THE number of Higher passes has fallen for the fourth year in a row.

Yesterday as thousands of school kids and college students across the country received their exam marks, the SQA revealed that the only improvement was in National 5, with increases in passes for English and Maths.

There was criticism of the Scottish Government from opposition parties, but Education Secretary John Swinney said the results showed “a degree of year-on-year variation expected in a high performing education system with credible assessment.”

He said: “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 went up people would rightly question the robustness of our assessment system.”

Year-on-year pass rates were down at National 2 by 2.6%, National 3 by 3.6%, National 4 by 2.6%, Higher by 2% and Advanced Higher by 1.1%.

At National 5, 78.2% of pupils achieved grades A-C, up 0.7%.

The number of pupils taking Higher courses fell by more than 6,000, down from 191,951 in 2018 to 185,914 in 2019.

EIS secretary general Larry Flanagan said pupils and teachers deserved “high praise for a sound set of results which have been achieved during a period of significant strain upon everyone within Scottish education.”

Flanagan was not worried about the “slight variations”, saying that it only meant “Scotland continues to be successful in avoiding artificial grade inflation.”

He added, however, “There continues to be a debate about the articulation between the N4 and N5 courses, and schools remain concerned about the length of some of the exams at both Higher and National 5 – we would expect detailed analysis of the results to facilitate further examination of these areas.”

Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray said there was now a “trend of falling attainment in Scottish education”,

“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 fewer teachers and the narrowing of the curriculum are failing our young people.”

He added: “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’.”

Green MSP Ross Greer said the fall in attainment needed to “looked at urgently by the SQA”.

He added: “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."

Tory MSP Liz Smith said: “John Swinney has made a great deal in recent years about the Higher being the ‘gold standard’ of Scottish education.

“ That claim now looks very hollow given further drops in pass rates, and it comes at the same time as last year’s improvement in the Advanced Higher has been reversed.”

Meanwhile, James Russell from Skills Development Scotland urged students to get in touch to discuss their next steps: “If your results aren’t what you expected don’t panic, you have lots of options.

“Our experienced advisers are here to help you and your parents and carers with information on all the options and opportunities available to you.”

The helpline can be reached on 0808 100 8000.