25th February 2026
Positive destinations second highest on record.
The proportion of young people leaving school with five or more passes at National Courses and Highers, as well as their equivalent vocational and technical qualifications, has increased over the past year.
A record high of 68.6% of young people left school with five or more qualifications at SCQF Level 5 (National 5 equivalent), according to the School Leaver Attainment and Initial Destination statistics 2024-25 published today. Those leaving with five or more passes at SCQF level 6 (Higher equivalent) rose to 40.8%. The gap between those from the most and least deprived areas leaving with five or more qualifications narrowed at Level 5.
Nine out of ten young people (95.7%) were in positive destinations - such as work, training, college or university – three months after leaving school. This is the same level as 2023-24 and the second highest on record.
There has also been a fall in the number of young people leaving school at S4, down by 544 pupils to 7,540, and in S5 (down 370), with more pupils (732) staying on until S6. This starts to reverse the trend seen in the immediate post-COVID period.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said:
"An increasing number of young people are leaving school with five qualifications or more at SCQF Level 5 or better, including National 5s and Highers. This underlines the strong recovery we are seeing in education, following the pandemic and the importance of the breadth of choice schools offer to young people in the senior phase.
“It shows the hard work of learners, teachers and parents and carers and comes after we saw record levels of literacy and numeracy in Scotland's schools in the recent ACEL statistics
“The Scottish Government has invested £1.75 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the past decade helping improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty – and, while this latest data shows there is more to do, we remain determined to address this.
“The proportion of Scotland’s young people in positive destinations remains at a near record high. The welcome increase among those going on to Higher Education underlines the importance of our commitment to free tuition, ensuring in Scotland education is based on the ability to learn, not pay. The recently passed Tertiary Education and Training Bill will also put apprenticeships on a statutory footing for the first time, creating parity with other post-school routes to provide more choices for young people."
Statistics have been released today on the destinations and attainment of 2024-25 leavers from Scotland's publicly funded schools.
Initial destinations
95.7 per cent of 2024-25 school leavers were in a positive destination three months after the end of the school year. This is the same as last year (2023-24) and the second highest figure (alongside 2021-22) since 2009-10.
Positive destinations include higher education, further education, employment, training, personal skills development and voluntary work.
Attainment in All Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (All SCQF) qualifications
All SCQF qualifications includes the National Qualifications, other qualifications provided by Qualifications Scotland (formerly SQA) and qualifications and learning programmes from other providers (for example the Open University).
84.3 per cent of school leavers left with five or more passes at Level 4 or better in all SCQF qualifications. This proportion has increased compared to 2023-24 (84.1 per cent) but decreased since 2018-19 (85.5 per cent).
68.6 per cent of school leavers left with five or more passes at Level 5 or better in all SCQF qualifications. This proportion has increased compared to both 2023-24 (66.6 per cent) and 2018-19 (64.3 per cent).
40.8 per cent of school leavers left with five or more passes at Level 6 or better in all SCQF qualifications. This proportion has increased compared to both 2023-24 (39.0 per cent) and 2018-19 (36.0 per cent).
Attainment in National Qualifications
National Qualifications include the National Courses (National 3, National 4, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher) and Skills for Work.
94.8 per cent of school leavers left with one pass or more at SCQF Level 4 or better in National Qualifications in 2024-25. This is a decrease from 2023-24 (95.2 per cent) and from 2018-19 (95.9 per cent).
84.1 per cent of school leavers left with one pass or more at SCQF Level 5 or better in National Qualifications in 2024-25. This is an increase from 2023-24 (83.5 per cent) but a decrease from 2018-19 (85.1 per cent).
58.4 per cent of school leavers left with one pass or more at SCQF Level 6 or better in National Qualifications in 2024-25. This is an increase from 2023-24 (57.4 per cent) but a decrease from 2018-19 (60.5 per cent).
National Improvement Framework Key Measures
The statistics in this report inform seven of the 16 National Improvement Framework key measures.
Initial positive leaver destinations
The gap between the proportion of school leavers in positive destinations from the most and least deprived areas is 4.7 percentage points, wider than the previous year (4.3 percentage points) but narrower than in 2018-19 (5.4 percentage points).
All Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (All SCQF) qualifications (five or more passes)
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining five passes or more at SCQF Level 4 or better in All SCQF Qualifications was 19.5 percentage points. This is wider than in 2023-24 (19.0 percentage points) and 2018-19 (17.8 percentage points).
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining five passes or more at SCQF Level 5 or better in All SCQF Qualifications was 33.6 percentage points. This is narrower than in 2023-24 (35.0 percentage points) and 2018-19 (36.3 percentage points).
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining five passes or more at SCQF Level 6 or better in All SCQF Qualifications was 40.0 percentage points. This is wider than in 2023-24 (39.7 percentage points) and 2018-19 (37.4 percentage points).
National Qualifications (one or more pass)
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining one pass or more at SCQF Level 4 or better in National Qualifications was 8.0 percentage points. This is wider than in 2023-24 (7.3 percentage points) and 2018-19 (6.7 percentage points).
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining one pass or more at SCQF Level 5 or better in National Qualifications was 21.4 percentage points. This is narrower than in 2023-24 (22.7 percentage points) but wider than in 2018-19 (20.2 percentage points).
The gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining one pass or more at SCQF Level 6 or better in National Qualifications was 37.7 percentage points. This is narrower than in 2023-24 (38.4 percentage points) but wider than in 2018-19 (35.8 percentage points).