Fewer school leavers get jobs and more stay on

The majority of senior school pupils stay on in education after S4

The proportion of school leavers who got a job last year slumped to the lowest level for a decade amid uncertainty caused by Covid.

The latest official figures show that 47,454 pupils left school last summer.

The figures show that nine months after they left 66.5% were in Higher or Further Education, the highest since records began in 2009.

However, the number in employment was down from 28% to 21.3%, the lowest figure since records began.

The percentage of school leavers who were unemployed increased from 5.8% in 2018/19 to 6.8% for last year's leavers.

Higher education was the most common destination for school leavers at 42.9%, followed by further education at 23.6%.

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School leavers who are engaged in higher education, further education, training, voluntary work, employment and activity agreements are classified as having a "positive destination".

The report shows that this was 92.2% of school leavers, down slightly on the previous year.

It said the number of school leavers in 2019/20 was lower than normal.

According to the report, it was possible that some S4 and S5 pupils who might have otherwise left school decided instead to stay at school for reasons related to the pandemic.

Over the past decade there has been a significant rise in the number of pupils staying at school for S6.

Last year 62.8% of school leavers were in S6 (usually aged 17 and 18).

The statistics show that just 11.4% of leavers were S4 students (aged 15 and 16). It said 25.8% of leavers were from S5 (aged 16 or 17).

The report said that "the availability of particular opportunities to 2019-20 school leavers may have been directly affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic (employment opportunities, for example)".

It also noted that leavers' options may "have been affected by the impact of the 2020 certification approach on school leaver attainment".

In the most deprived parts of Scotland just over a quarter (27%) of school leavers last year went on to university, compared to almost two-thirds (62.6%) in the most affluent communities.

In the poorest parts of Scotland, college was the most common destination, with 31.5% of leavers heading for further education, while 20.5% went into work, but one in 10 (10.8%) were out of work.

This compares to just 3.6% of leavers from the least deprived areas being out of work by April 2021.