Title | School leavers (from Scottish publicly funded schools) in positive and sustained destinations: Further Education ( FE), Higher Education ( HE), employment or training. |
National Indicator/Target | Increase the proportion of school leavers in positive and sustained destinations. |
Brief Description | This indicator measures the proportion of school leavers (from Scotland's publicly funded sector) who are in a positive destination approximately 9 months after leaving school. |
Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates | This indicator informs progress in relation to the following Strategic Objectives: Wealthier and Fairer - Positive sustained destinations after leaving school increases the chances of longer term successful outcomes in terms of employment and earnings. Smarter - Sustained positive destinations leads to a more skilled workforce. This is particularly true when the destination is FE, HE, training or employment with an element of training. However it is important to recognise that young people have different starting points and that, for some, these destinations may not be realistic. Moving these individuals to an opportunity suitable to their needs is important. Safer and Stronger - Sustained positive destinations for more young people leads to increasing opportunities now and in the future, and widening networks which in turn lead to increased positive engagement in the community. |
More Detailed Definitions |
Definitions of Keywords | The proportion of positive destinations is defined as those school leavers undertaking FE or HE courses or in employment or training in the March / April after leaving school, divided by the population of school leavers. People who are volunteering will also be included in the positive destination category. The 'population' is any young person leaving school after the date of the Pupil Census (typically mid September) and before the date of the next Pupil Census - a year later. Christmas leavers (who account for around 10 % of the leaver group), will be counted in the March / April collection 15 months after leaving. This indicator is based on the school leavers from publicly funded schools. This excludes schools in the independent sector and independent special schools. However grant aided schools are included. Destinations from independent special schools are also important: many young people leaving these schools will find it difficult to make positive, sustained transitions. However, due to data quality issues, these will be monitored separately. |
Evidence Source | The source of the information is the follow up survey to the current National Statistics 'School Leavers Destination Survey' which takes place in October roughly 3 months after the end of the relevant school year. The follow up will be carried out in the March/April the year after an individual leaves school which is roughly 9 months after the end of the relevant school year. This is a direct measure of the indicator. The data will be collected by Careers Scotland and published by the Scottish Government. The first publication of this data will be in May/June 2008 relating to School leavers in the 2006/07 school year. Careers Scotland carried out a pilot of this survey in 2007 covering school leavers in 2005/06. The indicator based on the follow up survey provides a measure of more sustained outcomes after leaving school. Using the 9 month follow up rather than the original October survey allows for the destinations of school leavers to settle. However, a 9 month follow-up is unlikely itself to capture sustained positive destinations. Therefore our future plan is to develop the measure in order to track destinations longer term i.e. beyond 9 months after leaving school. It is also important to consider the progression of individuals relative to their starting point as well as the destinations. However this data does not currently exist. |
Target in Relation to a Sub-group of the Population | Increase the proportion of young people with looked after status leaving school and entering positive sustained destinations. Note : Looked after status will in the first few years of this indicator, be taken from the September Pupil Census. This source is improving in quality, but does not have 100 % coverage. Work is being progressed to develop an alternative source which will provide evidence on all looked after children including material on all spells of being looked after. This will replace the 'snap-shot' record which comes from the Pupil Census. Increase the proportion of young people from socially deprived backgrounds (defined as living in the most deprived 15 % of Scotland, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006, or being registered for free school meals) leaving school and entering positive sustained destinations. |
Baseline and Past Trends | The first official publication of the follow up to School Leavers destinations will be in May/June 2008. Data from the Pilot carried out in 2007 showed that approximately 84% of school leavers were in positive destinations in the March/April after leaving school. It is recommended that the baseline should be set on the first official publication data which will be available in May/June 2008. Data on initial destinations - measured in October - after leaving school have been available since the early 1990's. These data show that the proportion of leavers entering positive destinations tends to fluctuate around the 83 to 84 percent point. The results were very stable throughout the 1990's, before they fell from 83% in 2000/01 to 80% in 2002/03. The proportion entering positive destinations has since risen to 85% in 2005/06, which is slightly above the historical average. The follow up survey allows for a measure of the movement of young people between positive and negative destinations. Data in the pilot follow up survey suggests that 78% of school leavers were in a positive destination in both October and March with a further 14% in a positive destination in either October or March. |
Methodology | Data are based on a simple count of young people and their reporting of their current destination. |
Data Ownership and Quality Assurance | The follow up survey which will be used to measure the indicator does not currently have National Statistics status. Work will be taken forward in the near future to obtain approval for this status. We do not anticipate barriers to gaining National Statistics status since the methodology used to collect the data to measure the indicator, will be based on that used in the current National Statistics School Leavers Destinations survey. |
Publication of Data | Data will be published on the Scottish Government website. The exact level of data which will be published is yet to be decided although it is expected that this will be available at local authority level at least. The data will be published on an annual basis. |