Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels, 2023-24

Official statistics have been released today on school pupils’ Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels (ACEL) in the reading, writing, listening & talking and numeracy ‘organisers’.

The statistics, based on teacher judgement, report on the percentage of school pupils in Primary 1 (P1), Primary 4 (P4), Primary 7 (P7) and Secondary 3 (S3) who have achieved the expected CfE Levels relevant to their stage. The results show:

• For P1, P4 and P7 pupils combined, more than seven in ten pupils (74.0 per cent) achieved the expected CfE Level for literacy in 2023-24. This is the highest figure on record and compares to 72.7 per cent in 2022-23, and to 72.3 per cent in 2018-19, the last year before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
• In numeracy, four-fifths (80.3 per cent) of primary school pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) achieved the expected CfE levels in 2023-24. This is again higher than in any previous year and compares to 79.6 per cent in 2022-23 and to 79.1 per cent in 2018-19.
• Around nine out of ten S3 pupils achieved Third Level or better in each organiser in 2023-24. For literacy, 88.3 per cent of S3 pupils achieved Third Level or better whilst for numeracy 90.3 per cent achieved this level. In each case this was higher than in 2022-23 and in all previous years.
• The statistics also provide information on the gap in attainment between pupils from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland:
• For literacy the gap between the proportion of primary pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) from the most and least deprived areas who achieved the expected level narrowed in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23 and reached its lowest ever level of 20.2 percentage points. For numeracy the gap increased slightly between 2022-23 and 2023-24 from 17.0 to 17.4 percentage points.
• For S3 pupils the attainment gap in literacy at Third Level or better narrowed from 13.7 percentage points in 2022-23 to 12.7 percentage points in 2023-24, the lowest level on record. For numeracy the gap reduced to 12.0 percentage points in 2023-24 from 13.6 percentage points in 2022-23 – also representing the lowest level since records began.

Background 

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (Cfe) Levels 2023-24 contains achievement data based on all pupils in publicly funded Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 classes, and for all pupils based in special schools/units. 

The Scottish Government is also publishing school level data on Achievement of CfE Levels. All school level results will be presented in ten per cent bandings (i.e., under 10%, 10% – under 20% etc.).  To prevent potential disclosure of information relating to individual pupils within schools, any schools in which the relevant cohort contains 20 or fewer pupils will be suppressed. 

The Scottish Government did not collect Achievement of CfE Levels data in 2019/20 due to school closures resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Data for S3 and special school pupils were not collected in 2020/21 due to other pressures on these schools including implementation of the SQA Alternative Certification Model, which was used to award National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers in 2021.

Further information on school statistics can be found on the Scottish Government website.

The figures released today were produced by professionally independent statistical staff in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.