Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels: 2021/22

Chapter 5: Achievement of CfE Levels in Gàidhlig

Key Findings

• The percentage of primary pupils in Gaelic medium schools/classes achieving the expected CfE level was highest for Gàidhlig listening and talking, and lowest for Gàidhlig writing at all stages (P1, P4 and P7).
• Over 90 per cent of S3 pupils in Gaelic medium schools/classes achieved Third Level or better in Gàidhlig reading, writing, and listening and talking.

Information on the Gàidhlig data collected as part of the achievement of CfE levels can be found in Section 9.1.3.3. A combined literacy variable for Gàidhlig has been created; this has the same methodology as the English literacy variable. Numeracy and English literacy data for pupils learning in Gàidhlig are included in the other chapters of this report.

Around 1,563 primary school pupils (582 pupils at P1, 539 at P4 and 442 at P7) and 270 S3 pupils included in the Achievement of CfE Levels data are in Gaelic medium schools/classes.

The percentage of pupils achieving expected CfE levels in Gaidhlig reading and writing was lower in P4 and P7 than in P1 and was highest in S3 (Third Level or better; see Table 4 below). Similarly, for Gàidhlig listening and talking, performance was highest at S3 with 91 per cent achieving the expected CfE level, and lower at P1 (84 per cent), followed by P4 and P7 (both 80 per cent).

For P1, P4 and P7 combined, Gàidhlig listening and talking results were highest whereas Gàidhlig writing results were the lowest (see Chart 10), which is consistent with previous years. At S3 (Third Level), performance was largely consistent over the three Gàidhlig organisers.

The proportions of primary school pupils achieving expected levels in Gàidhlig were higher in 2021/22 than in 2020/21 across almost all stages and organisers with the biggest increases seen in P1 and P7. The patterns observed in the current data were similar to those seen in 2018/19, but the percentage of pupils achieving expected CfE levels was often higher in 2021/22, particularly at the P1 and S3 (Third Level or better) stages (see Table 8 in the supplementary tables).