Community offers its congratulations to the pupils who have been given their exam results for their National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications.
Provisional attainment statistics show:
- The National 5 pass rate rose to 79.2%, up 0.8 percentage points on last year
- The Higher pass rate rose to 76.7%, up 0.8 percentage points
- The Advanced Higher pass rate rose to 77.6%, up 0.9 percentage points
- The attainment gap between learners from the most and least deprived areas has narrowed further
- A record proportion of Scottish 18-year-olds (16.2%) have secured a place through UCAS this year
- Record numbers of learners also received vocational qualifications, including National Progression Awards, National Certificates and Skills for Work Awards
- Performance still varies widely by council area: East Renfrewshire topped the table for both Higher (87.1%) and Advanced Higher (81.2%) passes, while Moray recorded the lowest Higher pass rate (69.5%) and West Lothian the lowest at Advanced Higher (66.8%)
Helen Osgood, Community’s Director of Operations and National Officer for Education & Early Years, said:
“Congratulations to every learner collecting their results today and to the teachers, support staff and early years workers who helped to get them there. It is encouraging to see pass rates rise again and the poverty-related attainment gap continue to narrow, however, we should not let good headline figures hide the work still to do.
“The gulf between council areas – from 87% of Highers passed in East Renfrewshire to under 70% in Moray – shows how much a young person’s postcode still shapes their chances. Closing that will take significant and sustained investment.
“This is the first results day delivered in full by Qualifications Scotland, and Community will keep pressing for the curriculum and assessment to have genuinely greater input from the staff who know learners best. Whatever today’s result, there are options ahead. And to everyone who helped a young person get there, well done.”
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