Scottish exam results: National 5 pass rate up, but Higher and Advanced Higher down

Exam results in Scotland are up and down compared with last year.

While there has been an increase in pass rates at National 5 - exams typically taken in the 4th year of high school - the pass rate at Higher level has fallen.

The pass rate for National 5 increased by 0.7% while the pass rate at Higher - typically sat in the 5th year of high school - decreased by 2%.

Scotland's education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney has said he is pleased with a "strong set of results", but his Scottish Labour opponents said the figures reflect a "trend of falling attainment."

Around 133,000 people in Scotland received their exam results, with nearly half opting to get the news via text.

At National 5 level, the pass rate rose from 77.4% in 2018 to 78.2% this year.

At Higher level, 74.8% of pupils achieved an A to C pass mark, down from 76.8% in 2018.

At Advanced Higher level - typically sat in 6th year of high school - the pass rate fell from 80.5% to 79.4% last year.

Mr Swinney said of the results: "In a high performing education system, you're going to have volatility year-on-year. This is a very strong result in Scotland's young people.

"What is clear that comes out of the exam results today is that Scotland's young people are performing very strongly.

"These are some of the illustrations of the strength of the performance of the Scottish education system and it demonstrates the quality and the effectiveness of what's going on in Scotland's schools."

Scottish Labour acknowledged the improvement at National 5 level year-on-year, but pointed to a fall in attainment in National 4, Higher, and Advanced Higher qualifications.

Scottish Labour's Education spokesperson and former party leader Iain Gray MSP said: "We want to have an education system where all young people can achieve their potential.

"However the trend of falling attainment in Scottish education for the last few years is now the norm.

"These results show a fourth year of falling attainment in what the Government calls the 'gold standard' Higher qualification.

"Years of sustained cuts to schools, thousands of fewer teachers and the narrowing of the curriculum are failing our young people.

"John Swinney has been warned year after year that these are the real issues facing our schools but instead he focuses on unwanted and unneeded governance 'reforms'.

"It is long past the time he took his failings seriously and urgently tells pupils, parents and teachers what he intends to do to reverse these trends.

"Failing to do so will simply fail more young people."