Literacy and numeracy attainment in primary and secondary schools in 2023-24 remained largely in line with 2022-23, as most pupils hit the expected level for their age and stage, according to figures published by the Scottish government.
For primary pupils combined, 73.9 per cent hit the expected level for literacy in 2023-24 - up from 72.7 in 2022-23. In terms of numeracy, 80.3 per cent hit the expected level, up from 79.6 last year.
The statistics are based on teacher judgement of pupil performance, informed by the results of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs).
The literacy and numeracy skills of S3 students are also tracked via the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data, which is published annually.
In 2023-24, 88.3 per cent of S3s were hitting the expected level or better for literacy, while 90.3 per cent were hitting the expected level or better for numeracy - compared to 87.8 per cent and 89.5 per cent respectively in 2022-23.
The Scottish government said the results represented “a new high”, with education secretary Jenny Gilruth commenting that they demonstrated “a clear rise in standards across Scotland’s primary and secondary schools”.
She also said the extra support for disadvantaged pupils provided through the Scottish Attainment Challenge was “having an impact, with the attainment gap in literacy at a record low level”.
‘Work still to be done’
Ms Gilruth said: “We absolutely recognise that there is still work to be done, but we should recognise the significant progress these figures represent.”
However, when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of Curriculum for Excellence was published in 2021, it warned against “tracking small changes in percentages as evidence of improvement or otherwise” and questioned if the so-called ACEL data was “giving the system the robust data needed to monitor student achievement”.
The OECD said that “a simple sample-based assessment” would be “richer”.
The Scottish government, however, has to date refused to act on the OECD’s advice; the education secretary at the time, Shirley-Anne Somerville, described the data as “consistent, objective and comparable”.
On the attainment gap, the report on the ACEL data says it is at “its lowest-ever level for literacy” for P1, P4 and P7 pupils combined - however, the attainment gap for numeracy widened in primary in 2023-24 and remains higher than prior to the pandemic in 2018-19.
Poverty-based literacy and numeracy divides
In 2023-24, the primary literacy attainment gap between the pupils living in the most and least deprived areas was 20.2 percentage points, down from 20.5 percentage points in 2022-23. The gap was 20.7 percentage points prior to the pandemic in 2018-19.
The primary attainment gap in numeracy, however, increased to 17.4 percentage points in 2023-24, from 17 points in 2022-23, and remains higher than before Covid. In 2018-19, the numeracy attainment gap was 16.8 percentage points.
In secondary, the S3 attainment gap for literacy narrowed to 12.7 percentage points in 2023-24 from 13.7 percentage points in 2022-23. This is the lowest on record.
For numeracy, the gap between S3 pupils from the most and least deprived areas also narrowed. It hit 12 percentage points in 2023-24, down from 13.6 percentage points in 2022-23. Again, this is the lowest level ever recorded.
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