Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations - Data Sources and Methodology 2025

Section 2. The National Qualifications measure

The school leaver attainment data in Section 4 of the main report covers Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) National Qualifications, achieved throughout all stages of a pupil’s education at school. The data include leavers from all stages of school, including leavers from S3 and other stages.

The National Qualifications measure consists of the National Courses (National 3, National 4, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher), plus Skills for Work courses.

It does not include attainment in the SQA’s National Units, the Scottish Baccalaureate, or National Qualifications below Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Level 3 (such as National 1 and National 2).

Section 2.1 Source and Quality Assurance

Data on National Qualifications are provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) using data from the live SQA Awards Processing System (APS).

SQA provide two extracts of data to the Scottish Government (SG): one in August (pre-appeals data) and one in December (post-appeals data). The December extract is used in this publication.

For 2024, the August data extract includes records with a result date between 01 August 2023 and 31 July 2024 (where a candidate has been entered, has a final result or has been certificated), Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) credit information, SCQF credit points, SCQF levels and qualification types (where available) and excludes records on qualification types that are out of scope.

The SQA data extract is merged with school roll data provided by the Scottish Government (Scottish Candidate Number (SCN), centre number and stage information) from the SG pupil census. Data are retained and provided to the Scottish Government only where there is a match by SCN on the SQA data extract and the school roll data. This ensures SQA only provide records for which Scottish Government have legitimate interest to process.

The December data extract is formed of the August data extract, updated with information from the results of appeals. The December extract contains records provided in the August attainment data transfer which match with the SQA APS on SCN and product code. Any records that were present in the August extract, but are no longer present in SQA APS, will not feature in the December extract; such changes will typically be due to course withdrawals/changes.

Section 2.2 Methodology

The National Qualification attainment data presented in this publication (and  Supplementary Tables) include qualifications achieved throughout all stages of a pupil's schooling.

The data are based on the result date of learners' qualifications. In some cases, this may lead to attainment being reported in a different academic year to that reported by SQA. There is also the possibility of a small number of awards being excluded if an appeal is successful after a pupil has left. Only attainment data for candidates with a Scottish Candidate Number in the pupil census that year are included.

This publication uses the 'latest and best' approach for attainment data. This means that only the best result within a subject is counted, with a grade A to C (or ungraded pass) considered a pass. For example, if a pupil passes Higher Mathematics one year and Advanced Higher Mathematics the following year, only the Advanced Higher qualification will be counted when looking at how many qualifications at any level that leaver has achieved by the time they left school.

If a pupil attains a D at a certain level this is not counted as achieving that level. Instead, it is counted as being equivalent to attainment at the level below. (This is the case even when there is not a qualification offered at the level below). For example, if a pupil attains a D at SCQF Level 5 in a certain subject this would be counted as attaining at SCQF Level 4 or better for that subject, and not at SCQF Level 5 or better.

Attainment statistics exclude special school pupils unless otherwise stated.

Section 2.3 Learning hours and SCQF credit points

SCQF credit points provide an indication of the length of time it takes to complete a course’s learning outcomes, with 1 credit point equating to a notional 10 hours of learning. All of the qualifications counted in the National Qualifications measure at a given SCQF Level have the same number of notional learning hours. So, for example, at SCQF Level 6, all Highers are associated with 24 SCQF credit points or 240 notional hours of learning.