Thousands of anxious pupils got blank results email

Thousands of Scottish school pupils waiting for their exam results received an email with a blank space where their grades should have been.

Many youngsters received a text with their results, but the error affected about 7,000 pupils who signed up to receive their results by email only.

SQA chief executive Fiona Robertson apologised following complaints from parents and pupils. The body later said emails had been resent and the issue was resolved.

It came as the results showed a drop in the overall pass rate, which the education secretary, Jenny Gilruth, said was "not good enough".

There was also an increase in the attainment gap between youngsters in the most and least affluent areas.

Cameron Falconer, 16, was among those who received a blank email and no text at about 08:00.

He had to wait more than an hour to get his results for eight National 5 exams after watching classmates receive theirs.

Cameron, from East Kilbride, signed up for the email and text service as he knew he would be away from home when the results were due.

He said the blank email had made him feel "nervous" and "upset".

"When I saw it at first I thought I’d got not qualifications," he told BBC Scotland News.

Candidates Moira and Christopher received their National 5 results email more than 90 minutes late.

Christopher, 16, from Aberdeen, initially did not get an email or text.

“It’s been a nerve-wracking day today and as the day went on it became more and more worrying,” he said.

Moira Veenboer, 15, from Edinburgh, initially received an email but it was blank.

She said: “I found out from a lot of my friends that it happened to them too. I’m a bit annoyed, but what’s done is done.”

Both received their results shortly after 09:30 and said they felt “relieved and happy”.

Dozens of parents and pupils voiced frustration with the SQA about blank emails and a wait for texts.

Some pupils also got Ucas responses for university and college applications before they received their exam marks.

Shortly before 10:00, the SQA said it had resolved the technical issue affecting those who signed up to receive their results by email only using the MySQA service.

It said only 5% of about 145,000 waiting for results had signed up for the email-only service.

The exams body insisted texts had not been impacted and the “vast majority of learners who signed up to MySQA received their results as expected”.

Ms Robertson told BBC Scotland News she was "really sorry".

"When we realised there was a problem we took immediate action and it was resolved really quickly but I do absolutely appreciate there was some anxiety around this for learners and I send my apologies to them.”

Meanwhile, Royal Mail apologised after confirming that five students in Orkney had received their results a day early.

The SQA said it was an "isolated incident impacting one area of the country".

The number of pupils achieving an A, B or C grade at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher was down across the board.

The Higher A-C attainment dropped from 77.1% in 2023 to 74.9%, while the A-C attainment for National 5 exams fell from 78.8% in 2023 to 77.2%.

The biggest drop in A-C grades came from Advanced Highers, which fell from 79.8% in 2023 to 75.3%.

The SQA noted that there had been different approaches to awarding in each year since 2019 which did not allow for "meaningful conclusions to be drawn on changes in education performance".

The attainment gap between exam results for those in the richest and poorest parts of Scotland also increased when compared to last year and to pre-pandemic levels.

The Higher pass rate for pupils from the most affluent areas was 82%, compared to 65% for those from the poorest backgrounds.

The attainment gap at Higher level for A to C grades was 17.2 percentage points, up from 16 last year and 16.9 in 2019.

For National 5s the attainment gap is 17.2 percentage points, up from 15.6 last year and frim 17 points in 2019.

For Advanced Highers the attainment gap is at 15.5 percentage points, up from 11.5 last year and 13.2 in 2019.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth apologised to pupils who felt “undue stress” as a result of delays. She said she would raise the issue with the SQA, which is due to be broken up and replaced by a new exams body, Qualifications Scotland.

The SNP minister said this year’s results were “not good enough”.

She told BBC Scotland News she had called a meeting with directors of education, the chief examiner and the chief inspector to discuss “the need for improvement across the country”.

Ms Gilruth acknowledged the attainment gap had widened, but said the pandemic had made closing it “more challenging”.

“I am very clear that the status quo is not good enough,” she added. “There have not been the improvements we would like to see this year.”

Scottish Conservative education spokesperson Liam Kerr condemned the "chaotic and shambolic" exam results delays.

He added: “The widening of the attainment gap continues to shamefully let down pupils from our most deprived backgrounds."

Pam Duncan-Glancy, Scottish Labour education spokesperson, said the anxiety caused to young people by delays was "unacceptable".

These exam results don’t make great reading for the Scottish government.

Grades are down compared with last year. They’re more in line with pre-Covid figures.

The education secretary has labelled that “not good enough” – that’s strong language for the minister in charge of education to use on results day.

But it's the attainment gap figures that will be particularly uncomfortable.

Simply put, those from wealthier backgrounds are statistically more likely to get better results.

Scottish ministers have said they're determined to substantially eliminate this gap by 2026. But today's figures show the gap has grown across all levels of exams.

More than that, the numbers are worse than they were before the pandemic.

The SQA cautions against comparing years due to differences in how grades are awarded. But it's hard to see how else we can judge progress in this area.

On a key test for the Scottish government the figures are heading in the wrong direction. And we can expect opposition parties to spend a lot of airtime today focusing on this issue.