Pentlands MSP Gordon Macdonald has said that “Scotland remains open and welcoming” following an announcement from the SNP Government that free tuition for EU students will be extended beyond 2021 despite ongoing Brexit uncertainty. Continue reading MSP welcomes extension of free tuition for EU students in Edinburgh
Reform Scotland says sharp reduction in National 4s and 5s available in many schools is narrowing educational opportunity for children.
New research released today by Reform Scotland, the independent think tank, exposes a disturbing decline in the number of National 4s and 5s school pupils are being allowed to sit. Continue reading Lose, lose: Scottish state schools cut number of exams pupils are allowed to sit
Planned works ranging from repairs and maintenance to upgrades will be taking place at 35 schools and nurseries during the Easter holidays as part of a major £47m maintenance programme.
Continue reading School work continues during Easter holidays!
The ground-breaking Career Ready programme has marked a major milestone with a record number of students graduating since its inception in Scotland in 2011. Continue reading Edinburgh students get Career Ready
New tools to assist learners 
Councils and teachers are being given extra help to improve outcomes for young people with additional support needs.
The Scottish Government’s new guidance on mainstreaming provides clear, updated information to help decide the best learning environment for a young person. For the first time, it includes a Scottish definition of inclusion and practical guidance to deliver inclusion in schools. Continue reading Better outcomes for children who need additional support
Edinburgh schools have the worst pupil-to-teacher ratios in Scotland, new figures have revealed. According to the statistics, the Capital had 15.1 pupils to every teacher across both primary and secondary schools. Continue reading City pupils being short-changed?
Calling all budding Steven Spielbergs, Kathryn Bigelows or Peter Jacksons, Netflix fans, and promising BBC Data Scientists! A national competition to design a film or tv series based on data has been launched at DATAFEST 2019 – the UK’s first ever two-week festival of data innovation in Scotland. Continue reading Lights, camera, DATA!
Teachers from nearly 70 per cent of Scottish schools have signed up for BT tech literacy programme Continue reading Boost for computing lessons in Scottish schools
The Teacher Census 2018, published this week, shows that since 2010, 15 fewer Lothian secondary school teachers are taking English as their main subject, a drop from 366 to 351. Continue reading Lothian schools lose 41 Maths and English teachers over 8 years
Deprivation gap in positive destinations falls by half
94.4% of pupils had a ’positive destination’ including work, training or further study within three months of leaving school last year, official statistics show.
The figures also reveal that the gap between those from the most and least deprived communities achieving a positive destination has halved since 2009/10, with an increase in positive destinations for school leavers from both backgrounds.
Over the same period there have been increases at all levels of attainment – the qualifications young people are achieving.
For the first time more than 30% of pupils left school with a minimum of five passes at Higher Level or better, up from 22.2% in 2009/10. The gap between those from the most and least deprived areas achieving a pass at Higher Level or better is now at a record low, reducing for the eighth successive year.
In addition, more young people are choosing to remain at school, with almost two thirds leaving in S6.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “These welcome statistics show that more young Scots are studying, training or working within three months of leaving school than ever before. And, the gap between the richest and poorest communities for those getting into one of these positive destinations is now half what it was. That is real world progress in tackling an age old problem.
“They also show pupils are generally staying at school for longer and gaining more qualifications between fourth and sixth year. I am particularly pleased to see the attainment gap between school leavers achieving a pass at Higher Level or better is at a record low.
“At National 4 and 5 level, however, the attainment gap has remained broadly flat over the last two years which reflects the distance we know we have to go and why we are investing more than £180 million through the Scottish Attainment Challenge in 2019/20 alone.
“The figures published today are encouraging but we know there is more to do to raise attainment and ensure all our young people have the very best chance to build the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to succeed – regardless of their background.”
The 2009/10 summary statistics for attainment and initial leaver destinations are the earliest comparable figures to those published today.
