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.
