SNP fails to hit flagship pledge as SQA results revealed
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NATS ministers have failed to meet their flagship pledge to wipe out the poverty-related 'attainment gap' in the final report card before the 2026 Holyrood election.
Nicola Sturgeon pledged in 2015 to eliminate the difference in achievement between rich and poor kids and in 2016 she and John Swinney - who was then Education Secretary - said this would be done 'substantially' in a decade.
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The SNP government has failed to reach its pledge to eradicate the poverty-related attainment gap
Credit: PA
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School pupils across Scotland received their exam results today
Credit: Getty
But as 147,000 pupils received their exam results earlier today, it emerged the attainment gap has actually grown since Mr Swinney took over as First Minister.
In 2017 the gap was 15.7 percentage points at National 5, 15.8 at Higher and 11.5 at Advanced Higher. It is now 16.6 at National 5, 17.1 at Higher and 12.8 at Advanced Higher.
But sparking criticism from opposition parties, the Scottish Government hailed a 0.1 percentage point improvement on last year - a figure which was rounded up by officials - as evidence of progress.
Scottish Labour education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said: 'This once again proves that any promises made by the SNP are simply not worth the paper they are written on.
'The SNP has gone from promising to close the attainment gap entirely to congratulating itself for the most incremental progress.'
Scottish Tory education spokesman Miles Briggs said: 'These results have been achieved against a backdrop of another challenging year in our schools with violence soaring out of control and teachers often feeling like they do not have enough say over the school curriculum.
'Frankly, no amount of spin from them can avoid the fact that Nicola Sturgeon's promises in relation to the attainment gap lie in tatters.'
Overall, the the rate of pupils achieving between an A and a C at National 5 increased from 77.2 per cent to 78.4 per cent year on year, while Higher jumped from 74.9 per cent to 75.9 per cent.
The proportion of pupils getting A grades was 30.8 per cent compared to 30.3 per cent in 2024 for Highers, and 39.2 per cent compared to 38.0 per cent in 2024 for National 5s.
SNP and Scottish Government chiefs today insisted 'the poverty-related attainment gap has continued to narrow at all three key qualification levels, underlining the SNP's sustained focus on closing the gap'.
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But the Scottish Qualifications Authority confirmed the narrowing of the attainment gap at Higher was less than 0.1 percentage point as 'an impact of rounding'.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said the failure to eliminate the gap wasn't her fault and blamed Covid and the UK Government.
She said: 'We have to be mindful that this is the pandemic generation and these children and young people's experience of school during lockdown saw their education disrupted at points, and I think that has impacted on what have seen in recent years in attainment.
A RECORD number of young Scots have secured places at university - but a poverty-related target is still being missed.
Statistics released by admission body Ucas show 17,350 17 and 18-year-olds will be admitted this year, compared to 16,650 last year.
The number of those from the most deprived backgrounds is also at its highest, at 2,060.
But the gap in the proportion of those accepted from the most deprived areas compared with the most affluent remains wide - with 16 per cent from the fifth of areas described as the most deprived being accepted compared to 43.6 per cent from the least-deprived communities.
And the total number of applicants from Scotland who secured a place at university this year actually fell compared to the figure for 2024, from 31,970 to 31,850, as a result of a decline in mature student applications.
Dr Jo Saxton, chief executive of Ucas, said: 'I'm delighted to see record numbers of young people in Scotland accept a place at university or college via Ucas this year.'
The Scottish Government's 2030 target us for pupils from the most deprived backgrounds to make up 20 per cent of university entrants.
Lib Dem MSP WIllian Rennie said: 'The university access figures show that the closing of the poverty related attainment gap has all but stalled in Scotland.
'It's difficult to see how the target will be reached by the end of the decade. Universities have been working incredibly hard on this target but ultimately this is a reflection of the SNP government's inability to close the gap in schools.'
Some 3,660 students are set to come from abroad - an increase from 3,480 from last year.
'We are also seeing the impact of austerity in Scotland's schools which is harming some of Scotland's most vulnerable young people and their families.'
In 2016, the Scottish Government made the pledge for the next decade and said it was 'the yardstick by which the people of Scotland can measure our success'.
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