Education Outcomes for Looked After Children 2022/23

School Attendance

Information on attendance and exclusions covers all publicly funded local authority schools in Scotland and Jordanhill, the grant-aided mainstream school. It does not cover grant-aided special schools or independent schools. An extract of pupils’ attendance records for the whole school year is usually obtained from schools’ management information systems. This section compares attendance for all pupils with 10,739 pupils who were looked after within the last year, and those who experienced care at some point since age 5 and since age 12.

Headline findings

• The attendance rate for pupils looked after in the last year decreased from 87.9% in 2021/22 to 84.4% in 2022/23. This is roughly in line with a slight decrease in attendance for all pupils from 92.0% in 2020/21 to 90.2% in 2022/23.
• The attendance rate for pupils looked after in a foster care placement (93.5% for foster carers provided by the local authority; 93.8% for foster carers purchased by the local authority) was higher than the attendance rate for all pupils (90.2%). Pupils looked after at home with their parents (71.8%) had lower attendance rates.
• The gap in attendance rates between looked after pupils and all pupils in secondary schools widened to 8.0 percentage points in 2022/23 (from 5.7 percentage points in 2020/21). For primary pupils, the gap increased from 2.1 percentage points to 3.1 percentage points over the same period.

Chart 6 below shows the rate of attendance of pupils looked after within the year compared to that of all pupils. The rate of attendance of pupils looked after within the year has remained consistently lower than that for all pupils. The gap in attendance rate between these two groups increased slightly from 4.1 percentage points in 2020/21 (87.9% for looked after pupils and 92.0% for all pupils) to 5.8 percentage points in 2022/23 (84.4% for looked after pupils and 90.2% for all pupils).

Chart 6: Attendance of looked after pupils and all pupils

Percentage attendance of looked after pupils and all pupils between 2009/10 and 2022/23.

School type

Children looked after within the last year had a lower attendance rate than all pupils across all school sectors (Table 4.1). Those in primary schools showed the smallest difference in attendance, with the attendance rate for pupils looked after within the year and all pupils being 89.1% and 92.2% respectively, a 3.1 percentage point gap.

In secondary schools, the difference in attendance rates between looked after children and all pupils was greater than in primary schools and special schools. Secondary school pupils looked after within the year had an attendance rate of 79.7%, compared with a rate of 87.7% for all pupils. The gap in attendance rates between looked after pupils and all pupils in secondary schools widened to 8.0 percentage points in 2022/23 (from 5.7 percentage points in 2020/21).

The attendance gap in secondary schools is slightly wider when comparing children who have experienced care since turning 5 (8.2 percentage points lower than all pupils) and children who have experienced care since turning 12 (8.7 percentage points lower than all pupils).

For special schools, the attendance rate for pupils looked after within the year was 83.7% compared to 87.1% for all pupils. Once again, the gap between these two groups widened from 2.5 percentage points to 3.4 percentage points between 2020/21 and 2022/23.

Table 4.1: Percentage attendance by stage/sector

Percentage attendance by sector for looked after children, children who experienced care since turning 5, children who experience care since turning 12 and all pupils, 2022/23.

Placement type and sex

Table 4.1 shows the attendance rates for pupils looked after within the year by their type of placement and sex. The highest attendance rates were for children placed with foster carers both purchased and provided by local authorities. The attendance rates of 93.8% and 93.5% respectively for these pupils were higher than the rate for all pupils (90.2%). Pupils looked after at home with their parents (71.8%) had the lowest attendance rates.

There was very little overall difference in attendance by sex. Male pupils who were looked after within the year had a slightly higher attendance rate than female pupils looked after within the year, with an attendance rate of 84.6% compared with 84.2%. When broken down by placement type, the difference between sex becomes more apparent. For pupils looked after in all residential accommodation placement types, males had a higher rate of attendance.

Table 4.2. Percentage attendance by accommodation type and sex

Percentage attendance by accommodation type and sex for looked after children 2022/23.

[Note 1] Includes 'with prospective adopters'.

[Note 2] Includes 'in residential school', 'in secure care accommodation', and 'crisis care'.

Number of placements

Attendance rates ranged between 84.1 and 84.4 for pupils who has one, two, or three placements. Overall, no clear trend emerged in the attendance data regarding number of placements in 2022/23.

Table 4.3. Percentage attendance by number of placements within the year and sex

Percentage attendance by number of placements within the year and sex for looked after pupils, 2022/23.