Attainment gap data by local authority: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information: percentage point difference in attainment between the most and least deprived SIMD quintiles on the following measures, by Local Authority, annually from 2009/10 where possible, or over the longest time extent available:

• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in literacy P1
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in literacy P4
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in literacy P7
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in literacy S3
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in numeracy P1
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in numeracy P4
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in numeracy P7
• Percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level in numeracy S3
• Percentage of school leavers achieving 1+ qualifications at SCQF Level 4 or better
• Percentage of school leavers achieving 1+ qualifications at SCQF Level 5 or better
• Percentage of school leavers achieving 1+ qualifications at SCQF Level 6 or better
• Pass rate for National 5 exams
• Pass rate for Scottish Highers
• Pass rate for Scottish Advanced Highers
• Percentage of 16-19 year olds participating in education, employment or training

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have all the information you have requested. I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested within an excel document which is attached. The tab ‘Data_summary_request’ explains what information is in the excel, and – where the Scottish Government does not have the information you asked for – where you may be able to request it from.

The excel document contains data for children and young people from quintile 1 (most deprived) and quintile 5 (least deprived), as well as the gap between the two groups, to aid with interpreting the data. A Scotland-level figure for each measure has also been included, again for context and to aid interpretation. If making comparisons between Local Authorities we recommend keeping in mind the context and individual circumstances of each of the authorities.

Please note that the COVID-19 pandemic will have affected these statistics. The impacts of the pandemic should be borne in mind when considering changes over time in any of the data sets included in this spreadsheet. More specifically:

• Data on Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) were not collected in 2019/20 for any school pupils, or for secondary school pupils in 2020/21, due to the disruption to schooling caused by the pandemic.
• For school leaver attainment, there was a change to the assessment approach for National Qualifications in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as a result of the pandemic. This change affects school leaver attainment data for years 2019/20 onwards. A dashed line break has been placed between the figures for 2018/19 and 2019/20 to highlight this. Care should be taken when interpreting any changes in attainment between 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, and between these and any previous years. For more information, please refer to the publication Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 5: 2023 Edition.
• The effects of the pandemic and associated lockdown measures will have impacted the participation rates of 16-19 year olds in 2021 (Annual Participation Measure).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Local Authority attainment gap data - 202300365093

File type

Excel document

File size

307.5 kB