Controversy over dumbing down as Higher maths pass mark is lowered

This is the final year of the existing Highers.

School pupils have been awarded a record number of Highers after sitting the new qualification for the first time this year.

Thanks to an adjustment in the exams system however, students should be given a different result.

But the record results – which were expected to trigger a scramble for university places – were achieved despite research showing literacy standards have fallen at all years measured in Scotland’s primary and secondary schools.

“After reviewing the new Higher Maths exam, it was clear that the assessment distinguished between all areas of ability, but that, overall, the paper was more demanding than intended”.

The number of youngsters who gained three or more passes at Higher level has also increased to 30 per cent – up from just over a quarter in 2014.

And Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said the results showed that schools and teachers had once again pulled out all the stops to ensure pupils were supported to achieve their best.

Higher English passes were up 17.7% to 27,902 and Higher modern languages passes increased by 15.2% to 7,419. She also pointed out there remains a “significant attainment gap” between the best and worst state schools.

Jane Peckham, the NASUWT teaching union official for Scotland, said: “I’m note sure what the reasons would be for the higher achievement rate, but we’d be very concerned if we continued to have a two-tier system”. The pass rate of 76.7 per cent is down slightly on last year’s figure of 77.1 per cent.

This summer, 142,862 candidates sat exams including new and old Highers, Advanced Highers and Access, Intermediates and National qualifications.

“This remains the biggest challenge in Scottish education so when the public sees pass rates increasing year on year it does not tell the real story”. “Scotland has seen record numbers of Higher and Advanced Higher passes.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government faced calls for an urgent review of the new Higher maths exam amid claims the paper was “flawed and too difficult”.

He said: “In setting the grade boundaries for existing and new Higher mathematics we looked closely at a range of factors including the routes taken into the qualification, the proportion of entries from S5, S6 and college, and the performance of candidates in areas of the assessment that were common across both qualifications”.

“This means that those who would have received a grade A, B, C or D last year would achieve the same grade if they had sat this year’s exam”.

“All of SQA’s processes, involving thousands of teachers in the setting and marking of exams, are designed to ensure that standards are consistent from year to year”.