Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 5: 2023 Edition

This statistical publication provides information on the educational attainment and initial destinations of 2021/22 school leavers from publicly funded schools in Scotland.

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Chapter 5: School Leaver Attainment and Destinations

  • School leavers with higher attainment levels are more likely to go on to a positive destination.
  • 71.0 per cent of school leavers who did not achieve a pass at SCQF Level 3 or better entered a positive destination
  • 99.2 per cent of leavers who achieved one pass or more at SCQF Level 7 entered a positive destination.

Table 8 shows that for 2021/22, the majority of school leavers with one pass or more at SCQF Level 6 or Level 7 entered Higher Education (54.6 per cent and 87.8 per cent respectively). For all other leavers, the most common destination was Further Education. For example, 47.6 per cent of leavers whose highest qualification was at SCQF Level 5 entered Further Education. This compares to 45.7 per cent of those whose highest qualification was at SCQF Level 4 and 32.3 per cent of those whose highest qualification was at SCQF Level 3. Amongst those with no passes at SCQF Level 3, 27.8 per cent entered Further Education.

Leavers with no passes at SCQF Level 3 or better were the most likely to be in Other Destinations (29.0 per cent), and leavers with one pass or more at SCQF Level 7 were the least likely to be in Other Destinations (0.8 per cent).

Table 8: Percentage of school leavers by highest SCQF Level achieved and initial destinations category, 2021/22 [note 29]
Initial Destination No passes at SCQF 3 or better SCQF Level 3 SCQF Level 4 SCQF Level 5 SCQF Level 6 SCQF Level 7 Total
Higher Education 1.1 0.6 0.4 2.3 54.6 87.8 41.2
Further Education 27.8 32.3 45.7 47.6 18.0 3.3 25.5
Training 14.0 20.2 11.1 3.6 0.7 0.2 2.9
Employment 20.8 20.8 28.2 40.4 24.6 7.4 25.1
Voluntary Work 1.6 [c] 0.9 0.4 0.3 [c] 0.5
Personal Skills Development 5.7 [c] 1.5 0.5 0.1 [c] 0.5
Positive Destinations 71.0 79.8 87.8 95.0 98.2 99.2 95.7
Unemployed Seeking 10.6 10.2 7.1 2.9 1.0 0.4 2.3
Unemployed Not Seeking 15.3 8.3 4.2 1.6 0.6 0.3 1.5
Unknown 3.1 1.8 0.9 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.4
Other Destinations 29.0 20.2 12.2 5.0 1.8 0.8 4.3
Number of Leavers 1,139 845 5,521 13,887 21,963 11,882 55,237

Note 29: Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

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