As pupils tore open the envelopes containing their exam results, Fife education service began to analyse how well pupils had done in their exams overall.
Early indications are that the results across Fife are better than ever before. Education head Craig Munro said the council was delighted with the “outstanding” performance by Fife pupils this year.
“We believe this year’s results are the best ever performance by Fife schools in almost every category. We must thank the pupils and their teachers.
“These results are testimony to the hard work of our pupils, the support of their parents, the expertise of our dedicated teachers and support staff, the leadership of our schools and the rigorous nature of the quality improvement systems in Fife.”
In fourth year, there was a significant increase of 1.2% in pupils achieving five passes at SCQF level five this year.
Higher exam results have improved again, and those in fifth year attaining passes at one or more Higher rose by a further 2.7%.
In sixth year, the number of pupils achieving three or more exam passes at Higher level was up 2.2%, and a further increase of 2.2% was achieved in the number of young people achieving passes in five Highers.AppealsThe Advanced Higher pass rate rose 1.1%. The results should improve even further after the appeals process.
The national comparator data has not yet come from the Scottish Government, and this information is necessary to draw definitive conclusions about how good this year’s performance is.
Coming on the back of outstanding progress in literacy and numeracy results in primary school and early secondary, it is highly encouraging to see this rate of improvement continuing year-on-year right until the end of sixth year, according to the local authority.
Education and children’s services chairman Douglas Chapman said, “This is a great set of results which is a credit to the pupils and teachers who have worked so hard to achieve them.”
He added he was keen to see a school-by-school breakdown of success which will be reported to the committee this autumn.’Year-on-year improvement'”Over the past four years this administration’s priority has been to raise educational attainment in Fife, and these results prove that we are achieving this year- on-year not just in exams, but from primary right through to sixth year of secondary school.
“This is all about giving more of Fife’s young people the chance to go on and further their education, either at college, university, through an apprenticeship or employment.
“Fife needs a skilled workforce at every level if we are to grow our economy to combat the dreadful economic circumstances the UK finds itself in, and we need to continue to raise the bar year-on-year and expect more from our schools in how they prepare and develop young people for the competitive world we live in.
“We can be very proud of what has been achieved this year, but there’s no room for any complacency, and an exciting new term starts in a few days’ time.”
Some students may not have received the results they were expecting and may be worried now about what the future holds. For advice they should call SQA Learner Enquiries on 0845 279 1000, or the Careers Scotland Exam Results Helpline on 0808 100 8000.
Photo used under a Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Pink Sherbet Photography.