Poor pupil answers blamed for Higher History exam slump – review

The SQA said the strongest theme of marker reports for 2024 was that the performance of learners and the standard of their responses had lowered significantly.

It said that for the British, European and World question paper, 52% of markers felt the performance standard was lower or much lower than in 2023.

For the Scottish history question paper, 81% felt it was lower than the year before.

The 51-page report contains comments from markers saying many candidates were not of Higher level and were performing at a much lower standard than in previous years.

Shirley Rogers, chair of the SQA Board, said “the grading decisions made were the right ones” and “learners were assessed and graded fairly”.

She said: “I hope the outcome of this review, published today to allow full transparency, will draw a line under the issue and reassure learners, parents, carers, teachers and lecturers – as well as the wider public – that they can have full confidence in SQA’s assessment and awarding processes.”

Scottish Labour education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said “Once again the SQA has shown how disconnected it is from what is happening in our schools.

“After marking its own homework, the SQA has decided to try and blame pupils and teachers for what went wrong here.”