EDUCATION: ScotTISH Lib Dems criticise SNP exam failings

By Bill Heaney

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today congratulated pupils on their exam results but raised concerns over falling pass rates, the rising attainment gap and errors which have seen pupils receive blank emails in place of their grades.

• 77.2% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C, down from 78.8% in 2023. The attainment gap between those from the most affluent and most deprived areas was 17.2%, the highest level ever.

• 74.9% of those sitting Highers passed with grades A to C, down from 77.1% last year in 2023. The attainment gap between those from the most affluent and most deprived areas was 17.1%, the widest since the new versions of qualifications were introduced.

• 75.3% of those sitting Advanced Highers students achieved A to C grades, down from 79.8% in 2023. The attainment gap increased from 11.5% in 2023 to 15.5% this year.

Mr Cole-Hamilton, pictured right,  said:  “First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone receiving their results today and commiserate with those who did not get the grades they wanted. There is no single correct path to take and there are great options out there no matter how well you did.

“However, I am concerned to see the attainment gap rising. This was supposed to be the SNP’s defining mission, and one that Nicola Sturgeon specifically tasked John Swinney with overseeing but the gap between the richest and the poorest is widening.

“It appears that nothing the SNP have done in government has worked.

“When I speak with teachers they identify a series of roadblocks: behaviour, absence rates, lack of support for Additional Support for Learning and unmanageable workloads which has been allowed to flourish under the SNP.

“My party has been consistently critical of the record of the SQA in supporting pupils and we remain concerned that the Scottish Government’s proposed education reforms will see the same leadership in charge making the same mistakes.”

Responding to “technical issues” which saw some candidates who signed up to receive results by email reportedly receive blank emails, he added:  “For many young people this will already be the most stressful day of their life so far. They could certainly do without false alarms and errors from the exam board.”

Meanwhile, accepting expert recommendations to move away from Scotland’s Victorian-era system of high stakes, end of term exams will be key to closing the attainment gap in our schools, say the Scottish Greens.

The party’s education spokesperson and MSP for West Scotland Region, Ross Greer MSP, pictured left, has called for a move towards more continuous assessment, in line with the recommendations of Professor Louise Hayward’s Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessments, published by the Scottish Government earlier this year.

Mr Greer has highlighted the evidence of a narrower attainment gap between pupils from the most and least privileged backgrounds when alternatives to high-stakes exams have been used.

The Green MSP has also pointed to the fall in pass rates and widening attainment gap as evidence that the SQA was mistaken to reverse many of the changes previously made to compensate for disruption caused by the pandemic.

Mr Greer said: “Results day is always stressful for pupils, teachers and parents and carers, and this year’s email error has only made that worse. Every young person should be congratulated on the work they put in and the skills they’ve developed, whatever their final grade.

“This must be one of the last years where Scotland’s young people are put through a Victorian-era system of high-stakes end of term exams. We now have clear evidence that this makes the attainment gap worse than it would be under more modern assessment methods.

“The Scottish Greens have long campaigned for a move away from this exams system and towards greater use of ongoing assessment throughout the year. After the 2020 grading scandal we secured a review of the exams system because we knew change was desperately needed.

“The Scottish Government must show some courage and commit to delivering in full the 21st century approach to qualifications proposed by Professor Hayward. The status quo is failing our students.

“High stakes end of term exams are not, and never have been, an accurate way of measuring a young person’s knowledge or abilities. It is deeply unfair that a pupil who has excelled all year can have their future irreversibly altered by a bout of illness, anxiety or lack of sleep the night before due to a chaotic home life.”

“These results should be seen in the context of the SQA’s decision to reverse the course alterations previously made to compensate for disruption caused by Covid. Given that all pupils taking exams this year were in high school during the worst of the pandemic, that was clearly a mistake.

Top of page picture: Pupils getting the head down as they prepare for end of term examinations.