School research plan 2023 to 2026

Objective 4: Continuing to improve data access

Our statistical data on Scottish education, including pupil performance, attainment and qualification results, and pupil and teacher characteristics, can expand the Scottish evidence base for new research and policy evaluation. We have a duty to adhere to data protection legislation and we, thus, have well established data access protocols in place to ensure the lawful sharing of data. We recognise the opportunities that better access to Scottish Government data can bring to the wider education research community. Such data, made accessible for researchers in ways that upholds data protection, can provide new and innovative analysis and renewed insight into the performance of the Scottish education system, which can further guide the development, implementation and evaluation of policy interventions. This necessitates transparent processes and timescales for access and linking data, and building awareness of our datasets amongst education researchers.

In recent years there have been a number of changes to how researchers can access education data. We have made a range of education datasets available on Administrative Data Research (ADR) Scotland. This includes the Pupil Census, attendance and absence, exclusions, leaver destinations and attainment, and qualifications. We publish a range of statistical datasets on our Open Data Platform and bespoke requests for data can be submitted via an application to the Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel, which replaced our Education Analytical Services Data Access Panel. We are also now part of the SafePod Network which provides researchers with standardised safe settings (SafePods) across the UK for data that requires secure access for research. Approved projects can access data through Safe Haven, SafePod Network or, in some circumstances, a data transfer via a secure method such as Objective Connect.

In the coming years, we will continue to support data access. We will increase the number of datasets available on ADR and on our open data platform and use channels for knowledge exchange to increase awareness of the available datasets and the process for making data access requests.