Rennie comments as pupils receive SQA results

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has today congratulated pupils, teachers and staff following the publication of SQA exam results, but he warned that the SNP will need to do much more to close the poverty related attainment gap.

Today’s results mean that a record number of Scottish young people have been accepted onto university or college courses this year. Specifically, 16.0% of the most disadvantaged students have secured a place at university or college.

This still, however, falls below the Scottish Government’s target for students from the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland to represent 20% of Scottish entrants to full-time first-degree courses at university by 2030.

Analysis by the Scottish Liberal Democrats has suggested that it could take the SNP government 12 years to close to close this gap and meet the target.

Willie Rennie said:

“Pupils deserve credit for their hard work and dedication. Teachers and staff deserve credit for their great efforts too.

“It is encouraging to see an increase in the take up of vocational and technical qualifications as Liberal Democrats are keen to reach parity of esteem with academic courses.

“The university access figures show that the closing of the poverty related attainment gap has all but stalled in Scotland. It’s difficult to see how the target will be reached by the end of the decade. Universities have been working incredibly hard on this target but ultimately this is a reflection of the SNP government’s inability to close the gap in schools.”