some variability in the national attainment picture in 2024, this is a solid set of results for learners in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. 2024 also marks a record-breaking year for vocational qualifications, as Scotland’s learners excelled in achieving valuable skills to build rewarding careers.

“And all of this has been achieved by a group of learners who experienced significant disruption to teaching and learning during the pandemic. Scotland’s learners should be rightly proud of their achievements, supported by Scotland's dedicated and hard-working teachers, lecturers, our schools and colleges, and the wider education community.”

Ms Gilruth said: “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.”

She added: “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.”