SQA Message Results Day – Association of Directors of Education in Scotland

Today, around 147,000 learners across the country are receiving their Scottish Qualifications Certificates. I know you will want to join us in celebrating their achievements.

Everyone in SQA congratulates every learner who has achieved an SQA qualification, either today or during the year. They should be proud of their achievements, which will help them to progress and achieve their goals.

SQA Results for 2025 were published earlier today. We announced the results of National Courses at National 2 to National 4, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher, in addition to a wide range of National Progression Awards, National Certificates, Skills for Work and SQA Awards.

I am delighted by the increase in the number of achievements for our vocational and technical qualifications – Skills for Work courses, Awards, National Certificates and National Progression Awards – which has reached over 100,000 for the very first time. The 110,390 awards in 2025 represents a 22.6% increase on 2024 and is more than double the figure in 2019.

This marks a record-breaking year for vocational and technical qualifications, as Scotland’s learners excelled in achieving valuable skills to build rewarding careers.

I sincerely thank all the teachers, lecturers, trainers, instructors, school and college support staff, local authorities, parents and carers, markers and assessors, SQA staff, SQA co-ordinators, professional associations and national organisations, for all their hard work to encourage, support and nurture learners. You play a key role in helping learners to achieve their potential and together we have worked collaboratively to deliver for learners.

I am very grateful to the many thousands of educators who work with us as appointees to deliver qualifications. Their professionalism, dedication and subject expertise are invaluable, and we could not deliver for learners without them.

Here is some further information and messages that I hope you will find helpful and that will help inform any communications of your own. Also included are links to the national attainment statistics and supporting documentation, which will provide you with further information that means you can play your part in supporting and celebrating learners across Scotland at this important milestone in their lives.

The headline figures for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses are:

National 5	Higher	Advanced Higher
333,995 entries	202,490 entries	28,610 entries
A-C attainment rate 78.4%	A-C attainment rate 75.9%	A-C attainment rate 76.7%
A attainment rate 39.2%	A attainment rate 30.8%	A attainment rate 31.4%

This is a strong set of results and overall, I continued to observe strong engagement by learners across SQA assessments and qualifications. Comparisons with other years should be treated with caution given the different approaches to awarding and grading between 2020 and 2023.

This was the second year of the return to full course assessment following the Covid pandemic. The decision to continue with it was supported by the findings of our evaluation of the return to full course assessment. We continued to help educators prepare their learners by providing an extensive Understanding Standards programme.

Learners have been supported by a package of measures, including:

a range of assessment arrangements to provide appropriate support for learners with disabilities or additional support needs
an exam exceptional circumstances service for learners who were unable to attend an exam or whose performance was impacted by personal circumstances
a free, learner direct, appeals service for any learner who has concerns about a grade — further details are available at www.sqa.org.uk/appeals

Support for learners

SQA’s Appeals service is free of charge and can be accessed directly by learners or on their behalf by their school or college. It opened at 9am today. More information has been included with learners’ certificates and is available at www.sqa.org.uk/appeals
If learners have a query about their certificate, they can call SQA’s Candidate Advice Line on 0345 279 1000
Skills Development Scotland’s Results Helpline: 0808 100 8000
UCAS: Clearing resources can be found at www.ucas.com/clearing-launch

Here are the links to the national attainment statistics and supporting documentation:

I would like to express my sincere thanks to you all for the part you and your organisations have played in the delivery of all qualifications in 2025.

Kind regards

Donna Stewart
Chief Examiner and Director of Qualifications Development

Prìomh Neach-sgrùdaidh agus Stiùiriche Leasachadh Theisteanasan

e: [email protected] | w: http://www.sqa.org.uk
Scottish Qualifications Authority
The Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, GLASGOW G2 8DQ