Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels: 2022/23

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels: 2022/23 provides information on national performance in literacy and numeracy, 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.


Chapter 6: Achievement of CfE Levels of pupils based in special schools/units

Key Findings

  • Around a quarter of pupils based in special schools/units were reported as following their own individual milestones.
  • A further quarter of pupils were assessed as ‘Not yet achieved Early Level’.
  • About 14 per cent of pupils were reported as studying beyond Broad General Education (BGE) level.
  • For each organiser, slightly less than one third of pupils based in special schools/units were reported as having achieved a CfE Level.

As in 2021/22, around one quarter of pupils within special schools and standalone special units were following their own milestones, a further quarter of pupils had Not Yet Achieved Early Level and five per cent of pupils in special schools and standalone special units were not assessed (see Table 5 below). For further information see Section 9.3.

Of the pupils who achieved a CfE level within special schools/units, this was highest for numeracy at 31 per cent, followed by writing (30 per cent), listening and talking (29 per cent) and reading (28 per cent). It should be noted that these proportions cannot be directly compared to those presented in other Chapters of this report. In order to show the full range of information recorded for pupils in special schools and standalone special units the calculations in this chapter include pupils recorded as Not Assessed. Pupils recorded as Not Assessed are excluded from the analysis in other chapters.

From 2021/22 onwards, a new recording option, ‘studying beyond BGE level’, has been introduced for pupils in special schools and standalone special units. In 2022/23, 14 per cent of pupils in standalone special schools and units were recorded in this way. This is slightly higher than in 2021/22 (12 per cent). This recording option was not available prior to 2021/22 and so caution should be exercised if making comparisons over time, particularly when comparing the proportions of pupils recorded as ‘Not Assessed’. For further information see Section 9.3.

Table 5: Percentage of special schools/units pupils achieving CfE levels, 2018/19 to 2022/23
Year CfE level Reading Writing Listening & Talking Numeracy
2022/23 Not Yet Achieved Early Level 28 26 27 26
Achieved Early Level 15 16 15 17
Achieved First Level 8 9 9 9
Achieved Second Level 3 4 4 3
Achieved Third Level 1 1 1 0
Achieved Fourth Level 0 0 0 0
Not Assessed 5 5 5 5
Child following individual milestones 26 25 25 25
Pupil studying beyond BGE level 14 14 14 14
2021/22 Not Yet Achieved Early Level 26 28 25 25
Achieved Early Level 17 17 17 18
Achieved First Level 10 9 10 11
Achieved Second Level 4 3 4 3
Achieved Third Level 2 1 2 1
Achieved Fourth Level 0 0 0 0
Not Assessed 5 5 5 5
Child following individual milestones 25 26 25 25
Pupil studying beyond BGE level 12 12 12 12
2020/22 All Levels [no data] [no data] [no data] [no data]
2019/20 All Levels [no data] [no data] [no data] [no data]
2018/19 Not Yet Achieved Early Level 26 28 25 26
Achieved Early Level 18 18 19 20
Achieved First Level 11 10 11 10
Achieved Second Level 4 3 4 3
Achieved Third Level 2 2 2 1
Achieved Fourth Level 1 1 1 1
Not Assessed 12 12 12 12
Child following individual milestones 27 27 26 27

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

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