Background notes
1. Sources
1.1 The information in this publication is derived from a number of sources: the pupil census, the staff census, the pre-school education census, the attendance and absence collection, the school estates core facts survey, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. The 2011 pupil and staff censuses were carried out on 22nd September 2011. The pre-school education census took place in the week commencing 19 th September 2011. The attendance and absence data is based on school attendance levels recorded during the previous academic year, so the latest information available is for 2010/11. The school estates core facts survey is based on all schools open on 1 April 2011 and school rebuilt during the 2010-11 financial year. Information on school leaver destinations was collected by Skills Development Scotland during September 2011 for leavers from the academic year 2010/11. Attainment data is supplied by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and relates to the 2011 diet.
2. Coverage and Timing
2.1 The staff and pupil censuses cover all publicly funded schools in Scotland (local authority and grant-aided). Where a school has more than one department, for example a secondary school with a primary department, these are counted as separate schools.
2.2 Information on the attendance and absence of pupils is provided to the Scottish Government by the local authorities and managers of mainstream grant-aided schools. The information reported in this compendium does not cover attendance and absence in grant-aided special schools, independent schools or pre-school establishments.
2.3 The information shown for attendance and absence and exclusions is for the academic year 2009/10. Schools which closed during the academic session 2009/10, and for which data was available, were included.
2.4 The pre-school education census covers all ( i.e. public, private and voluntary) Day Care for Children Services registered with the Care Commission shortly before the census took place. All registered services were sent an online survey form, but not all of these registered services provide pre-school education. Services that responded saying that they did not provide pre-school education are not included in this publication. Also, not all services responded to the census. The response rate was 65%. Therefore, when necessary, information has been imputed ( i.e. rolled forward) using information from the September 2010 census. In September 2011, there were 95 centres where this was not possible ( e.g. because the centre has opened after September 2010). These centres are recorded as not being known as whether they provide pre-school education or not. Pre-school home visiting teachers reported by local authorities are also included in tables 1.1 and 1.2.
2.5 The school estates core facts survey covers all publicly funded local authority schools. It does not cover grant aided schools, independent schools or pre-school establishments.
2.6 School leaver destinations cover all publicly funded secondary schools.
2.7 Pre-appeal exam results cover all publicly funded secondary schools.
3. Definitions and Data Quality
Teachers and schools (Tables 2.1 - 2.4)
3.1 Teacher number figures from Glasgow are considered as provisional. The figure is at least that published, but the local authority believe this may be an undercount by one or two per cent. It is likely that the 2010 figure for Glasgow may also be affected. The data for 2010 have been amended following changes made by Highland.
3.2 Figures for the special school sector are compiled from special schools only, and do not include teachers of special classes in mainstream schools. There may be inconsistency between schools and between local authorities in the reporting of special schools and special classes, as well as changes between years. We therefore advise caution when comparing results with previous years and across local authorities.
A few authorities do not have special schools, and may fund places in neighbouring authorities for their pupils. The number of special schools includes those where there were no pupils based, but which received pupils based in other schools.
3.3 There are some differences in the way in which authorities deal with centrally employed teachers. In some cases these visiting specialists are considered as allocated to the schools where they teach, and have been included, with relevant partial FTE, in the school-level data. In other cases they are included as centrally employed staff. We are also aware that local authorities have changed procedures for reporting during recent years, so figures are not necessarily comparable over time.
3.4 The accuracy of the reported number of teachers in pre-schools is affected by non-response to the pre-school survey. Please see background note 2.4.
Pupils numbers (Tables 3.1 - 3.3)
3.5 A class is a group of pupils normally supervised by one teacher. However, when a class is large and cannot be split, for instance an additional classroom is not available, team teaching may be used. Team teaching is when two teachers are present in the class at all times. When this occurs, the pupil teacher ratio will not exceed maximum class size regulations.
Maximum class sizes in primary schools are as follows:
- 25 for pupils in P1
- 30 for single stage class P2 or P3
- 33 for single stage class P4-P7
- 25 for composite stage class
Excepted pupils in class-size legislation are-
(a)children whose record of additional support needs specify that they should be educated at the school concerned, and who are placed in the school outside a normal placing round;
(b)children initially refused a place at a school, but subsequently on appeal offered a place outside a normal placing round or because the education authority recognise that an error was made in implementing their placing arrangements for the school;
(c)children who cannot gain a place at any other suitable school within a reasonable distance of their home because they move into the area outside a normal placing round;
(d)children who are pupils at special schools, but who receive part of their education at a mainstream school; and
(e)children with additional support needs who are normally educated in a special unit in a mainstream school, but who receive part of their lessons in a non-special class.
3.6 All class size calculations treat a two-teacher class as two classes with half the pupils in each. Total average class size is calculated by dividing the number of pupils by the number of classes. Average class size for pupils in a particular stage (or range of stages) uses the average class size experienced by pupils, which therefore takes into account the number of pupils experiencing each class size. For example, if three pupils are in a class of three and one pupil is in a class of one, the average of three, three, three and one is 2.5.
3.7 Education authorities must have arrangements in place to identify pupils with additional support needs and from among them those who may require a Co-ordinated Support Plan ( CSP) and the particular additional support needs of the pupils so identified. Individualised Educational Programmes ( IEPs) are written plans setting targets that a child with additional support needs is expected to achieve. Targets should be limited in number and focus on key priorities of learning. They should be simple, clearly expressed and measurable.
The statutory criteria and content for a CSP and IEP can be found in the supporting children's learning code of practice at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/08/11140218/0
Attendance and Absence (Tables 4.1 - 4.2)
3.8 Percentages for authorised and unauthorised absence relate to the total number of possible attendances. For many schools this is 380 half-day sessions during the school year. However, all but two schools in the Lothians and Edinburgh and three schools in Highland operate 342 (longer) half-day sessions in the school year.
3.9 The data for attendance and absence is partly affected by ongoing differences in recording procedures across local authorities and over time. Therefore caution should be taken when comparing local authorities and when considering year on year national level figures, particularly for sickness, other authorised absence and truancy.
3.10 Pupils arriving late are marked as such, with a distinction made for those arriving in the second half of a morning or the second half of the afternoon. Where summary data is necessary, if a pupil has attended most of an opening it is counted as attendance, but if they have been absent for most of a session it is included as authorised absence. They are of course still separately identified as being late but present for some of the time in the schools' systems for management purposes. Schools were also given the possibility of including all late marks on a pupil's record as attendance, if it is deemed beneficial for encouraging attendance. The distinction is also used in judging attendance records of those receiving bursaries and allowances.
Pre-schools (Table 6.1 - 6.2)
3.11 As in previous years, pre-school education centres were asked how many children had access to a General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS) registered teacher during census week. In the guidance notes, "access to a teacher" was defined as "the teacher being present in a pre-school education setting when the child is in attendance", and it was acknowledged that systems for providing access to teachers vary.
3.12 Pre-school education centres were also asked whether they received occasional or ad hoc support from any external GTCS registered teachers. This could be instead of, or in addition to, any teacher(s) providing pre-school education under a regular arrangement.
3.13 Full-time equivalent is defined as the total number of hours worked by all staff members divided by the number of hours in a standard full-time working week, which was specified as 35 hours.
3.14 The September 2010 and 2011 Pre-School Education figures are not directly comparable with figures collected in previous January Pre-School Census. This is particularly the case for the number of children receiving ante-pre-school education (as the September Census will not include children who become eligible and start to receive local authority funded pre-school education in January). As a result, this may also affect the number of teachers (full-time equivalent and headcount), as pre-school centres may take on additional teachers, or increase teachers working hours as a result of the new January 'intake'. Please note that this does not affect the percentage of eligible children receiving pre-school education, or the percentage of children who have 'access' to a pre-school teacher.
School Estates (Table 7.1 - 7.3)
3.15 Only rebuilds or refurbishments with a cost of £500 thousand or more for primary, and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools have been included. Where a school is being refurbished or rebuilt as part of a phased project, this is only included once a phase (or a couple of phases combined) is completed and has a value greater than or equal to the amounts stated above. In order to avoid recording a school once a year over several years, any subsequent phases will not be recorded. Previously published figures on number of schools rebuilt should not be used as the 2007-08 and 2008-09 data was amended in 2009-10 following a robust quality assurance process and the 2009-10 was corrected this year to reflect more accurate information received during the collection of the 2010-11 data.
3.16 In order to ensure consistency across local authorities - new guidance on assigning condition ratings to schools - The Condition Core Fact (available from www.scotland.gov.uk/schoolestate) - was published in March 2007. All local authorities are now following this guidance when assigning condition ratings to schools. Prior to 2009/10, some local authorities were not following this guidance, so some of the improvement in condition ratings over the years may reflect the adoption of this guidance.
3.17 The condition of a school is based on the following criteria, as assessed by local authorities:
Condition A: Good - Performing well and operating efficiently.
Condition B: Satisfactory - Performing adequately but showing minor deterioration.
Condition C: Poor - Showing major defects and/or not operating adequately.
Condition D: Bad - Economic life expired and/or risk of failure.
Leaver Destinations ( Table 8.1)
3.18 Positive destination: includes higher education, further education, training, voluntary work, employment and activity agreements.
3.18.1 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 National Qualifications, i.e above SCQF level 7. Leavers with a deferred, unconditional place in higher education have also been included in this category.
3.18.2 Further Education: includes leavers undertaking full-time education which is not higher education and who are no longer on a school roll. This may include National Qualifications.
3.18.3 Training: includes leavers who are on a training course and in receipt of an allowance or grant, such as the national training programme. Get Ready for Work. It also includes leavers who are on local authority or third sector funded training programmes who are in receipt of a training allowance.
3.18.4 Employment: includes those who are employed and in receipt of payment from their employers. It includes young people undertaking training in employment through Skillseekers and Modern Apprenticeships.
3.18.5 Voluntary Work: includes those undertaking voluntary work, with or without financial allowance, who are not 'unemployed and actively seeking', as per the unemployed definition and those participating in Project Scotland/ CSV or other voluntary programmes.
3.18.6 Activity Agreements: includes those who where there is an agreement between a young person and a trusted professional that the young person will take part in a programme of learning and activity which helps them become ready for formal learning or employment.
3.18.7 Unemployed and seeking employment or training: includes those who are registered with Skills Development Scotland and are known by them to be seeking employment or training. This is based on regular contact between Skills Development Scotland and the client. This does not refer to the definition of 'unemployed' used by the Benefits Agency to calculate published unemployment rates. Young people participating in Personal Skills Development (see below) who do not fit in any of the existing categories are counted in this category.
3.18.8 Personal Skills Development: Leavers who participate in learning opportunities/personal and social development activities with the aim of improving their confidence and employability. These programmes can be viewed as a stepping stone towards a positive destination. They are often delivered by a community learning and development or third sector organisation.
3.18.9 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.
NOTE: categories 3.18.7 and 3.18.9 are comparable to the single 'other known destination' category from publications prior to 2002/03.
3.18.10 Unknown: includes all leavers whose destination is not known either to Skills Development Scotland or to the school attended.
3.19 The leaver destination data is matched to the Pupil Census using a number of variables including Scottish Candidate Number, centre number and date of birth. In 2010/11 99.7 per cent of leaver records were matched to the Pupil Census by Scottish Candidate number and at least one other piece of information, 0.1 per cent of records did not match the Pupil Census. A detailed breakdown of the matches can be found in the supplementary data set published on our website.
Attainment ( Table 9.1)
3.20 Qualifications in Scotland are based on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework ( SCQF). There are 12 levels on the framework, SCQF levels 1 to 7 are covered by school education. Standard Grades and Intermediates make up SCQF level 3-5, while Highers and Advanced Highers make up SCQF levels 6 and 7 respectively.
Standard Grades have three award levels, Foundation ( SCQF level 3), General ( SCQF level 4) and Credit ( SCQF level 5). Standard Grades have been supplemented in recent years with Intermediate 1 ( SCQF level 4) and Intermediate 2 ( SCQF level 5). Under Curriculum for Excellence these qualifications will be phased out and be replaced with National 4 and 5 qualifications from 2013/14. Further information on this can be found at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/qualifications
3.21 This publication only records National Qualifications at SCQF level 3 or better, some pupils will have gained other qualifications and achievements not covered in the publication.
3.22 Table outlining the SCQF levels:
| Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework ( SCQF) levels: |
| Level 7 | Advanced Higher |
| Level 6 | Higher |
| Level 5 | Intermediate 2; Standard Grade (Credit) |
| Level 4 | Intermediate 1; Standard Grade (General |
| Level 3 | Access 3; Standard Grade (Foundation) |
| Level 2 | Access 2 |
3.23 Figures included in the table only cover passes at the SCQF levels. For Intermediates, Higher and Advanced Higher a pass is classed as a Grade A-C. For Standard Grades, a pass is classed as Grade 1-2 (Credit), 3-4 (General) or 5-6 (Foundation). Access qualifications are pass/fail only.
4. Rounding
4.1 All percentages and FTEs are rounded separately and breakdowns may consequently not sum to Scotland figures.
5. Symbols used
5.1 The following symbols are used:
.. = not available
- = nil or rounds to nil
# = not applicable
6. General
6.1 This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
6.2 The report was edited by: Gary Sutton, Shona Rennie, Paul Gona and Rebecca McKay.
6.3 All tables are available on the Scottish Government website at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00949
6.4 Additional information on Teacher and pupil statistics can be found through the following link:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/Datasets
and Pre-schools:
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubPreSchoolEdChildcare
and leaver destinations:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dsintleav
and attainment:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/Datasets
7. Enquiries
7.1 Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this bulletin should be addressed to:
Paul Gona
Pupil and School Statistics,
Scottish Government,
Area 2-D South,
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ Tel: (0131) 244 0183
E-mail: school.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
7.2 Media enquiries about the information contained in this notice should be addressed to:
Mark Dunlop tel: (0131) 244 3070
7 th December, 2011