When she became first minister, Nicola Sturgeon told the nation that improving Scotland’s education system was at the top of her government’s priorities. She was specific about exactly what her ‘defining mission’ would be: closing the poverty-related attainment gap. ‘Let me clear,’ she told her supporters, ‘I want to be judged on this.’ Today’s results, however, show that she failed: the gap remains as wide as ever.

Students across Scotland will receive their exam results today — and while the Scottish government is busy making plenty of noise about pass rates exceeding pre-pandemic levels, the real story is a murkier one about the nation’s attainment gap. This year’s results show that the difference between the richest and poorest kids achieving top A grades in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams, as well as those achieving passes (A-C), has once again increased from pandemic levels.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters