8% less Highland school leavers reach higher or further education than national average as Highland Council education bosses narrative claims ‘journey of improvement’ underway

Much less Highland school leavers are reaching higher or further education than the national average, according to new data from the Scottish Government.

Newly published “Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations” show the region has fallen significantly behind when it comes to academic outcomes.

Previously, we reported how Highland pupils are “at a disadvantage when applying to university or college” as figures showed attainment fell behind national average again for pupils in S4 to S6.

Education league tables showed Highland Council at or near the bottom across a range of measurements as parents said they turned to private tutors so their children could learn the basics.

For the 2024/24 session, the national average saw 40.8 per cent of children enter higher education but in the Highlands that fell to just 32.1 per cent.

The region was also behind in the further education stakes as well – 20.4 per cent took up this option from the north compared to 26.4 per cent nationally.

By comparison, in 2019/20 a total of 39.5 per cent of pupils went to higher education while nationally the figure was 44.2 per cent.

The figures emerged just before Highland Council education bosses met to deliver claims that the local authority is on a “journey of improvement”.

That was based on recent curriculum for excellence figures that the council projects will see the region close the attainment gap in literacy and numeracy by 2027, in a meeting marked by respectful debate after a mudslinging discussion before Christmas.

They were questioned by Councillor Michael Gregson as being “desperately, unconvincingly positive” and then questioned at the education committee meeting.

Councillor Alasdair Christie argued that just as Highland Council wants to improve its attainment, so will every other local authority in Scotland.

“While it is pleasing that we are improving, I am not sure we are improving at a pace or urgency that is sufficient to actually close the gap,” he said.

Regarding the 2027 catch-up date, he said: “That assumes that every other local authority will be at the level they are at now – there is some fragility and risk around that.”

The council’s highest ranking education official, Kate Lackie, the assistant chief executive of the people directorate responded that: “Our stretch aims are based on other local authorities’ stretch aims, so they are not just developed in isolation.

“I think that is really important. I do think we need to understand where we are in relation to others, not just in terms of all local authorities but others that are similar to us and have similar challenges and opportunities.

“So we need to make sure we have consistency. A consistent approach to how we develop curriculum but also within that to be able to flex for local circumstances so a blanket approach will not achieve what we need it to. But consistency is key.”

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