Assessment Arrangements Insights 2025

Approach to awarding prior to 2020

Before 2020, the Scottish examination system had been in a period of change since the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). The introduction of Revised National Qualifications (RNQ) involved changes to the assessment of National 5 courses in 2018, Higher courses in 2019, and Advanced Higher courses in 2020. Units and unit assessments were removed and each course assessment was adjusted accordingly.

Approach to awarding 2020 and 2021

In 2020, the Deputy First Minister directed SQA to issue grades primarily on the basis of teacher estimates. Grades that had been adjusted upwards in an earlier moderation process were also retained. The moderation process used in 2020 is described in detail in the methodology report for 2020.

In 2021, the Scottish Government commissioned SQA to develop an Alternative Certification Model (ACM 2021) for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher. This model was developed by the National Qualifications 2021 Group, which included representatives from the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES), Colleges Scotland, Education Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), School Leaders Scotland (SLS), the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS), the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), the Scottish Government, National Parent Forum of Scotland, and the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP). The model is based on teacher judgement, supported by assessment resources and quality assurance. The approach to certification adopted by SQA in 2021 is described in detail in the methodology report for 2021.

SQA external assessments did not go ahead in 2020 and 2021 due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, assessment arrangement data for these years are not available.

Approach to awarding 2022 to 2025

Throughout 2022, SQA worked with partners across the education sector, including teachers, lecturers, learners, parents and carers, to agree the wide-ranging package of support that was put in place to enable learners, despite the disruption to learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do. SQA implemented various modifications and revision support to reduce the assessment requirements for courses and increase learning and teaching time. Further details about the approach to awarding in 2022 can be found in the methodology report.

In 2023, awarding operated using the established procedure as far as possible to evaluate the performance of the course assessment, but with consideration given to the impacts of:

• reducing legacy of disruption to teaching and learning caused by the pandemic.
• modifications to course assessment.
• the removal of revision support.

Awarding decisions were therefore ‘sensitive’ to these factors, ensuring that grade boundary decisions recognised that performance continued to be impacted. This was informed by the full range of qualitative and quantitative data used during awarding, with additional data from 2021–22 on the impact of modifications. Further details about the approach to awarding in 2023 can be found in the methodology report.

In 2024, awarding used the well-established pre-pandemic procedures to evaluate the performance of the course assessment and, where appropriate, considered the impact of changes to assessment brought about by the return to full course assessment for many courses. These changes to assessment included removing optionality in some question papers reintroducing:

• coursework components (projects, assignments, dissertations).
• optional content into question papers.
• course content examined in question papers.
• an exam component.

Further details about the approach to awarding in 2024 can be found in the methodology report.

In 2025, SQA returned to well-established awarding procedures, in line with our Awarding and Grading for National Courses Policy.

Source of data

The first part of this report is based on SQA statistical data. Assessment arrangements statistical data has been combined with August National Qualifications attainment data for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.

The second part of this report is based on SQA statistical data for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher linked with Scottish Government Pupil Census data between 2022 and 2025.

The Scottish Pupil Census collects data on all primary and secondary pupils at education authority schools in Scotland. Further information on Pupil Census data is available on the Scottish Government website.

Confidentiality and rounding

Within this report, all figures are rounded to the nearest five. Figures between one and four inclusive have been suppressed to protect against the risk of disclosure of personal information. Volume change and percentage figures are calculated using figures prior to rounding, with subsequent rounding and suppression applied.

Methodology

Further information on the production of assessment arrangements information by the Data and Analytics team can be found on the background information page.

Further information about assessment arrangements and the system and process for requesting them is available on the SQA website.

For the first part of this report, SQA’s assessment arrangements data has been linked to SQA’s attainment data for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.

Percentage of entries figures are calculated on matched assessment arrangements and national qualifications attainment data, where candidates have attained a result in the associated subject and level.

Centre types include ‘Education Authority - Secondary School’, ‘Education Authority - Special School’, ‘Independent - Secondary School’, ‘Independent - Special School’ and ‘Further Education College’. All remaining centre types, including training providers, voluntary sector organisations, HM Armed Forces, prisons and primary schools, are reported as ‘Other’.

Known limitations

The data in this report is based on statistical data. Statistical data is cleaned and processed to be retained and is therefore not 100% accurate (compared to live operational data).

Known limitations on assessment arrangements data produced by the Data and Analytics team can be found on the background information page. For instance, centres can submit multiple assessment arrangements within each subject/level request. SQA does not hold information on whether (and which) assessments arrangements requests are used and for which components they are required for.

Protected characteristics data was taken from the September ‘Scottish Pupil Census’, for the relevant year, for education authority school candidates. For example, the 2025 analysis uses the characteristics from the September 2024 Pupil Census.

Assessment arrangements data is merged with the relevant Pupil Census on Scottish Candidate Number at the end of July. Given the length of time between data collection and the data merge, mismatches on SCN are possible. Only data matched on SCN are retained.

The Pupil Census and Grant Aided Census does not include: candidates attending publicly-funded special schools; candidates attending private independent schools; candidates educated outside the school education system (for example, at home); or adults attending publicly-funded secondary schools. The census is carried out through the Scottish Exchange of Educational Data (ScotXed) project.

As Pupil Census data is merged on the basis on SQA statistical data, only candidates presented for SQA qualifications are available.

As such, questions of interest relating to the wider cohort of education authority pupils cannot be answered with the data available. For example, what proportion of candidates with additional support needs (Pupil Census) are presenting for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher and requesting Assessment Arrangements and how is this changing over time; what proportion of disabled candidates (Pupil Census) are presenting for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher and requesting Assessment Arrangements and how is this changing over time; etc.

Individual assessment arrangements requested (2018 to 2025)

Within each assessment arrangements request, multiple assessment arrangements categories can be requested. For instance, an assessment arrangement request for one candidate for Higher English could request extra time, a prompter, supervised breaks and coloured paper. Each individual arrangement requested is counted based on whether the associated data is present or missing.

The following chart shows the volume change in individual assessment arrangement types requested by candidates for each qualification level between 2018 and 2025.

This shows that the largest volume increases in individual assessment arrangement request types are for separate accommodation, extra time, ICT with and without spell checker, digital question papers and coloured paper.

Subject

The following tables show the subjects with the highest levels of assessment arrangement requests (expressed as a percentage of entries) in 2025 for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.

Caution is advised in interpreting some of the percentage changes for different subjects over time. For some subjects, the number of assessment arrangements and entries may be small and percentages are likely to be variable as a result.

When looking at the subjects with the highest levels of assessment arrangement requests (as a percentage of entries) in 2025, there are no distinct groups of subjects across National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.

Centre type

Table 6 shows the percentage of candidates with assessment arrangement requests in each year (expressed as a percentage of entries) from each of the different centre types.

Caution is advised in interpreting some of the percentage changes for different groups over time. For some centre types, such as Other and Independent - Special Schools, the numbers used to calculate the assessment arrangements breakdowns are small and likely to be more variable as a result.

As a percentage of entries, the difference in levels of assessment arrangement requests between Education Authority - Secondary Schools and Independent - Secondary Schools has narrowed in 2025 compared to historic years. In 2025, Further Education College assessment arrangement requests levels surpassed both Education Authority - Secondary Schools and Independent - Seconary Schools, for the first time in the period considered. Education Authority - Special Schools have the highest levels of assessment arrangement requests across all centre types.

Sex (Male / Female)

Table 7 shows the percentage of assessment arrangement requests in each year (expressed as a percentage of entries) for each qualification level by Male and Female.

Between 2018 and 2020, male students had the highest levels of assessment arrangements requests, as a percentage of entries, for all levels. From 2022, this changed with female students having higher levels of assessment arrangement requests, as a percentage of entries, for all levels.

Geographical area

Table 8 shows the percentage of assessment arrangement requests in each year (expressed as a percentage of entries) by local authority area in Scotland.

Viewing all assessment arrangements as a percentage of entries by local authority area, there is a wide range of levels across Scotland. This ranges from 47% of entries in Orkney to 14.6% of entries in North Lanarkshire in 2025.

As an example, the following plot shows separate accommodation requests in 2025 for each local authority area in Scotland as a percentage of entries.

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)

Table 9 shows assessment arrangement requests in each year (expressed as a percentage of entries) for each qualification level by SIMD quintile.

For National 5 and Higher, assessment arrangement requests levels (as a percentage of entries) have been historically higher for candidates from lower deprivation quintiles between 2018 and 2022, with the lowest level for SIMD 1, increasing by quintile, to the highest level for SIMD 5. From 2022, this has changed with levels for candidates from SIMD 3 and 4 increasing to approach SIMD 5 levels for Higher, and surpassing the level for SIMD 5 for National 5.

Due to the small numbers for Advanced Higher, the percentage of entries figures are more variable but follow the general pattern of lower levels of assessment arrangements for lower SIMD quintiles and higher levels for higher SIMD quintiles.

Urban / Rural

Urban / rural categories were applied to SQA data based on candidate postcodes. A candidate’s home address is assigned to one of six categories that indicate how urban or rural the area is. These categories are: Large Urban Areas, Other Urban Areas, Accessible Small Towns, Remote Small Towns, Accessible Rural, and Remote Rural.

The following table shows the percentage of assessment arrangement requests in each year (expressed as a percentage of entries) for each qualification level by urban / rural category.

For urban / rural classification analysis, candidates with postcodes that matched their centre’s postcode were excluded due to the risk that the match was because of an administrative error.

Caution is advised in interpreting some of the percentage changes for different groups over time. For some characteristics, such as remote small towns, and levels, such as Advanced Higher, the numbers used to calculate the assessment arrangement breakdowns for different levels are small and likely to be more variable as a result.

Generally, assessment arrangement requests levels (as a percentage of entries) are lower for entries from “urban” area categories and higher for entries from “accessible” and “remote” categories.

Assessment Arrangements and Ethnicity

Table 11 presents assessment arrangements requests by level as a percentage of entries by ethnicity for education authority candidates with a match on the Pupil Census.

Caution is advised in interpreting some of the percentage changes for different groups over time. For some ethnic groups and levels, such as Advanced Higher, the numbers used to calculate the assessment arrangement breakdowns are small and likely to be more variable as a result.

Across all levels, assessment arrangement requests as a percentage of entries are lowest for Asian ethnic groups and highest for White ethnic groups.

Assessment arrangements and Additional Support Needs (ASN)

The number of assessment arrangement requests made by candidates for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher from Education Authority centres was assessed in relation to additional support needs (ASN).

The definition of additional support needs is not limited to educational provision and includes support that is additional to, or otherwise different from, the provision that is generally provided to their peers in order to help them benefit from school education. The definition of additional support provided in the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009) is a wide, inclusive one and there is a wide range of factors which may lead to some children and young people having a need for additional support. These fall broadly into four overlapping themes: learning environment, family circumstances, disability or health need, and social and emotional factors.

The definition of Additional Support Needs includes looked after children, children that are more able, children who have experienced substance abuse, family issues, bereavement, etc. See ‘Supporting Children’s Learning: Statutory Guidance on the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Scotland Act 2004 (as amended) Code of Practice (Third Edition) 2017’.

The following chart presents the number of assessment arrangement requests submitted for education authority candidates for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher by their additional support needs (ASN) status.

This chart shows that higher numbers of assessment arrangement requests are associated with entries from candidates reported as having additional support needs.

Table 12 presents the average number of assessment arrangements requests for education authority candidates by ASN status.

This shows that the average number of assessment arrangements requests per candidate, for education authority entries, is higher for those reporting ASN in the Pupil Census, with the average number increasing between 2022 and 2025.

Assessment arrangements and Disability (ASN)

Table 13 presents assessment arrangements requests from Education Authority candidates by disability status.

This shows, for example, that of the National 5 education authority requests for assessment arrangements, 8.8% had a disability status of declared or assessed disabled.