JOHN Swinney is coming under pressure to make an urgent statement in the Scottish Parliament after a new report revealed that the number of pupils passing exams at higher and advanced higher in Scotland has dropped significantly.

A total of 1515 fewer pupils passed their higher English exam – a reduction of 5.5% on the previous year and the lowest number since 2014.

Passes dropped by 8.8% – or 178 students – for those sitting advanced higher exams in the subject.

Higher maths saw the pass rate fall by 2.1% – the first decline since 2014 – while higher history pass rates plunged by 14.6% overall and by 10% in A-C grades.

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Advanced higher maths saw the number of passes increase by 1.6%.

However sciences saw total passes up 1.6% at a higher level, with subjects including chemistry, physics, biology and human biology.

But those sitting the subjects at advanced higher – not including human biology – saw the number of passes fall by 14.1%, with figures showing there was a 13% reduction in those sitting the tests.

The Scottish Government were accused of trying to “sneak” the news after they published the 90-page analysis of the 2019 school test results at 8pm on Thursday – too late for most newspapers to carry details.

Speaking on Friday’s Good Morning Scotland, the Education Secretary defended the late-night release.

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“We had a Freedom of Information request that had to be responded to. So we felt it appropriate, because so much of that material was included in the report that I promised I would publish, that we just published all of it at the same time,” he said.

The Deputy First Minister added: “I’ve not in any way avoided discussing the fall in the higher pass rate. What I have asked, simply, is that we look at it all in its proper context.

“Let us still remember that 75% was the pass rate in the Highers examinations. That represents still a very, very strong performance by young people in Scotland. Yes, it’s a fall on the previous year, but it still represents a very strong performance by young people in Scotland.

“It takes time to strengthen performance within our education system.”

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Scottish Greens education spokesman Ross Greer said: “The Education Secretary has questions to answer on both the attempt to sneak this out late at night and on the report’s contents, which show the opposite of his claims that everything is fine with Scotland’s exam results.”

EIS teaching union general secretary Larry Flanagan said the wider picture needed to be looked at: “He said: “Any snapshot indicating a single-year dip in exam passes will prompt concern, but it is important to look at the wider context – including such variables as different pupil cohorts in each year and also to balance dips against improvements in some qualifications and at various levels of presentation.”