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Publication - Statistics

Attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living: summary statistics

Published
19 June 2018
Directorate
Learning Directorate
ISBN
9781788519373

A new version of this publication was published on the 9 September 2019. This revision is a result of corrections made to statistics on school meals. For the most recent version of this publication please go to www.gov.scot/publications/attainment-leaver-destinations-healthy-living-summary-statistics.

Chapter 6: Physical Education

  • 99 per cent of schools (99 per cent of primary and 94 per cent of secondary schools) were meeting the target level of PE provision (98 per cent in 2017).

Increasing the amount of Physical Education ( PE) pupils receive in school has been a government priority for a number of years. Increased physical activity can have a positive impact on a pupil's health, educational attainment and life chances. In 2011, the Scottish Government made a commitment to ensure that by 2014, every pupil will benefit from at least two hours of Physical Education in primary school and two periods (100 minutes) in S1 to S4 per week. In order to monitor progress in meeting this commitment, questions on physical education provision in schools have been included in the Healthy Living Survey since 2012. The latest Healthy Living Survey was conducted in the week beginning 19 February 2018.

In 2018, 99 per cent of all primary and secondary schools (2,342 of 2,376) were meeting the target level of PE provision, compared to 98 per cent in 2017. In primary, 99 per cent of schools (2,005 of 2,017) were providing at least 120 minutes of PE to all pupils, the same as in 2017. In the secondary sector, 94 per cent of schools (337 of 359) were providing at least 100 minutes of PE to all pupils in S1 to S4, compared to 93 per cent in 2017. The data clearly show that provision is lowest at S4. Focusing on S1 to S3, 98 per cent of secondary schools (352 of 359) were meeting the target, compared to 99 per cent in 2017.

For schools which are not meeting the required amount of PE, the main reasons given are lack of facilities and problems with timetabling (for example, some schools operate a 45 minute period system, and so would need to provide three periods of PE per week to meet the target).

PE data by Urban Rural classification, size of school and local authority are available in the supplementary tables. The supplementary tables also contain school level PE data. In the background notes section there is a list of the tables published.

Table 10: Percentage of primary schools meeting PE target 1 by local authority, 2014 to 2018

  Percentage
Local Authority 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Aberdeen City 96 96 100 100 98
Aberdeenshire 97 96 99 99 99
Angus 94 98 98 100 100
Argyll & Bute 98 100 94 98 98
Clackmannanshire 100 100 100 100 100
Dumfries & Galloway 96 100 100 100 100
Dundee City 100 100 100 100 100
East Ayrshire 95 100 100 98 100
East Dunbartonshire 100 100 100 100 100
East Lothian 100 100 100 100 100
East Renfrewshire 100 100 100 100 100
Edinburgh, City of 93 95 92 97 100
Falkirk 100 100 100 100 100
Fife 100 100 100 100 100
Glasgow City 97 99 99 98 100
Highland 97 99 100 100 99
Inverclyde 80 80 100 100 100
Midlothian 100 100 100 100 100
Moray 100 100 100 91 100
Na h-Eileanan Siar 100 100 100 100 100
North Ayrshire 96 98 96 96 96
North Lanarkshire 99 99 100 100 100
Orkney Islands 100 100 100 100 100
Perth & Kinross 99 99 95 100 97
Renfrewshire 100 100 100 100 100
Scottish Borders 78 95 100 100 100
Shetland Islands 94 97 97 100 100
South Ayrshire 100 100 100 100 100
South Lanarkshire 97 100 100 100 100
Stirling 98 100 100 100 100
West Dunbartonshire 100 100 100 100 100
West Lothian 86 100 100 100 100
Scotland 2 97 99 99 99 99

1. Target provision of Physical Education refers to at least 120 minutes per week in primary.
2. The Scotland total includes Jordanhill, the mainstream grant aided school.

Table 11: Percentage of secondary schools (S1 to S4) meeting PE target 1 by local authority, 2016 to 2018

  Percentage
Local Authority 2016 2017 S1 S2 S3 S4 2018
Aberdeen City 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Aberdeenshire 94 88 100 100 100 94 94
Angus 88 100 100 100 100 100 100
Argyll & Bute 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Clackmannanshire 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Dumfries & Galloway 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Dundee City 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
East Ayrshire 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
East Dunbartonshire 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
East Lothian 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
East Renfrewshire 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Edinburgh, City of 96 96 100 100 96 96 96
Falkirk 63 50 100 100 100 75 75
Fife 95 89 100 100 100 89 89
Glasgow City 100 97 97 97 97 97 97
Highland 93 97 100 100 100 93 93
Inverclyde 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Midlothian 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Moray 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Na h-Eileanan Siar 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
North Ayrshire 100 67 100 100 100 78 78
North Lanarkshire 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Orkney Islands 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Perth & Kinross 90 70 70 70 60 70 60
Renfrewshire 100 100 100 100 91 100 91
Scottish Borders 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Shetland Islands 86 86 100 100 100 86 86
South Ayrshire 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
South Lanarkshire 82 76 100 100 100 88 88
Stirling 71 100 100 100 100 86 86
West Dunbartonshire 60 80 100 100 100 60 60
West Lothian 100 91 100 100 100 100 100
Scotland 2 95 93 99 99 98 94 94

1. Target provision of Physical Education refers to at least 100 minutes per week in secondary timetabled periods.
2. The Scotland total includes Jordanhill, the mainstream grant aided school.

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