Chapter 4  Achievement of CfE Levels in Gàidhlig

Information on the Gàidhlig data collected as part of the Achievement of CfE Levels data collection can be found in the methodology document. Numeracy and English literacy data for pupils learning in Gàidhlig are also included in the other chapters of this report.

1,598 pupils at Primary stages and 380 S3 pupils are included in the Achievement of CfE Levels data are in Gaelic medium schools/classes.

The proportions of pupils achieving expected levels in Gàidhlig at primary stages were higher in 2023-24 than in any previous year across all organisers.

Chart 11: Primary attainment in Gàidhlig increased over the latest year for all organisers

Percentage of primary pupils achieving expected CfE levels in Gàidhlig, 2016-17 to 2023-24

At S3, 84 per cent of pupils achieving third level or better in literacy in 2023-24. This is down from 96 per cent in 2022-23 and the second lowest on record. With a small number of pupils, figures vary considerably from year to year.

Table 4: Fewer S3 pupils attained the expected CfE levels in Gàidhlig in 2023-24 than in 2022-23

Percentage of S3 pupils achieving expected CfE levels in Gàidhlig, 2016-17 to 2023-24

Pupils receiving a Gaelic medium education are also assessed in English (from P7 onwards) and numeracy (from P4 onwards).

A higher proportion of P7 pupils based in Gaelic medium schools and classes achieved expected levels in English literacy and numeracy organisers than pupils as a whole. P7 pupils receiving Gaelic medium education performed better than the average by six percentage points across the literacy organisers and by five percentage points in numeracy.

Similarly, the proportion of S3 pupils based in Gaelic medium schools and classes achieving third level or better was between six and eight percentage points higher than the proportions for all pupils across each of the English literacy and numeracy organisers.

For S3 pupils achieving fourth level, the pattern was reversed with pupils receiving Gaelic medium education less likely to achieve fourth level than pupils as a whole.