Two-fifths of S4 pupils pass National 5 maths, ‘very worrying’ 2024 figures show

Most of Scotland’s fourth-year students didn’t gain a key qualification in maths in 2024, new figures show.

Former first minister Lord McConnell has insisted improving pass rates for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects is “of critical national importance”.

“Very worrying” figures published by the Commission on School Reform showed that, while three-quarters (75.2%) of S4 pupils passed their National 5 English this year, only 40.1% of the year group gained an A-C qualification at this level for maths.

While just over a fifth (21.6%) of fourth year students passed application of mathematics at National 5 level in 2024, the Commission – an independent group of education experts set up by think tank Reform Scotland – said 50% of these youngsters also passed National 5 maths.

Lord McConnell, chairman of Reform Scotland and a former secondary school maths teacher, said: “It is very worrying that less than half of Scotland’s 16-year-olds have this essential maths qualification.”

He spoke out as a new report by the Commission on attainment in maths and science subjects in Scotland was published.

When looking at the total S4 cohort, it found just over a quarter (25.9%) of the total year group passed the most popular science subject, biology, at National 5 level in 2024 – down from 27.9% in 2015.

Meanwhile, 22.5% of all fourth years managed to pass National 5 chemistry this year, compared with 24.4% in 2015, with 17.9% gaining a National 5 qualification in physics in 2024, down from 21.1% in 2015.

For computing science, fewer than one in 10 (9.8%) of all S4 students passed this subject at National 5 in 2024, a decrease from 12.2% in 2015.

The Scottish Government stressed that not all pupils will sit their National 5 exams while they are in S4.

But Lord McConnell spoke out about the importance of Stem education for Scotland’s future, saying: “If our economic future is to be based around industries like renewable energy and health sciences, improving our pass rates in mathematics and the sciences is a matter of critical national importance.

“The deficit in our Stem pass rates revealed by this research is not good enough.”

Fellow Commission member Carole Ford, a former headteacher of Kilmarnock Academy and former principal teacher of maths, said the data is “some of the most important, if worrying” that it had published in recent years.

Adding that it provides “a ‘real world’ perspective of how our pupils are doing”, she claimed the results of the international Pisa survey in 2023 had already shown that “our outcomes in maths and science were very poor”.

But she said the new data “lays bare that we have a mountain to climb”.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “If the position was as the Commission suggests, we would share their concern; however, not all pupils take their Nat 5s in S4.”

They added that 68.2% of pupils who sat National 5 maths in 2024 had passed, with the pass rate up by 5.7 percentage points from the previous year.

“When pupils undertake their national qualifications is decided by pupils, parents and teachers at individual school level,” they said.

“They are best-placed to determine the correct pathway for each young person and this flexibility and child-centred approach has been a key feature of Curriculum for Excellence for many years.

“One of the most important aspects of such decisions is that young people are entered at the level of qualification at which they have the best chance of achieving success.”