Educational Outcomes for Scotland's Looked After Children 2010/11

Background Notes

1. Sources and Methodology

Sources

The information in this publication is derived from a number of sources: the pupil census, the children looked after survey, the attendance, absence and exclusion collections, SQA attainment data, and school leaver destination surveys.

Data from the children looked after survey relating to children who were looked after by Glasgow City Council during the 2010/11 academic year is provisional, since the individual level data for Glasgow City Council's looked after children has not yet been finalised. We are looking to finalise this data over the next few months.

Data Matching

Using the looked after children data provided by local authority social work departments for the period 1 August 2010 to 31 July 2011, there were 9,886 records that showed the looked after child had been looked after continuously throughout the entire 12-month period, and was also old enough to have started primary school (i.e. the child was born before 1 March 2006).

Of these 9,886 children, a Scottish Candidate Number was provided for 9,207 of them. Please note that although some of these children were technically old enough to have started primary school, a number of them will not have done so (e.g. because they have deferred entry to primary school). In these cases, it is expected that these children will not yet have a Scottish Candidate Number. However, in addition to these cases, some local authorities were unable to provide Scottish Candidate Numbers for all of their looked after children as part of their Children Looked After Return in 2010/11.

Of the 9,207 looked after children records with a Scottish Candidate Number, 8,242 matched to the September 2010 Pupil Census. Please note that some Scottish Candidate Numbers provided for looked after children may not match to the Pupil Census because the looked after child may not have been attending a publicly funded school at the time of the Pupil Census. Also, there were a number of older looked after children (e.g. 18 year olds) who had a Scottish Candidate Number according to the children looked after data, but the young person had already left school and therefore did not appear in the Pupil Census.

For school leavers in 2010/11, 472 pupil records matched with the school leavers cohort provided by Skills Development Scotland, suggesting that looked after children represented just under one per cent of the entire school leaver cohort.

Attendance and Absence

Information on the attendance and absence of pupils is provided to the Scottish Government by the local authorities and managers of mainstream grant-aided schools. The information shown for attendance, absence and exclusions is for the academic year 2010/11. Schools which closed during the academic session 2010/11, and for which data was available, were included.

The data for attendance and absence is affected by ongoing differences in recording procedures across local authorities and over time. Therefore caution should be taken when comparing local authorities and when considering year on year national level figures, particularly for sickness, other authorised absence and truancy.

Percentages for authorised and unauthorised absence relate to the total number of possible attendances. For many schools this is 380 half-day sessions during the school year. However, all but two schools in the Lothians and Edinburgh and three schools in Highland operate 342 (longer) half-day sessions in the school year.

Pupils arriving late are marked as such, with a distinction made for those arriving in the second half of a morning or the second half of the afternoon. Where summary data is necessary, if a pupil has attended most of an opening it is counted as attendance, but if they have been absent for most of a session it is included as authorised absence. They are of course still separately identified as being late but present for some of the time in the schools' systems for management purposes. Schools were also given the possibility of including all late marks on a pupil's record as attendance, if it is deemed beneficial for encouraging attendance. The distinction is also used in judging attendance records of those receiving bursaries and allowances.

Exclusions

Local authorities are required each year to collect certain statistics from schools on exclusions. The statistics relate to half-days of temporary exclusions and number of pupils removed from the register (previously known as 'permanent' exclusions).

An exclusion is temporary when a pupil is excluded from a school but remains on the register of that school because they are expected to return when the exclusion period is completed. The term 'removed from the register' refers to a pupil who is excluded and their name removed from the school register. Such a pupil would then be educated at another school or via some other form of provision.

Local authorities may also reach agreements with parents to move a pupil to another school without the use of a formal 'removal from register', but where the pupil is unlikely to have the option of staying in the school.

This data covers local authority primary, secondary and special schools. The receipt of data at pupil level enables data linkage with other data sets to enable analysis of exclusion by pupil characteristics.

Attainment

Information on National Qualifications are obtained from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is used as the basis for reporting attainment. The SCQF levels are shown below for information.

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels:
Level 7	Advanced Higher at A-C
Level 6	Higher at A-C
Level 5	Intermediate 2 at A-C; Standard Grade at 1-2
Level 4	Intermediate 1 at A-C; Standard Grade at 3-4
Level 3	Access 3 cluster; Standard Grade at 5-6
Level 2	Access 2 cluster

School Leavers

Information on the destination of leavers from publicly funded schools was provided to the Scottish Government by Skills Development Scotland (SDS). SDS collected information on where each young person, they had identified as being a school leaver, was during September 2011 (initial destination) and the March 2012 (follow-up destination).

The initial destinations data provide information on the outcomes for young people approximately three months after leaving school while the follow up survey provides information on the outcomes of young people approximately nine months after leaving school. These collections should be seen as complementary to one another but it should be noted that various factors may affect the results at different time periods.

A school leaver is classed as a young person of school leaving age who left school during or at the end of the school year, where the school year is taken to run from 1 August to 31 July.

Age was calculated as of 30^th June 2011.

The initial destinations data were published in "Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No.2 ¦ 2011 Edition" on 7^th December 2011: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubDestinationLeavers

Follow up destination

Due to the very high follow-up rate, 98.4 per cent, again we have decided not to impute destinations for those leavers not contacted in March 2012. Instead of imputing a destination for those who were not followed-up, we have agreed to use the most up to date information that SDS hold on these leavers.

In March 2012, SDS were unable to contact 852 leavers to confirm the current destination they held, some of which had requested not to be contacted. Of these 337 have an Unknown destination while for 515 SDS either received an updated destination outwith the March survey period or no information to say that they had changed destination. For these 515 the most up-to-date destination SDS held was used.

2. Definitions and Data Quality

Leaver Destination

All destinations are based on self-reporting by school leavers. The following categories for leaver destinations are included in the Statistics Publication Notice.

Positive: includes higher education, further education, training, voluntary work and employment. This is in line with the definition of positive destinations set out in Indicator 10 of the Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/11/30090722/18

Higher Education: includes leavers following HND (Higher National Diploma) or HNC (Higher National Certificate) courses, degree courses, courses for the education and training of teachers and higher level courses for professional qualifications. It also includes programmes at a level higher than the standard of the National Qualifications, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Higher, Advanced Higher and the National Certificate of Education of England, Wales or Northern Ireland at Advanced Level. Leavers with a deferred, unconditional place in higher education have also been included in this category.

Further Education: includes leavers undertaking full-time education which is not higher education and who are no longer on a school roll.

Training: includes leavers who are on a training course and in receipt of an allowance or grant, such as Get Ready for Work and Skillseekers (non-employed). Prior to 2009/10 only leavers on a national training programme were included. In 2009/10 leavers who were on a local authority funded training programme in receipt of a training allowance were included.

Employment: includes those who are employed and in receipt of payment from their employers. It includes young people undertaking training in employment through Skillseekers and Modern Apprenticeships.

Voluntary Work: includes those undertaking voluntary work, with or without financial allowance, who are not 'unemployed and actively seeking', as per the unemployed definition and those participating in Project Scotland/CSV or other voluntary programmes.

Unemployed and seeking employment or training: includes those who are registered with Skills Development Scotland and are known by them to be seeking employment or training. This is based on regular contact between Skills Development Scotland and the client. This does not refer to the definition of 'unemployed' used by the Benefits Agency to calculate published unemployment rates. Young people participating in Personal Skills Development (see below) are counted in this category.

Personal Skills Development: Leavers who participate in learning opportunities / personal and social development activities with the aim of improving their confidence and employability. These programmes can be viewed as a stepping stone towards a positive destination. They are often delivered by a community learning and development or third sector organisation. Included are those individuals engaging in the 16+ Activity Agreement pilots and these are recognised as an offer within 16+ Learning Choices.

Unemployed and not seeking employment or training: includes all those individuals who are not seeking employment or training for a range of reasons. The reasons may involve sickness, prison, pregnancy, caring for children or other dependents or taking time out.

NOTE: the above two categories are comparable to the single 'other known destination' category from publications prior to 2002/03.

Unknown: includes all leavers whose destination is not known either to Skills Development Scotland or to the school attended.

Destination unknown (both surveys): includes individuals who were not able to be contacted at either the September or the March/April survey point.

Unified Points Score Scale

The Unified Points Score Scale is an extended version of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) Scottish Tariff points system. A full list of courses, awards and corresponding tariff points is listed below. The tariff score of a pupil is calculated by simply adding together all the tariff points accumulated from all the different course levels and awards he/she attains.

The relativities between types of certification are taken from the principle that the value of an A award at one level is as close as possible to, but lower than, the value of a C award at the next level above. For example, a pupil getting five Standard Grades would collect between 40 and 190 points, based on lowest to highest possible results. Five Standard Grades with the highest result along with three Highers and one Advanced Higher at A, would amount to 526 points.

Course Level	Award	Tariff Points
Advanced Higher	A	120
CSYS	A	120
Advanced Higher	B	100
CSYS	B	100
Advanced Higher	C	80
CSYS	C	80
Advanced Higher	D	72
Higher	A	72
Higher	B	60
Higher	C	48
Higher	D	42
Intermediate 2	A	42
Standard Grade	1	38
Intermediate 2	B	35
Intermediate 2	C	28
Standard Grade	2	28
Intermediate 2	D	24
Intermediate 1	A	24
Standard Grade	3	22
Intermediate 1	B	20
Advanced Higher	Unit	20
Intermediate 1	C	16
Standard Grade	4	16
Higher	Unit	12
Intermediate 1	D	12
Standard Grade	5	11
Standard Grade	6	8
Access 3	Cluster	8
Intermediate 2	Unit	7
Unallocated Unit	(NC Module)	6
Unallocated Unit	(Short Course)	6
Intermediate 1	Unit	4
Standard Grade	7	3
Access 3	Unit	2
Access 2	Unit	1
Baccalaureate Interdisciplinary project	1	60
Baccalaureate Interdisciplinary project	2	50
Baccalaureate Interdisciplinary project	3	40

3. Additional Tables and Analyses

A set of more detailed tables that accompany this statistics publication can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00979. Additional analyses are available on request.

4. Resources

For historical statistics and background information on Children Looked After, please see the previous publications: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenLookedAfter

For historical statistics and background information on the wide range of School Education statistical products, please see the previous publications: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/Publications

5. General

This is an Official Statistics Publication. Official Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. These statistics undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

This publication is a new publication and has not been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority. The report was edited by Charlie Hogg and Shona Rennie.

All tables are available on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/EducOutcomesLAC

Additional information can be found through the following link: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/EducOutcomesLAC

This is the second time the educational outcomes for looked after children has been produced by using a child's Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) to link individual looked after children data obtained from local authority social work services departments with individual level educational data obtained from local authority education departments (Attendance and Exclusions), the Scottish Qualifications Authority (Attainment) and Skills Development Scotland (School Leaver Destinations).

The results contained in this publication are deemed fit for purpose, but should be treated as provisional whilst the quality and completeness of the Scottish Candidate Number for Scotland's looked after children being submitted by local authority social work services departments improves over time. The proportion of Scottish Candidate Numbers provided has risen from 86 per cent in 2009/10 to 93 per cent in 2010/11.

6. Enquiries

Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this News Release should be addressed to Charlie Hogg, Children and Families Analysis, Scottish Government Education Directorate, Area 2-B(Bridge), Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ (telephone 0131 244 0822 or e-mail children.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk).

Media enquiries about the information in this Statistics Publication Notice should be addressed to Barry McPherson on 0131 244 4001.

7. Consultations

If you would like to be consulted about new or existing statistical collections or receive notification of forthcoming statistical publications, please register your interest on the Scottish Government ScotStat website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/scotstat.