4: Background notes
Full details of the methodology, data sources and other notes on the data can be found in the School Leaver Follow-up Destinations - Methodology and Data Sources document. Some key points are included below.
Leaver destinations are categorised by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) based on shared administrative data wherever possible. Alternatively, they have been captured by staff in data sharing organisations or through direct data input by SDS staff, as a result of contact with individuals, their parents-carers or organisations an individual is engaging with. The following categories for leaver destinations are included in this statistical bulletin:
Positive destination: includes Higher Education, Further Education, Training, Employment, Voluntary Work, Personal Skills Development and (between 2010-11 and 2017-18) Activity Agreements.
Higher Education: includes leavers following HND (Higher National Diploma) or HNC (Higher National Certificate) courses, degree courses, courses for the education and training of teachers and higher level courses for professional qualifications. It includes programmes at a level higher than the standard of the National Qualifications, i.e. above SCQF Level 7. Leavers with a deferred, unconditional place in Higher Education have also been included in this category.
Further Education : includes leavers undertaking education which is not higher education and who are no longer on a school roll. This may include National Qualifications.
Training : includes leavers who are on a training course and in receipt of an allowance or grant.
The integration of funding streams, as part of the implementation of No One Left Behind (NOLB), means that all young adults supported by local authorities who are undertaking a learning agreement/action plan are recorded within this category. In addition, provision funded via the Young Person’s Guarantee will be included in this status. It also includes leavers who are on local authority or third sector funded training programmes who are in receipt of a training allowance, or those participating in Community Jobs Scotland.
From 2018-19 this category includes school leavers receiving support that would previously have been recorded as ‘Activity Agreements’. This means that the proportion of school leavers with a destination category of Training from 2018-19 onwards cannot be directly compared to the proportion recorded for previous years. Further information can be found in the Activity Agreements definition below.
Employment: includes those who consider themselves to be employed and in receipt of payment from their employers. It includes young people undertaking training in employment through national training programmes such as Modern Apprenticeships and Graduate Apprenticeships.
Voluntary Work : includes those undertaking voluntary work/volunteering which will involve a young person giving of their time and energy through a third party with or without financial allowance.
Personal Skills Development: Young people who have a destination as Personal Skills Development (PSD) on the ‘Opportunities for All’ shared dataset fall into one of two different categories:
PSD (Employability): including individuals who participate in activities with the aim of employment. For example, programmes run by community learning and development or third sector organisations. The courses will have a structured attendance pattern.
PSD (Social & Health): includes individuals who may not be ready to enter the labour market and require access to support from support services to make transitions into learning/work or adulthood. This relates to individuals undertaking structured opportunities appropriate to their long term needs or to address their barriers to engaging in education, employment or training.
The way in which school leavers undertaking Personal Skills Development are counted in these statistics changed in 2018-19 and data for previous years was revised to allow consistent comparisons over time. Further information can be found in section 4.1 of the June 2020 release of this publication.
Activity Agreements: prior to 2018-19 this included leavers for whom there was an agreement between a young person and an advisor that the young person would take part in a programme of learning and activity which helped them become ready for formal learning or employment.
The integration of funding streams as part of the implementation of No One Left Behind means that although local authorities provide the same type of support and opportunities for young people, this activity is no longer funded under the banner of ‘Activity Agreements’. This means it is no longer appropriate to record school leavers receiving this support using this category. Instead, they are recorded in the Training category for 2018-19 onwards. Note that data for earlier years continues to include the Activity Agreements category, reflecting the support that was available at the time. This means that the proportion of school leavers recorded in the Training category from 2018-19 onwards is not directly comparable with the proportion prior to 2018-19.
Unemployed Seeking: includes those known by SDS or their partners to be seeking employment or training. This includes those receiving support from SDS, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and other partners. It is based on regular contact between the supporting organisation and the individual. This does not refer to the definition of ‘Unemployed’ used by the DWP to calculate published unemployment rates.
Unemployed Not Seeking: includes all those individuals who are not yet ready or are unavailable to enter the labour market for a range of reasons. The reasons may involve ill health, prison, pregnancy, caring for children or other dependents, or taking time out.
Unknown: includes all leavers whose destination is not known either to Skills Development Scotland, to the school attended or to other partners; or were not able to be contacted at the survey point.
Figures used in the commentary of this report are based on the unrounded data which can be found in the supplementary tables. This means that they may not always match with figures that are derived using the rounded data displayed in tables and charts.
4.3 Further information
This publication is available on the Scottish Government's website.
Other publications related to the activities of school leavers and young people include:
1. Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations (this publication).
- Available from the Scottish Government, February.
- Provides information on the attainment of school leavers and on the activities being undertaken by school leavers 3 months after the end of the school year.
- Coverage: school leavers from publicly funded schools.
2. Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations.
- Available from the Scottish Government, June.
- Provides information on the activities being undertaken by school leavers 9 months after the end of the school year.
- Coverage: school leavers from publicly funded schools.
3. Annual Participation Measure.
- Available from Skills Development Scotland, August.
- Reports on the economic and employment activity of the wider 16-19 year-old cohort, including those at school.
- Coverage: all 16-19 year-olds.