Title: Ms Sample
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Company: Audit Scotland

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News release
Embargoed until 00:01 hours, 23 March 2021
Attainment gap remains wide and better education data needed
Progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap between the most and least deprived school pupils has been limited. And more evidence is needed to understand educational achievement beyond exams.  

A joint report by the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission found that exam performance and other attainment measures at the national level have improved. However, progress since 2013-14 has been inconsistent. And there are large variations in local authority performance, with some councils' performance getting worse on some measures.

The poverty-related attainment gap remains wide and existing inequalities have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The national curriculum recognises that school is about more than exams. And there has been an increase in the types of pathways, awards and qualifications available to young people. But better data is needed to understand if other important broad outcomes, like wellbeing and self-confidence, are improving.

The Scottish Government, councils, schools and the other bodies responsible for planning and delivering education were working well together before Covid-19. That allowed them to respond rapidly in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Funding for education has remained largely static - rising from £4.1 billion in 2013/14 to £4.3 billion in 2018/19. However, most of that real-terms increase was due to the Attainment Scotland Fund, which the Scottish Government set up to close the attainment gap. 

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: 

"Significantly reducing the attainment gap is complex. But the pace of improvement has to increase as part of the Scottish Government's Covid-19 recovery planning. That process needs to particularly focus on the pandemic's impact on the most disadvantaged children and young people."

Elma Murray, Interim Chair of the Accounts Commission, said: 

"There is variation in educational performance across Scotland, but this is not solely about exam performance.  Education also supports and improves the health and wellbeing of children and young people, which has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.  It is vital that councils, schools and their partners work to reduce the wide variation in outcomes as well as understanding and tackling the short and longer-term impact of Covid-19 on learning and wellbeing."

For further information contact Patrick McFall Tel: 0131 625 1663 / 07786660171  pmcfall@audit-scotland.gov.uk or media@audit-scotland.gov.uk

Notes to Editor:

1. Stripping the Attainment Scotland Fund cash out of education spend reduces the real-terms increase from 5.1 per cent to 0.7 per cent. Over £200m of extra money had been put into Covid-19 mitigation measures and education recovery by early January 2021.

2. Measuring progress in education has been hampered by the cancellation of exams and other data gaps caused by Covid-19. This could create risks around accountability.

3. The poverty-related attainment gap in education remains wide. For example, in 2018/19, the proportion of school leavers achieving five or more awards at level five was 82.7 per cent for pupils from the least deprived areas, compared to 46.5 per cent for school leavers from the most deprived areas – a gap of 36.2 percentage points. This is down from 41.6 percentage points in 2013/14.

4. Exhibit 3 in the report shows the significant variations in local council performance.

5. The increase in the types of pathways available to young people includes a near doubling of the number of school pupils under 16 years of age attending college between 2014-15 and 2019-20.

6. Audit Scotland has prepared this report for the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission. All Audit Scotland reports published since 2000 are available at www.audit-scotland.gov.uk
•	The Auditor General appoints auditors to Scotland’s central government and NHS bodies; examines how public bodies spend public money; helps them to manage their finances to the highest standards; and checks whether they achieve value for money. The Auditor General is independent and is not subject to the control of the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament
•	The Accounts Commission is the public spending watchdog for local government. It holds councils and various joint boards and committees in Scotland to account and help them improve. It operates impartially and independently of councils and of the Scottish Government, and meets and reports in public
•	Audit Scotland is a statutory body set up in April 2000, under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. It provides services to the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission for Scotland.

Providing services to the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission