Results are in: Higher pass rate falls
Annual debates over dumbing down or falling standards are not helping the standards of education
Pupils across Scotland received their exam results yesterday – as official figures revealed the overall pass rate for Highers has fallen for the fourth year in a row.
More than 133,000 children received their results by text message, email or post, with pass rates falling at every level except National 5. Of those who sat Highers, 74.8 per cent achieved an A to C pass mark, down from 76.8 per cent last year.
The figure was 77 p er cent in 2017 while in 2016 it was 77.2 per cent.
The overall pass rate for Scottish pupils sitting Hig hers has fallen for the fourth year in a row, prompting calls for an investigation into whether cuts to school budgets may have contributed.
As more than 133,000 children across the country received their results by text message, email or post, the national picture showed that pass rates had fallen at ever y level except National 5.
Of those who sat Highers, 74.8 per cent achieved an A to C pass mark, down from 76.8 per cent last year.
The rate in 2017 was 77 per cent, while in 2016 it stood at 77.2 per cent.
It is the first time that the Higher pass rate has fallen below 75 percent since the new exams was introduced in the 2014-15 academic year.
Year-on-year pass rates also fell at Advanced Higher by 1.1 per cent, National 2 by 2.6 per cent, National 3 by 3.6 per cent and National 4 by 2.6 per cent.
Figures from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that the only increase was at National 5, with 78.2 p er cent of pupils achieving grades A-C.
The number of pupils getting skills-based qualifications rose by more than 4,000 compared with last year and now stands as 54,406 – more than double the figure for 2012.
This trend was welcomed by teaching unions, which said it was evidence that children were increasingly happy to pursue vocational routes rather than traditional academic qualifications.
But Holy rood’ s opposition parties said the decline in exam attainment rates was a matter of“very serious concern” that should be ur gently investigated by the SQA.
Education secretary John Swinney defended the results, arguing if pass rates were to regularly increase“people would rightly question the robustness of our assessment system”.
Mr Swinney, who was visiting pupils receiving their results at Forth Valley College in Stirling, said: “These are a strong set of results which show a degree of year-on-year variation expected in a highperforming education system with credible assessment.
“I am pleased to see an overall rise in the pass rate for National 5, with increases in passes for maths and English.
“At Higher level we have seen a welcome upturn in the collective number of passes for the sciences – something we have focused our efforts on for some time.”
He added: “Our learners now have a much wider range of choice than ever before, allowing them to find the route into employment or further education that is right for them.
“There has been a sustained increase in the number of skills-based qualifications, with 54,406 awards achieved this year, more than double the figure attained in 2012 and a rise of over 4,000 awards on last year.
“While three-quarters of Higher candidates gained a pass at A-C, there has been a fall in the overall pass rate.
“This year for the first time we saw the removal of unit assessments at Higher level, a move that was broadly supported by the education sector.
“If the pass rate only ever
IAIN GRAY
Labour education spokesman
went up people would rightly question the robustness of our assessment system.
“We need to continue to ensure teachers have the right support in place to help them provide the best learning and teaching experiences for our young people.”
The Deputy First Minister added that the planned review of the Curriculum for Excellence’s senior phases should “identify any areas where we can collaborate with the education system to further improve the quality of education for our pupils”.
Scottish Green education spokesman Ross Greer said the trend should be “looked at urgently by the SQA and their findings explained in full to parliament at the earliest opportunity”.
“The exam authority says that fluctuation in pass rates is normal, but as any Higher maths student will tell you, this isn’t fluctuation, it’s a clear downward trend,” he added.
“Given the daily reports from teachers on the effects of budget and staffing cuts, as well as the narrowing of the curriculum we’ve seen in recent years, the SQ A needs to identify whether the cause is the exam itself or if it’s coming from elsewhere in the system.”
His Labour counterpart, Iain Gray, added that “the trend of falling attainment in Scottish education for the last few years is now the norm”.
“Years of sustained cuts to schools, thousands fewer teachers and the narrowing of the curriculum are failing our young people,” he said.
Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liz Smith said :“The overall national trend is a matter of very serious concern given the fall in attainment levels across the board with the exception of National 5.”
She added :“The whole structure of the Curriculum for Excellence has been brought into question by these results.”
“The trend of falling attainment is now the norm… thousands fewer teachers and the narrowing of the curriculum are failing our young people”
It has become an annual event. School exam results are announced and then, depending on the results, they are either seen as another shocking example of the “dumbing down” of education with seemingly everyone getting an A in something or a damning indictment of the quality of Scotland’s education system if pass rates fall.
Either way, it seems that teachers simply cannot win and the conversation is almost relentlessly negative, despite the almost obligatory photographs of small groups of pupils jumping in the air to celebrate their own particular results.
There is always likely to be a degree of variability in the average intelligence of any year group of pupils. It is also a difficult and subjective task to make sure that exams remain at a similar level of difficulty.
The danger is that political rows spill over into what should be a matter for experts in education.
For example, if a particularly bright year of pupils, the stand-out year of the century, got a record number of As at Higher, might the resulting furore over what was mistaken for “dumbing down” persuade those setting the exams to toughen the questions – whether subconsciously or because of
table-banging politicians – there - by putting the following year at an unfair disadvantage? The true state of Scottish education is more likely to be revealed by comparing its performance against other countries over a longer period of time than just one year to the next, but such exercises also have their critics.
It is important to ensure the highest of standards of education, but achieving this goal will not be helped by overly simplistic and politically driven reactions to the latest results, whether from the Government or opposition parties. One can only hope our politicians are wiser behind the scenes.
There are different expert opinions on how to best educate our children. Finland appears to have achieved remarkable results with a relaxed attitude to schoolwork; many in Scotland would sing the praises of hard work and discipline. However, it seems likely some children will respond well to one approach, but not the other.
Amidst the sound and fury of the debate, we should remember that teachers are the ones charged with educating each individual, unique child – within an overall system – and they are unlikely to be helped by being pilloried, one way or the other, on an annual basis.