Scottish ministers scrutinised following further falls in exam results

For three years ongoing, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has conceded the A to C pass rates for Highers, the main qualification for university entry, has dropped 0.2 per cent year on year.

Consequently, Scottish ministers have been accused of complacency, with opposition parties highlighting the “deeply worrying” trend.

Ross Greer, Scottish Green Party MSP said: “We cannot pretend that all is rosy in Scottish education when we are down 3,500 teachers from a decade ago [and] those in post are experiencing a workload and morale crisis.

“The SNP promised education would be the defining mission of this government, but so far there isn’t much evidence of their mission succeeding.”

Iain Gray, Scottish Labour’s education spokesman added: “The real concern is that these falls in attainment are now clear trends over a number of years.

“It would appear that years of cuts to school budgets and teacher numbers, along with the narrowing of the curriculum and reduced course choice are now having an impact on exam results.

“Until now John Swinney has refused even to acknowledge these problems, preferring to waste time on governance reforms no one wants or supports. He must now face up to these worrying trends, have them urgently investigated and tell us what action he intends to take to improve our schools.”

It would appear that years of cuts to school budgets and teacher numbers, along with the narrowing of the curriculum and reduced course choice are now having an impact on exam results

– Iain Gray

SQA figures revealed a fewer number of students are taking foreign languages such as French, Spanish and German, alongside social sciences including geography and history.

Contrarily, the data showed an increase in exams sat for modern studies and politics, the latter rising by 24 per cent.

Other data from this year’s results showed a slight growth in the number of pupils from the poorest 20 per cent of households reaching university– a key policy objective for Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

Overall, the admission service UCAS showed the number of Scottish domiciled students receiving university places rose by 4 per cent to 28,970, whilst 2 per cent of EU students won places.

Adding to his statement, Swinney said: “We want every young person in Scotland to have an equal chance of success no matter their background or circumstance.

“These figures show that we are making good progress on widening access.

“It is important to remember that we will always see slight variations in pass rates and the results show that we have a robust, credible assessment system in place,”