Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2020-21

Chapter 2: Achievement of CfE Levels at Scotland level

• The percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in 2020/21 is lower than in 2018/19 for all stages and across all organisers with decreases generally in the range of three to six percentage points.

Compared to 2018/19 the percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE levels in 2020/21 have decreased across all organisers and all stages. The size of these decreases range between three and six percentage points and are generally larger than previous changes at national level. This is not unexpected due to the disruption to learning and teaching due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Prior to 2020/21, the proportions of pupils achieving the expected levels increased across almost every organiser and stage. In the two year period between 2016/17 and 2018/19 the proportions of P1 and P4 pupils achieving the expected level increased by between one and two percentage points across all organisers and stages. The increases for P7 pupils were larger at between four and six percentage points.

Around two-thirds (67 per cent) of primary school pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) achieved the expected CfE Level for literacy in 2020/21.

In numeracy, three-quarters (75 per cent) of primary school pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) achieved the expected CfE levels in 2020/21.

As in previous years, across all stages (P1, P4 and P7) the proportion of pupils achieving the expected CfE level was highest in listening & talking and lowest in writing in 2020/21. For listening & talking, 84 per cent of P1 pupils, 82 per cent of P4 pupils and 82 per cent of P7 pupils achieved the expected CfE level. Meanwhile for writing, 74 per cent of P1 pupils, 67 per cent of P4 pupils and 69 per cent of P7 pupils achieved the expected level.

Across all organisers the proportion of pupils achieving the expected level was highest amongst P1 pupils and lower for P4 and P7 pupils in 2020/21. Again this is consistent with the pattern observed in previous years.

Table 1 shows the proportions of pupils achieving the expected CfE Levels for all stages and organisers for 2016/17 to 2020/21.

Notes:
a. Caution should be exercised if making comparisons over time; for more information see Chapter 8.1.4.3