Schools - Positive Leaver Destinations
type: Dataset
conforms to: http://mlcommons.org/croissant/1.0
contact point: ContactPoint
date modified: 2026-08-18T09:25:59.584307
date published: 2026-08-13T10:48:42.282730
description: This dataset contains the percentage of school leavers going to a 'positive destination' on leaving school. Positive destinations include: higher education, further education, training, voluntary work, employment, activity agreements. More information on school leaver destinations is available [here](https://www.gov.scot/collections/school-education-statistics/). Data is for senior phase (S4-S6) leavers from publicly funded secondary and grant aided secondary schools. This includes a small number of pupils who are on the roll of the school but attend full-time courses or further education outside of the school. Data is not provided for Junior High Schools as these schools generally only take pupils as far as S4, after which they transfer to another centre to continue their education. The positive leaver destination measure on Parentzone Scotland uses data from [Insight](http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/seniorphasebenchmarking) about school leavers, which is collected by Skills Development Scotland. Details about a leaver's destination are only included in the measure if a link can be made between the leaver's Skills Development Scotland destination record and a Pupil Census record with stage S4, S5 or S6 for the same academic year. In addition, the young person must not have a Pupil Census record in the following academic year in a senior phase stage (S4-S6). For some data points, a special character is provided instead of a number. These have the meaning: * 'NA' - data not available * '*' - the value has been hidden for disclosure reasons * '#' - data not available because the school is a junior high school with no year S5 or S6
accuracy: Not assessed
comment: The percentage of school leavers going to a 'positive destination' on leaving school
completeness: A comprehensive glossary of terms associated with education can be found on the [Parentzone Scotland website](https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/my-school/education-glossary/)
confidentiality: The presentation of school level data here ensures that individual children cannot be identified. Where data is missing from tables in this dataset, it has been omitted to preserve the confidentiality of individuals.
consistency: Using data for individual schools as league tables implies that the schools at the top of the table are the best in Scotland and those at the bottom, the worst. This is misleading because schools often operate in very different circumstances, such as different numbers of children with additional support needs, or different job opportunites for school leavers depending on location. The context of a school should be taken into account when considering how well a school is doing. The best way to judge the performance of a school when using this dataset is to compare a school to its 'virtual comparator'. The 'virtu\u200Bal comparator' is a sample group of pupils from other parts of Scotland who have the same characteristics as the young people in the corresponding school. This is fairer than comparing one school directly with another.
license id: uk-ogl
next update: 2027-04-01
quality management: Not assessed
reference period: PeriodOfTime
  end date: 2025
  start date: 2015
timeliness: Not assessed
uniqueness: Not assessed
update frequency: annual
validity: Not assessed
will be updated: true
included in data catalog: CKAN
keywords: Education, Skills and Training
license: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
record set: records

Scottish Government
type: Organization
contact point: ContactPoint
  contact type: customer service

GeographyName
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: GeographyName

positive-destinations.csv
type: FileObject
description: Data file for Schools - Positive Leaver Destinations
comment: The percentage of school leavers going to a 'positive destination' on leaving school
dictionary: Column
  column: Measurement
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: DataMarker
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyCode
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Value
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: School Comparator
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyType
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: Units
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: GeographyName
  type: text
dictionary: Column
  column: DateCode
  type: text
encoding format: CSV

Measurement
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: Measurement

GeographyType
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: GeographyType

GeographyCode
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: GeographyCode

DateCode
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: DateCode

School Comparator
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: School Comparator

DataMarker
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: DataMarker

Units
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: Units

Value
type: Field
data type: Text
source:
  extract:
    column: Value