Pass or fail?

Higher exam pass rates in Scotland have fallen for the third successive year, prompting fresh concerns about declining standards in schools. The number of youngsters achieving passes at grades A to C in the Highers fell slightly from 77 per cent to 76.8 per cent compared with 2017. It’s not just the fall in pass rates but also the limit of subjects being offered in schools who have a recruitment problems. Curriculum for Excellence is a total crock.

Lynn Stewart The problem isn’t just the pass/fail rate in exams, it’s the whole Curriculum for Excellence (excrement, as many teachers refer to it as) that’s failing pupils. Pupil choice in subjects is being limited, pupils have to go to other schools to take certain subjects at increased cost to the local authorities, which

in turn takes money out of the individual school budgets. The pupils and teachers work hard but the system is letting them down.

Shona O’connor

To be expected really with the shortage of teachers. My son’s maths and drama classes were doubled up – two classes into one because of the shortage. Other classes like computing had substitute teachers for a third of the term. Nearly different teacher every week. He’s left school with one Higher in English and failing the Higher computing. He wants to study that subject so will now do it at college hoping that will be better. Fingers crossed.

Jill Simon

Oh well it’ll stop all the usual moans from oldies about how “exams are too easy these days”, how “youngsters have it too easy”, and how it wasn’t like this in “their day” .

Thomas Knowles

If they go up there’s concern the exams are too easy. If they go down, even marginally, standards are falling?

Lorraine Mcintosh Maybe we have stopped the “dumbing down” and actually toughened the papers slightly? Compare a Higher maths paper from the 1980s and today and see what I mean. The pass marks cannot increase year on year unless the exams become easier.

David Richardson