School exams Scotland: SNP risks getting marked down if grades do not improve

Thousands of pupils are to sit their exams over the next few weeks, but SNP ministers will have their fingers crossed they can boast of an improvement in performance.

Friday marked the start of the annual school exam season, with more than 132,000 pupils to complete over two million exam papers between now and the end of next month.

While each pupil will be feeling the pressure to do well, Scottish ministers are at risk of getting marked down themselves if there is no improvement in overall grades.

Last year Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, herself a former school teacher, was forced to admit the results were “not good enough”.

That is because in 2024 the exam results fell to below pre-pandemic levels, and international tests suggested a long-term decline in educational attainment in Scotland.

Pupils and students across Scotland will be sitting their exams in the coming weeks. (Pic: John Devlin) | John Devlin/National World.

The attainment gap, which is the gap in the results achieved by the richest and poorest school pupils, is now as wide as it was a decade ago, which is when the SNP Government said closing the gap was one of its top priorities.

Ever since, ministers have come under increasing pressure on falling standards and poor behaviour in classrooms.

Teaching experts say 2025 will be the first year of “normal” exam marking since the pandemic - but what that means in practice probably will not be clear until results day on August 5.

For the best Scottish politics news and analysis, get The Steamie newsletter

Exams were cancelled for two years during the pandemic. Results were instead calculated on a mix of teacher estimates, previous course work and a school’s past performance, creating a wave of controversy that still lingers around now First Minister John Swinney.

In 2020 the pass rate for Highers jumped from 75 per cent to 89 per cent, and the percentage of pupils achieving the top grade hit a record high.

Since then the marking of exams has been described as “generous”, “sensitive” and “taking account of any impact on learners”.

Each year grade boundaries are adjusted slightly, but these adjustments have been more significant in the years since the pandemic.

Opposition parties in Holyrood will have their eyes out for any further slips in grades this time around, particularly as it will be the final set of exam results before the 2026 Holyrood election.

Education is devolved and the SNP has been in power since 2007. So there is no one else to blame if exam results go badly this year and the opposition parties hoping to trump them at the ballot box know this.

There are other elements of this the Government needs to sort out too.

Three years ago the Scottish Government asked Professor Louise Hayward from Glasgow University to review Scotland’s qualifications and assessments.

She recommended an end to S4 exams if students were to continue a subject in S5, and said too often schools were teaching to the test rather than offering a broad understanding of the subject.

After praise for improvement at Berwickshire High School, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said the role of knowledge would be considered as part of a 'curriculum improvement cycle' (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

The education secretary said she agreed with Prof Hayward and there should be less reliance on “high stakes final exams”. But last year the Government rejected these proposals and only a small number of practical subjects are dropping exams.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has been heavily criticised too for its handling of exams during the pandemic. This is therefore the last year students will sit SQA exams before the body is replaced by Qualifications Scotland.

Some say this is merely a simple rebrand as the majority of staff on the board will remain in place - another headache for the Government to sort out.

These weeks loom as a test for all of Scotland’s pupils who have bright dreams for the future - but a test as well for SNP ministers who want to hold onto power beyond 2026.