Rise in school leavers in positive destinations.

17th June 2025

Statistics have been released today on the destinations of 2023-24 school leavers from Scotland's publicly funded schools nine months after the end of the school year.

Among 2023-24 school leavers, 93.1% were in a positive follow-up destination (including Higher Education, Further Education, Employment, Training, Personal Skills Development and Voluntary Work). This is up from 92.8% in 2022-23. Over the longer term it has increased from 85.9% in 2009-10.

The increase over the last year has been caused by increases in the proportions of school leavers in Higher Education and Further Education.

Higher Education remains the most common destination increasing from 37.1% in 2022-23 to 38.1% for 2023-24 school leavers.
The proportion in Employment decreased from 31.2% in 2022-23 to 28.8% in 2023-24 but remains higher than at any point prior to 2020-21.
Meanwhile, the proportion in Further Education increased from 21.2% in 2022-23 to 21.9% in 2023-24 but remains lower than at any point prior to 2020-21.
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from our most and least deprived communities in positive follow-up destinations increased from 7.5 percentage points in 2022-23 to 8.3 percentage points in 2023-24. Although the gap has widened since 2022-23, it remains narrower than all years prior to 2019-20.

In 2023-24, as in other years, S6 leavers were the most likely to be in a positive follow-up destination (96.5%) and S4 leavers were the least likely (85.8%). For S5 leavers the figure was 90.0%.

The publication refers to the same cohort of school leavers whose destinations three months after the end of the school year were published in February's initial destination statistics. The proportion of leavers in a positive follow-up destination is typically one to two percentage points lower than the proportion in a positive initial destination. For 2023-24 leavers there has been a drop of 2.6 percentage points from 95.7% to 93.1%.

Of the 2023-24 school leavers who entered a positive initial destination 95.5% sustained a positive follow-up destination. This varied by destination. For example, 94.2% of school leavers who were in Employment three months after the end of the school year were also in Employment nine months after the end of the school year. Whilst for Further Education the equivalent figure was 78.0% and for Training it was 44.8%.

The number of young people in work, training or further study nine months after they left school has increased.

The proportion of school leavers in a positive destination was 93.1% in 2023-24, up from 92.8%, according to the annual Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations. This is now at a similar level to the pre-pandemic peak of 93.3% in 2017-18.

The increase over the latest year has been driven by increases in school leavers reaching Higher education (from 37.1% to 38.1%) and Further education (from 21.2% to 21.9%).

Over the longer term, the proportion in positive destinations is up from 85.9% in 2009-10.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said:

"These figures show the proportion of Scotland's young people achieving positive destinations is almost back to pre-pandemic levels and at a near record high.

"The increase among those in Higher and Further Education is hugely encouraging and testament to the hard work of those young people and the extraordinary support provided by Scotland’s teachers, lecturers and other support staff.

“The gap in positive destinations between young people from our most and least deprived communities has more than halved since 2009-10, but this latest data shows we still have more to do. We also know this cohort of young people faced significant disruption to their education during the pandemic.

“A range of support, including from careers advisers and the Developing the Young Workforce network, is available for young people considering their options after school. I am determined to ensure young people can access the right help they need to enable them into a positive destination and this Government will continue to invest in opportunities for young people across Scotland."