WIREDGOV

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland.

Official statistics have been released today on school pupils’ Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels (ACEL) in the reading, writing, listening & talking and numeracy ‘organisers’.

The statistics, based on teacher judgement, report on the percentage of school pupils in Primary 1 (P1), Primary 4 (P4), Primary 7 (P7) and Secondary 3 (S3) who have achieved the expected CfE Levels relevant to their stage. The results show:

• For primary pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined), almost three-quarters of pupils (74.5 per cent) achieved the expected CfE Level for literacy in 2024-25. This is the highest figure on record.
• In numeracy, four-fifths (80.3 per cent) of primary school pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) achieved the expected CfE levels in 2024-25. This is the equal highest figure to date, alongside 2023-24.
• For literacy almost 9 in 10 (89.8 per cent) S3 pupils achieved third level or better whilst for numeracy 90.9 per cent achieved this level. In each case this was higher than all previous years.
• The statistics also provide information on the gap in attainment between pupils from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland:
• For literacy, there was an increase in the proportions of primary pupils (P1, P4, P7 combined) that achieved the expected level, from both the least deprived and most deprived areas with a larger increase in the most deprived areas. As a result, the gap reached its narrowest ever level of 19.4 percentage points.
• For primary numeracy, the gap narrowed to 16.6 percentage points, which was also the lowest to date; performance increased for pupils in the most deprived areas (+0.5 percentage points) and decreased for those in the least deprived areas (-0.3 percentage points).
• For S3 pupils the attainment gap in literacy at third level or better narrowed to 10.8 percentage points in 2024-25, the lowest level on record. For numeracy the gap reduced to 11.6 percentage points – also representing the lowest level since records began.

Background

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2024-25 contains attainment data based on all pupils in publicly funded Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 classes, and for all pupils based in special schools/units. 

The Scottish Government is also publishing school level data on Achievement of CfE Levels. All school level results will be presented in ten per cent bandings (i.e., under 10%, 10% – under 20% etc.).  To prevent potential disclosure of information relating to individual pupils within schools, any schools in which the relevant cohort contains 20 or fewer pupils will be suppressed. 

The Scottish Government did not collect Achievement of CfE Levels data in 2019-20 due to school closures resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Data for S3 and special school pupils were not collected in 2020-21 due to other pressures on these schools including implementation of the SQA Alternative Certification Model, which was used to award National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers in 2021.

Further information on school statistics can be found on the Scottish Government website.

The figures released today were produced by professionally independent statistical staff in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.