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Collection

School education statistics

Directorate
Learning Directorate
Part of
Education

A collection of statistics on school education in Scotland.

Introduction

Statistics on school education in Scotland, including pupil and teacher characteristics, and attainment and qualification results.

Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland

Statistics bulletin reporting on the annual pupil, teacher and early learning and childcare provision censuses. Also includes statistics from the biennial attendance, absence and exclusions collection.

The 2011 and 2010 editions are available on the archive of the Scottish Government's website.

Pupil characteristics and class sizes from the pupil census

Statistics from the annual school pupil census on pupil characteristics (supplementary statistics), primary school class sizes, pupil numbers by stage and pupils registered for free school meals.

Pupil attendance and absence statistics

Statistics on school pupil attendance and absence. This information is collected biennially. Headline statistics with accompaniing commentary is included in the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland bulletin.

Pupil exclusion statistics

Statistics on temporary and permanent school exclusions. These statistics are collected and published biennially. Headline statistics with accompaniing commentary is included in the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland bulletin.

Pupil projections

Analytical report containing projections of pupil numbers for the primary and secondary school sector in each local authority.

School-level summary statistics and dashboards

Statistics on pupil and school characteristics and teacher numbers for each publicly funded school in Scotland. This product was updated in 2019 to incorporate statistics on free school meal registration and pupil numbers by stage. 

Our interactive dashboards contain other school-level data:

Teacher characteristics from the school staff census

Statistics and management information on school teacher characteristics from data collected through the annual school staff census. Prior to 2017 these statistics included school support staff, for information on support staff from 2017 onwards please see school support staff statistics and school suppport staff management information.

School support staff statistics and management information

Statistics on the full-time equivalent of selected categories of school support staff - pupil support assistants, home-school link workers, behaviour support staff, educational psychologists, school nurses and library staff. This information is collected through the annual school staff census. Statistics prior to 2017 were published as part of the teacher census supplementary statistics.

Management information on the full-time equivalent of an extended list of school support staff categories is also available.

School Healthy Living Survey statistics (meals and PE)

Statistics from the annual Healthy Living Survey on registration for free school meals, uptake of school meals (both free and paid for) and physical education. Prior to 2019, headline statistics with accompanying commentary from this survey were published as part of the Summary Statistics for Attainment, Leaver Destinations and Healthy Living series, available from the archive.

Please note that due to the impact of COVID-19 and resulting distruption to schools at the time of the collection, information on school meals was not collected in the 2021 survey. Statistics on provision of physical education fromthe 2021 survey are available from the School Healthy Living Survey supplementary statistics link below. 

School estates statistics

Statistics from the annual school estates core facts survey. Including information on school condition and suitability, and the number of new builds and refurbishments. Prior to 2019, headline statistics with accompanying commentary from this survey were published as part of the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland bulletin.

Achievement of curriculum for excellence levels

Results of the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels data collection, detailing pupils’ achievement (based on Teachers Professional Judgements) in reading, writing, listening and talking and numeracy. 

School level

Our interactive dashboards also contain Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels data.

Publications and Statistics

School leaver initial destinations and attainment

Data on initial destinations of school leavers, is based on approximately three months after the end of the school term and their post review (previously post appeal) attainment information.

School level

School level Senior Phase (S4-S6) information, including attainment on a consistent basis is available through Insight (a professional benchmarking tool used by local authorities and schools) and published on the School Information Dashboard:

Publications and Statistics

School leavers follow-up destinations

Data on follow-up destinations of school leavers, is based on approximately nine months after the end of the school term.

Publications and Statistics

PISA results for Scotland

Results for Scotland from the triennial Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which is undertaken under the auspices of the OECD. This includes scores for Maths, Science and Reading, as well as results from student and school questionnaires.

Current PISA assessment

Scotland is participating in the PISA 2022 assessments, with schools participating in assessments in October and November 2022. Results from the assessments will be published internationally in December 2023. The assessments were delayed internationally by 12 months due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most recent results

Scotland’s performance in the PISA 2018 assessments

Scotland’s performance in the PISA 2018: Global Competence assessments

Sample questions from previous assessments

Previous results

Scotland has participated in every PISA cycle since its inception in 2000. Previous results can be accessed below:

 

Interactive Dashboards

This contains a range of information about publicly funded schools in Scotland, including pupil numbers and characteristics, teacher numbers, pupil teacher ratio, attendance and absence, school condition, whether schools are meeting the PE target, Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels, and senior phase attainment and leaver destinations.

NOTE: We are aware of compatibility issues when using Internet Explorer to view dashboards. Tableau are currently investigating this and hope to resolve it soon. In the meantime we recommend you use another internet browser (e.g. Edge, Firefox or Chrome) to view the dashboards.

Historical publications

Historical data and discontinued publications can be found in our archive. In some cases the information is still collected but is now published in compendium publications and/or supplementary datasets.

School contact details

Consultations

You can find older consultations in our archive.

Here are the latest consultation results:

Data access, privacy notices, data collection specifications and data uses

Background data and further analysis of the statistics published here may be available on request, subject to consideration of legal, ethical and other factors. Please contact school.stats@gov.scot for further information.

To find out about access to record level or disclosive aggregate data see the information below on school education data access.

Data specifications (ScotXed)

Other school education analysis

Analysis of information and data on school education that doesn't form part of Official Statistics or Government Social Research. 

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

Post:
Education Analytical Services Division
Area 2-A (North)
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ 

 

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