Falkirk Council: Exam results improve despite pandemic disruption

Director of children’s services, Robert Naylor, told members of Falkirk Council’s education, children and young people executive that an exact comparison between 2022 and 2019 was not possible as the exams in 2022 did not cover the entire curriculum.

However, with that caveat, he said: “If we look through the various tables and if we do seek to compare the exams in 2022 with the last exams in 2019, I’m pleased to report that the attainment in all of the indicators has increased.”

The 2019 figures are important as in 2020 and 2021 pupils were unable to sit formal exams and results were based on teachers’ assessments. As a result, they were unusually high across Scotland.

This year 48 per cent of fourth year pupils got five or more awards at SCQF Level 5 (National 5), grades A-C. That was an increase from 44 per cent in 2019.

Fifth year pupils also saw improvements on 2019, with 58 per cent getting one or more Highers, slightly up on 2019 which was 56 per cent; 37 per cent of pupils got three or more Highers (up from 32 per cent) and 18 per cent got five or more (up from 16 per cent).

By the end of sixth year, this year 50 per cent of pupils had three Highers or more (up from 45 per cent in 2019); 34 per cent had five or more Highers (up from 30 per cent).

At SCQF Level 7, 21 per cent had one or more Advanced Highers (an increase from 16 per cent in 2019).

Data will be used to analyse the performance of individual schools and individual departments to see where performance has been particularly good or in need of improvement.

Mr Naylor warned that it would take some time for the data to settle down as the SQA is being disbanded and will be replaced by a new qualifications body from 2024.

Councillor Laura Murtagh, Falkirk Council’s spokesperson for education, said: “It’s crucial to recognise the extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances that our children have gone through, that our staff have gone through in supporting them and that their parents and carers have gone through.”

“The whole process was extraordinarily challenging and I think the results achieved that have come through in this report are absolutely remarkable and we need to give that message out very strongly to the children of Falkirk that we are extremely proud of what they achieved.”

The two pupil members of the executive, Grace Galvin and Declan McGavin – both of whom sat Higher exams in May – said that they had found sitting the exams stressful.

Grace said: “I feel like a lot of people worked better in the Covid environment, with regular ongoing assessment compared to the one, main exam which causes a lot of anxiety and stress.”

The leader of Falkirk Council, Cecil Meiklejohn, said the pupils’ experiences “chimed with a lot of members thoughts” and she hoped it would be fed back to the new version of the SQA that will be set up from 2024.

There will be further report in February that covers attainment in other qualifications such as HNDs and Foundation Apprenticeship.