Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy 2016: literacy

Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy 2016 (Literacy)

9 ^th May 2017

We would like to thank the pupils and teachers who took part in SSLN 2016.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy ( SSLN) is a sample survey which measures national performance in literacy and numeracy in alternate years. It is aligned to Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels. First Level (P2 to P4) performance is assessed near the end of P4 (age 8-9), Second Level (P5 to P7) performance is assessed near the end of P7 (age 11-12) and Third Level (S1 to S3) performance is assessed near the end of S2 (age 13-14).

Full results are available from www.gov.scot/ssln

Reading performance, 2012-2016
Pupils performing well or very well

• Reading performance of P4 and P7 pupils was high, but declined slightly between 2012 and 2016 (six and two percentage points respectively). S2 performance in 2016 was similar to 2012.
• Pupils from the least deprived areas outperformed pupils from the most deprived areas at all stages in all three surveys. The size of the gap in performance in 2016 was similar to the size of the gap in 2012.

Writing performance, 2012-2016
Pupils performing well, very well or beyond the level

• Writing performance of P4 pupils was similar in 2016 (62 per cent) and 2012 (64 per cent). Performance of P7 and S2 pupils declined by seven and 15 percentage points, respectively, between 2012 and 2016.
• Pupils from the least deprived areas outperformed pupils from the most deprived areas at all stages in all three surveys. The size of the gap in performance in 2016 was similar to the size of the gap in 2012.

Listening and talking performance, 2014-16
Pupils performing well, very well or beyond the level

• Listening and talking performance in 2016 was similar to that in 2014, at all stages.
• Pupils from the least deprived areas outperformed pupils from the most deprived areas at all stages in 2014 and 2016. The size of the gap in performance in 2016 was similar to the size of the gap in 2014.

Pupil questionnaire , 2011-2016
Pupil attitudes to learning, by stage

• The majority of pupils (94 per cent and over) agreed they wanted to do well in their learning and felt they usually did well at school, in each of the six surveys.
• Over 65 per cent of pupils reported that someone at home asked them what they did at school very often and told them that working hard at school is important, in each of the six surveys.

Teacher questionnaire 2016
Proportion of secondary non-English teachers who were fairly or very confident in delivering the literacy experiences and outcomes, by organizer

• The vast majority of primary and secondary English teachers are confident in teaching literacy (94 per cent and over); secondary non-English teachers reported relatively lower levels of confidence in some aspects.

• Teachers are confident in their ability to use ICT and believe it is has a positive impact on literacy.