Education Outcomes for Looked After Children 2022-23
The Scottish Government has today (27 August) published the national Education Outcomes for Looked After Children for 2022-23 statistics report. The report uses the current legal definition of ‘Looked After Children’ under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, which is broadly defined as children in the care of their local authority.
The report includes information on the attainment, Curriculum for Excellence stages, and post-school destinations of ‘looked after’ children who left school in 2022-23 (1,054 young people, accounting for 1.9% of the total school leavers in 2022-23). Used for the first time last year, the report includes statistics which estimate that 1,518 young people had been ‘looked after’ at any point since turning 12, and 2,131 young people had been ‘looked after’ at any point since turning 5, left school in 2022-23. This year, it also includes data on attendance and exclusion rates, which are reported on every second year.
The report shows that there are still gaps in attainment compared to the total population of pupils in Scotland, with the attainment rate for school leavers who were ‘looked after’ within the year decreasing compared to 2021-22.
For pupils ‘looked after’ at any point from August 2022-July 2023, 75.7% of school leavers gained one or more qualifications at SCQF level 4 or better (down from 78.3% in 2021-22) and 86.4% of school leavers went on to an initial positive destination (for example college, training, or employment) after leaving school (up from 84.8% in 2021-22).
The report also shows that a lower proportion of ‘looked after’ pupils achieved Curriculum for Excellence Levels (CfE) relevant to their stage compared with all pupils, with the largest gaps in numeracy and writing.
The rate of exclusions for ‘looked after’ pupils has risen from 78 cases of exclusion per 1,000 pupils in 2021-22 to 97 in 2022-23. The attendance rate for ‘looked after’ pupils dropped from 87.9% in 2021-22 to 84.4% in 2022-23.
Read the Education Outcomes report