Record Exams Pass Rates

Schoolchildren across Fife are finding out their SQA results.

It's results day, with the number of Highers at grade A to C at an all time high of 149,000.

This year was the first since the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence, including nationals

This year saw a record number of Higher passes, with the overall pass rate remaining virtually unchanged – 77.1 per cent this year compared with 77.4 per cent last year. The number of Highers sat was 191,850 across all subjects – an increase of more than 9,000.

Students also received the first ever results for National 3 and 4 – assessed during the year– and National 5, assessed during the year and through a traditional end-of-year exam.

The pass rate was 93.0 per cent for National 4 and 81.1 per cent for National 5.

While direct comparisons between the new National qualifications and Standard Grade pass rates cannot be made, as a broad comparison, National 5 is the same level of challenge as Intermediate 2 and Standard Grade Credit.

Of the tens of thousands of students who received their results today, 37,237 chose to be informed by text message or email. All candidates were also notified by post.

Results across the exams from S5 to S6 show an improvement in Fife this year while the new S4 qualification results indicate a continuation of a trend of improvement.

Councillor Bryan Poole, Executive Spokesperson for Education, Children, Young People and Families, said: “Congratulations to all those young people who have worked hard and done their very best to get the results they were hoping for.

“I’d also like to thank staff who have supported our young people with such professionalism. This year has required staff to balance a new approach to the curriculum and exams with the existing framework. The results speak for themselves about how well they have done this.

“Today’s results are a cumulative result of dedication from staff from nursery, through primary school and into secondary school.

“Our approach in Fife is to focus on each individual child and to help them to achieve the best they can. It is about nurturing the potential in each child and making sure they have the skills to flourish when they leave school.

“As always pupils have risen to the challenge and shown that they are well equipped to go on to further education, training or work.”

EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan said:
 
"Scotland's pupils and teachers deserve high praise for a strong set of exam results which have been achieved during a very significant period of change for Scottish education. Whilst schools will take time to examine the detail of the data closely, especially with the new Higher being introduced next session, it is gratifying to see the positive attainment rates in the new National qualifications, particularly in light of the challenging circumstances in which these new courses were introduced. It is of great credit to the work of our schools, pupils and teachers that the diet has been so successful, at a time when budgets have been declining and workload pressures increasing.”
 
“Pupils, parents and teachers should be extremely proud of this strong set of results and the EIS sends its congratulations to all pupils who have been successful in their exams this year,” added Mr Flanagan.