28 November 2009

	Home | About | News | Publications | Consultations | Search | Links | Contacts | Site Map | FAQs | Help

Next >

News Release
Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools: 2000-01

18 December 2001

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

This document is also available in pdf format (164k)

Information about the destination of Scottish school leavers for 2000-01 is today published by the Scottish Executive Education and Young People Department.

This information was previously produced as a Statistical Bulletin (Edn/B9/2000/4) and contains information regarding the destinations of young people leaving Scottish schools (publicly funded, independent and grant-aided).

Findings are of immediate destinations and are not directly comparable to the other participation indicators.

The main findings are:

• The proportion of young people leaving publicly funded schools who entered into full-time further or higher education continued to rise to 52 per cent during 2000-2001. This is made up of 32 per cent going on to full time higher education and a further 20 per cent taking up full time further education.
• 91 per cent of young people who left independent schools continued onto full-time further or higher education.
• Over the past few years there has been a decrease in school leavers who are entering training outwith employment from 16 per cent (1994-95) to 6 per cent (2000-2001). However, this is offset somewhat by the increases in Modern Apprenticeships in recent years.
• Young people entering employment figures have remained stable at 26 per cent from 1997-98 to 1999-2000. However, the data for 2000-2001 reflects a small drop of 2 per cent to 24 per cent.
• There is variation in the pattern of leaver destinations between authorities. Geographical location and proximity of further and higher education institutions are all factors which are influential to the school leavers destinations.

1. Higher Education: - East Renfrewshire had the highest proportion (53 per cent) of school leavers entering into higher education whereas Glasgow has the lowest figure of 20 per cent.
2. Further Education: - Angus and Orkney Islands have the joint highest percentage (31 per cent) of young people leaving school and taking up places in further education institutes.
3. Training: - In Clackmannanshire 17 per cent of school leavers went onto training opportunities outwith employment whereas Aberdeen & Shetland reported less than one per cent.
4. Employment: - Although Shetland had the lowest figures for young people entering training outwith employment after leaving school they showed that 44 per cent of their leavers went straight into employment.

TABLES

Table 1 Percentage of school leavers from publicly funded schools in Scotland by destination category: 1992-93 to 2000-2001
Table 2 Percentage of school leavers from independent schools in Scotland by destination category: 1995-96 to 2000-2001
Table 3 Young people in Training outwith employment: 1998-2001
Table 4 Education Authority Summary: 1994-95 to 2000-2001
Table 5 Aberdeen City: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 6 Aberdeenshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 7 Angus: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 8 Argyll & Bute: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 9 Clackmannanshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 10 Dumfries & Galloway: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 11 Dundee City: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 12 East Ayrshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 13 East Dunbartonshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 14 East Lothian: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 15 East Renfrewshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 16 City of Edinburgh: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 17 Eilean Siar: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 18 Falkirk: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 19 Fife: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 20 Glasgow City: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 21 Highland: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 22 Inverclyde: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 23 Midlothian: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 24 Moray: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 25 North Ayrshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 26 North Lanarkshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 27 Orkney: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 28 Perth & Kinross: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 29 Renfrewshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 30 Scottish Borders: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 31 Shetland Islands: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 32 South Ayrshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 33 South Lanarkshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 34 Stirling: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 35 West Dunbartonshire: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 36 West Lothian: 1998-99 to 2000-2001
Table 37 Independent Schools Summary: 1997-98 to 2000-2001
Table 38 Grant Aided Schools: 1997-98 to 2000-2001

NOTES FOR NEWS EDITORS

1. Sources

The 2000-01 data for this News Release is based on the information available on 19 October 2001.

Information on publicly funded schools is provided to The Scottish Executive by the careers services. Information from independent schools is collected directly from the schools.

The data relate to the latest known destinations of leavers at the time the information is collected. For example, a school leaver who left in June 2001 and was employed for 4 months until early October, but who is known by the careers service to have taken up a college place prior to 19 October will be counted under further education.

2. 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 or 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. There may also be slight differences in the way careers services count leavers who return to school for a short period after the summer break. Thus full comparability between education authorities cannot be assured.

It should be noted that the News Release does not contain information on the destination of leavers from special schools. Leavers from these schools are few in number and fluctuate from year to year.

3. Leaver Destinations

The following categories for leaver destination are included in the News Release. These are also described in the Regulations in the SOED circular 10/93 on the Information for Parents in Scotland.

Full-time 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 and Higher) which were introduced in 1999-00, Scottish Certificate of Sixth Year Studies and the National Certificate of Education of England, Wales or Northern Ireland at Advances Level. Leavers with a deferred, unconditional place in higher education have also been included in this category.

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

Training: - includes leavers who are on a training course where an allowance or grant is paid, 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 through the Skillseekers programme:

The Skillseekers programme was introduced in 1992 and achieved national coverage in 1996. Target group is 16 to 17 year olds. The Youth Guarantee Group and Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) have discretion to fund training for young people 18 years old and over. The programme was extended to include Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) these are mainly geared towards 16 - 18 year olds however, LECs have again the discretion to fund 18 to 24 year olds. At September 2001 72 per cent of Skillseekers received a wage (99 per cent for Modern Apprenticeships). Numbers of young people on Skillseekers training to September 2001 are shown in table 3 of this news release.

Employment: - includes those who are employed for a minimum of 21 hours per week and who are in receipt of payment from their employers. It includes young people undertaking training in employment through Skillseekers. Where a leaver has more than one job, the leaver will be included in the employment category if they have worked more than 21 hours in total.

Other Known Destinations: - includes school leavers who are known by the education authority or school to be unemployed, sick, at home looking after children or caring for the elderly, involved in full-time unpaid voluntary work, or taking time out. This category is a very wide one but it is not possible at present for the careers services to provide information that reliably distinguishes between school leavers who are unemployed or who are employed and/or in education part-time for less than 21 hours per week and those covered by the other options under the heading. It should be noted that this category may include some leavers with more than one part-time placement.

Unknown: - includes all leavers whose destinations are not recorded by the careers service, independent or grant-aided schools.

4. Interpretation of figures for individual schools

The following points should be noted when comparing figures for individual schools.

• Increasing numbers of school leavers are taking a 'year out' before continuing their education or entering employment. Apart from pupils with a deferred unconditional place for Higher Education, pupils taking a 'year out' are included in the 'other known destinations' category. Details on the number of such pupils may be obtained from individual schools.
• The destinations of leavers from individual schools may depend partly on location. For example, in may rural and island areas, young people have to travel long distances or live away from home in order to take up courses in higher or further education.
• Economic factors may affect the availability of employment in the local area. A major construction project or the opening of an industrial enterprise may present many new opportunities. Equally, lack of local employment may encourage leavers towards further education or training.
• In certain areas, or particular years, the pattern of school leaver destinations may be affected by the implementation of Skillseekers, the existence of an education-business partnership or special arrangements for entry to higher education.
• There may be a strong local tradition for pupils either to stay on at school or to leave school as early as possible, affecting the numbers who stay on long enough to gain the necessary entrance qualifications for higher education.
• Schools which offer education only up to S4 do not in general offer the qualifications necessary for leavers to enter higher education, but they may prepare leavers for further education. Such schools are identified (S1-S4) in the tables.
• Some education authority schools are designated to receive pupils from schools which only offer education in S1 to S4 to continue their education in S5 and S6. Such schools may gain a significant proportion of pupils beyond the statutory leaving age who are interested in further and higher education. The schools whose figures could be affected in this way are identified in the tables. In some cases, this may be a temporary situation which has arisen for one year because of the closure of a neighbouring school.
• Some schools have special units which make provision for pupils who have learning difficulties. The destinations of these pupils are included in the figures in the tables and this might have a significant effect which will be heavily dependent on the number of pupils in the special unit and the nature of their needs.
• Fluctuations in the figures from year to year are likely. For example, differences in the proportion of leavers proceeding to higher education may derive from the ability of pupils in a particular year group. Similarly, there may be short-term opportunities for employment in some localities. In small schools with only a few leavers, small changes in the number of leavers in each destination category can make a big difference in percentage terms from year to year.

5. Symbols

Two asterisks (**) have been inserted in the tables in the following circumstances:

1. where the number of leavers in any category is between 1 to 4.
2. for 'unknown destinations' where otherwise it would be possible to calculate the number of leavers less than 5 in another category.

Two hashes (##) have been inserted where a school has recently opened or merged with another schools and the required information is not available.

Schools marked (§) receive pupils after S4 to continue their education in S5 and S6.

6. Enquiries

Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this News Release should be addressed to Emma Waddington, Statistician, The Scottish Executive Education and Young People Department, Education and Children Statistics Unit, Area 1-A West, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ. Telephone 0131 244 0303 or e-mail to: emma.waddington@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Media enquiries about the information in this News Release should be addressed to Catherine Rainey 0141 242 5444

Next >

	Home | About | News | Publications | Consultations | Search | Links | Contacts | Site Map | FAQs | Help