The Scottish Government

30 June 2009

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An associated document detailing the methodology used for these statistics is available: Technical Note

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

This Statistics Publication Notice presents national information on the follow-up destination status in March/April 2009 of those young people who left school in school year 2007/08. The publication also provides information on the change in status of these young people since information was published on them in the "Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2007/08" publication on 11 December 2008. The information in this publication is the basis for the Scottish Government's national indicator on positive and sustained destinations for leavers from Scottish publicly funded schools.

The Statistics Publication Notice and accompanying tables can be found on the Scottish Government Web Site: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/0000738

Information on schools leavers from school year 2007/08 shows us that:

· The proportion of school leavers in sustained positive destinations (higher or further education, employment, voluntary work or training) was 84.0 per cent in March/April 2009, approximately 9 months after leaving school. This compares to 87.0 per cent of school leavers in positive destinations in March/April 2008 (Table 1).

· The proportion of school leavers in further or higher education rose from 47.9 per cent in March/April 2008 to 51.0 per cent in March/April 2009 (Table 2).

· The proportion in employment in March/April 2009 fell to 28.5 per cent compared to 34.4 per cent in March/ April 2008 (Table 2)

· The proportion unemployed (either seeking, or not seeking, employment or training) increased from 12.5 per cent in March/April 2008 to 15.4 per cent in March/April 2009 (Table 2).

· The proportion of the original 2007/08 cohort who remained in a positive destination in both September 2008 and March/April 2009 was 78.4 per cent, compared to 80.3 per cent of the 2006/07 leavers cohort in positive destinations for both initial and follow up surveys (Table 3).

· A further 13.0 per cent of 2007/08 leavers were in a positive destination in either September 2008 or March/April 2009. This compares to 12.5 per cent in positive desinations in either the initial or follow up survey in 2006/07 (Table 3).

· Of the original 2007/08 cohort, 8.2 per cent were not in a positive destination in either September 2008 and March/April 2009, compared to 6.8 per cent of the 2006/07 cohort (Table 3).

· The pattern of changes between intitial and follow up destinations is similar to that seen in 2006/07, apart from an increase in those unemployed and seeking work or training in 2007/08 contrasting to a decrease in this category in 2006/07 (Table 4).

· The increase in employment between initial and follow up destinations was only about half the size in 2007/08 (roughly 3 percentage points) as in 2006/07 (about 6 percentage points) (Table 4).

TABLES

Table 1 - Percentage of school leavers in positive and other follow up destinations: ^1,2

Leavers from school years 2006/07 and 2007/08

1. Leavers from publicly funded secondary schools, excluding those who moved outwith

Scotland, or who had returned to school between the initial and follow up surveys.

2. Positive destinations comprise higher education, further education, training,

employment and voluntary work (see note 4 in background notes).

Table 2 - Percentage of school leavers by follow up destination category: ^1,2

Leavers from school years 2006/07 and 2007/08

1. Leavers from publicly funded secondary schools, excluding those who moved outwith

Scotland, or who had returned to school between the initial and follow up surveys.

2. Percentages may not total 100 per cent due to rounding

3. There was insufficient information to impute a destination category for these individuals. They are

included in 'Other' destinations in the relevant tables. (see note 2 in background notes and accompanying

Technical Note athttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/0000738)

Table 3 - Percentage of school leavers by initial and follow up positive and other destinations:1,2

Leavers from school years 2006/07 and 2007/08

1. This table includes all leavers from publicly funded secondary schools excluding those who had moved

outwith Scotland by the time of the September survey. Leavers who had moved outwith Scotland, had gone

back to school or were deceased at the time of the follow up survey are included in the 'Not Applicable'

category (see note 3 in background notes).

2. Percentages may not total 100 per cent due to rounding

3. Numbers of leavers for initial destinations in 2007/08 are slightly different to those published in December

2008. (see note 2 in background notes and accompanying Technical Note at

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/0000738)

Table 4 - Percentage of school leavers by initial and follow up destination category: ^1,2

Leavers from school years 2006/07 and 2007/08

1. Initial destinations include all leavers from publicly funded secondary schools excluding those who

had moved outwith Scotland by the time of the September survey. Follow up destinations also exclude

leavers who had moved outwith Scotland, had gone back to school or were deceased at the time of the

follow up survey (see note 3 in background notes).

2. Percentages may not total 100 per cent due to rounding

3. Numbers of leavers for initial destinations in 2007/08 are slightly different to those published in December

2008 (see note 2 in background notes notes and accompanying Technical Note at

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/0000738)

BACKGROUND NOTES

1. Official Statistics Publication

This is an Official Statistics Publication. It has been produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice and Release Practice Protocol: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about_ns/cop/default.asp

These statistics undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

2. Sources and Methodology

Information on the follow up destination of leavers from publicly funded schools is provided to the Scottish Government by Skills Development Scotland. This is the second year that this follow-up survey has been carried out for the purposes of an official statistics publication.

This survey is a follow-up survey of those young people who were initially surveyed in September 2008 about their destinations after leaving school. The initial destinations data were published in "Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2007/08" on 10th December 2008 ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00701). The initial destinations data provides information on the outcomes for young people approximately 3 months after leaving school while the follow up survey provides information on the outcomes of young people approximately 9 months after leaving school. These publications should be seen as complementary to one another but it should be noted that various factors may affect the results at different time periods. Additionally, prior to the publication of follow up destinations, the initial destinations data was rematched to the 2007 pupil census in order to improve the matching of destinations and pupil characteristics. A description of this process is contained in the technical note referred to below.

During this follow-up survey, Skills Development Scotland were able to follow up 94.5% of all school leavers in 2007/08. For 4.9% statistical methods were used to impute the follow-up destinations of these individuals based on their initial destination and known characteristics of those who were followed up and those who were not. For 0.6% of leavers, Skills Development Scotland had not been able to obtain any destination information at either survey point. These individuals are included in tables 1 and 3 in 'Other destinations' at both September and March/April, consistent with the treatment of unknown destinations in the publication "Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2007/08". There was insufficient information to include them in the imputation set and they are shown in 'Destination Unknown (both surveys)' in table 2.

A technical note detailing the process by which follow up leaver destinations were imputed for those who were not followed up is published alongside this statistical publication and is available through: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/0000738.

All figures in this publication relate to publicly funded secondary schools.

The data relate to the destination in March/April 2009 of those young people who left school in the 2007/08 session.

Percentages may not always total 100 percent due to rounding.

3. School Leavers

A school leaver is classed as a young person of school leaving age who left school during or at the end of the school year, where the school year is taken to run from 1 August to 31 July.

In practice, many young people do not decide whether or not to leave school until after they have received the results of external examinations, have tried to get a job or achieve entry to further or higher education or training. For many pupils, therefore, it is only possible to identify later whether they have effectively left school by 31 July. If it has been ascertained that the individual has not actually left school they have been excluded from the data in tables 1 and 2 of this publication.

4. Leaver Destination

All destinations are based on self-reporting by school leavers. The following categories for leaver destinations are included in the Statistics Publication Notice.

Positive: includes higher education, further education, training, voluntary work and employment. This is in line with the definition of positive destinations set out in Indicator 10 of the Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/11/30090722/18

Higher Education: includes leavers following HND (Higher National Diploma) or HNC (Higher National Certificate) courses, degree courses, courses for the education and training of teachers and higher level courses for professional qualifications. It also includes programmes at a level higher than the standard of the New National Qualifications (Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, the new Higher) which were introduced in 1999/00, Advanced Higher, introduced in 2001, Scottish Certificate of Sixth Year Studies, and the National Certificate of Education of England, Wales or Northern Ireland at Advanced Level. Leavers with a deferred, unconditional place in higher education have also been included in this category.

Further Education: includes leavers undertaking education which is not higher education and who are no longer on a school roll.

Training: includes leavers who are on a training course and in receipt of an allowance or grant, such as Skillseekers, but who are not employed. It should be noted that a large proportion of leavers entering employment may also be participants in training such as Modern Apprenticeships.

Employment: includes those who consider themselves employed, irrespective of the number of hours, and who are in receipt of payment from their employers. It includes young people undertaking training in employment through Skillseekers and Modern Apprenticeships.

Voluntary Work: includes those undertaking voluntary work, paid or unpaid, who are not 'unemployed and actively seeking', as per the unemployed definition. Included in this category would be individuals who are on a gap year, those participating in Project Scotland/ CSV or other voluntary programmes.

Unemployed and seeking employment or training: includes those who are registered with Skill Development Scotland and are known by them to be seeking employment or training. This is based on regular contact between Skill Development Scotland and the client. This does not refer to the definition of 'unemployed' used by the Benefits Agency to calculate published unemployment rates.

Unemployed and not seeking employment or training: includes all those individuals who are not seeking employment or training for a range of reasons. The reasons may involve sickness, prison, pregnancy, caring for children or other dependents or taking time out.

Destination unknown (both surveys): includes individuals who were not able to be contacted at either the September or the March/April survey point.

5. Enquiries

Copies of this publication are available on the Scottish Government's website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/0000738

Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this Statistics Publication Notice should be addressed to:

Janet Lauchlan

Scottish Government

Education Analytical Services Division

Area 1B,

Victoria Quay
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ
Tel: +44(0) 131 244 7976

school.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Media enquiries about the information in this Statistics Publication Notice should be addressed to Brendan Rooney 0131 244 4001.