Education in Scotland is provided in state schools, private schools and by individuals through homeschooling. Mandatory education in Scotland begins for children in Primary 1 (P1) at primary school and ends in Sixth Year (S6) at secondary school.
Overall accountability and control of state–education in Scotland rests with the Scottish Government, and is overseen by two executive agencies – Education Scotland and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), with additional responsibility for nursery schools being the joint responsibility of both together with the Care Inspectorate. Scotland's private schools are overseen by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools. Children in Scotland sit mandatory National Standardised Assessments in Primary 1 (P1), Primary 4 (P4), Primary 7 (P7) at the end of primary school, and Third Year (S3) in secondary school, which assist in monitoring children's progress and providing diagnostic data information to support teachers' professional judgement.
Each of Scotland's 32 local authorities have control over the provision of mandatory education and early learning and childcare (nursery education; not mandatory) in their area and have a statutory requirement to ensure pupils in each area receive adequate and efficient provision of school education. Each local authority has control over their own education budget and have responsibility to ensure that their local authority area is implementing national educational policy and guidelines as directed by the Scottish Government. When proposing a change to any aspect of education provision in their area, local authorities must engage in a formal process as required through the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.
Education in Scotland has a history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from those in the other countries of the United Kingdom. The Scotland Act 1998 gives the Scottish Parliament legislative control over all education matters, and the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 is the principal legislation governing education in Scotland. Traditionally, the Scottish system at secondary school level has emphasised breadth across a range of subjects, while the English, Welsh and Northern Irish systems have emphasised greater depth of education over a smaller range of advanced subjects.
The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD in 2018 ranked Scotland as second out of four in the UK (after England) for reading with an average above the OECD average, while scoring third in the UK, and its results steadily dropping, in maths and science, scoring at OECD average.
The 2021 Nuffield report noted that "Scottish pupils start off strongly at a young age, but then quickly fall behind their UK peers, particularly in maths, which we know has been an issue that Scotland has had to grapple with for several years." In 2014, research by the Office for National Statistics found that Scotland was the most highly educated country in Europe and among the most well-educated in the world in terms of tertiary education attainment, above countries like Finland, Ireland and Luxembourg, with roughly 40% of Scots aged 16–64 educated to NVQ level 4 and above.
History
Provision of education in Scotland Stages of compulsory education
Children start primary school aged between 4½ and 5½ depending on when the child's birthday falls. Scottish school policy places all those born between March of a given year and February of the following year in the same year group. Children born between March and August start school in August at between 5 and 5½ years old, and those born between September and February start school in the previous August at between age 4½ and 4 years 11 months years old. The Scottish system is the most flexible in the UK, however, as parents of children born between September and December can decide to defer for 1 year (but may or may not receive a funded nursery place in the deferral year), whilst children born between January and February can opt to hold their child back a year and let them start school the following August, with guaranteed nursery funding. This usually allows those not ready for formal education to have an extra year at an early years centre (formerly known as nursery).
Pupils remain at primary school for seven years. Then aged eleven or twelve, they start secondary school for a compulsory four years with the following two years being optional. In Scotland, pupils sit National 4/5 exams (previously Standard Grade or Intermediate exams) at the age of fifteen/sixteen, normally for between 6 and eight subjects including compulsory exams in English and Mathematics. A Science subject (Physics, Biology or Chemistry) and a Social Subject (Geography, History or Modern Studies) were also compulsory, but this was changed in accordance with the new curriculum. It is now required by the Scottish Parliament for students to have two hours of physical education a week; each school may vary these compulsory combinations. The school leaving age is generally sixteen (after completion of National 4/5s), after which students may choose to remain at school and study for Higher and/or Advanced Higher exams.
A small number of students at certain private schools may follow the English system and study towards GCSE instead of National 4/5s (Standard Grades), and towards A and AS-Levels instead of (or alongside) Higher Grade and Advanced Higher exams. The International Baccalaureate has also been introduced in some independent schools.
The table below lists rough equivalences with the year system in the rest of the United Kingdom (For England and Wales, the equivalence given is for children born before 1 September; the equivalence for those born from September to February [December for deferred pupils] is given in brackets): Scotland Age at start of school year Age at end of school year England and Wales Northern IrelandNursery3–4 4–5Nursery Nursery P1 (P = Primary)4–55–6 Reception P1 P25–66–7 Year 1 P2 P36–77–8 Year 2 P3 P47–88–9 Year 3 P4 P58–99–10 Year 4 P5 P69–1010–11 Year 5 P6 P710–1111–12 Year 6 & 7 P7 S1 (First year) (S= Secondary)11–1212–13 Year 7 & 8 Year 8 (1st Year) S2 (Second year)12–1313–14 Year 8 & 9 Year 9 (2nd Year) S3 (Third year)13–1414–15 Year 9 & 10 Year 10 (3rd Year) S4 (Fourth year)14–1515–16 Year 10 & 11 Year 11 (4th Year) S5 (Fifth year)15–1616–17 Year 11 & 12 (Lower Sixth Form) Year 12 (5th Year) S6 (Sixth year)16–1717–18 Year 12 & 13 (Upper Sixth Form) Year 13 (Lower 6th)n/an/aYear 13 (Upper Sixth Form)Year 14 (Upper 6th)
Access to education
Government funded schools are free for children aged 5–19. In many cases, this applies to children of international post-graduate students, and other immigrants.
The age ranges specify the youngest age for a child entering that year and the oldest age for a child leaving that year. Playgroup can be described as a daycare centre for toddlers, then children may go on to attend an early years centre as soon as they have passed their third birthday, and progress to Primary 1 in the August of the year in which they turn five. In general, the cut-off point for ages is the end of February, so all children must be of a certain age on 1 March to begin class in August. All parents of children born between September and February (i.e. still 4 years old on the school start date) are entitled to defer entry to Primary School if they believe their child is not ready for school. Only children whose birthdays fall in January or February will be considered for funding for a subsequent year at an early years centre, unless there are special circumstances.
Children may leave school once they reach their statutory school leaving date; this is dependent on date of birth. For children born between 1 March and 30 September, this date is 31 May of their 4th year of secondary school. For children born between 1 October and 28 February, the last day of June is the first date they may leave school if they have a placement at college and the school have signed the health & safety forms. Which high school the children go to depends on the area where they live, known as the "catchment area", which has a specific high school that takes children who live in that area. Parents can also apply for a placement request if they would like their child to attend a school outside their catchment area and a panel will decide if the child is the most worthy (out of all placing requests) to take one of the spaces left after all children from the catchment area have been taken.
Access to secondary school education in Scotland's island communities can be complex. Due to lower population numbers in some of Scotland's island settlements, not every island community can have a secondary school given low pupil numbers and the financial strain this can present by having a secondary school open and operational for what, in some cases, can be a lower than average pupil roll. In some areas, pupils attending secondary school are required to travel from island communities to the mainland for access to secondary education, with children residing in residential accommodation (also called hostels) on the mainland during the school term to avoid having to make lengthy travel back to their island communities. The Scottish Government has pledged to ensure that "island students be put on an equal platform with their counterparts from the mainland".
The table below lists the numbers of children, schools and teachers in all publicly funded schools: Children Schools Teachers Early Years Practitioners pupil:teacher ratio Nursery 102,871 2,504 1,288 23,400 79.9 Primary 377,372 2,056 22,905 N/a 16.5 Secondary 289,164 364 23,695 N/a 12.2 Special 6,984 149 2,020 N/a 3.5
Home education
Home education is also legal in Scotland. Parents wishing to home educate do not need the permission of the Local Authority unless the children are already registered at a school. There are no exact numbers available for children being educated at home in Scotland.Education Scotland, Home Education
Qualifications and assessments
All educational qualifications in Scotland are part of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, ranging between Scottish Qualifications Authority qualifications, Scottish Vocational Qualifications and higher education qualifications. Pupils in Primary 1, Primary 4 and Primary 7 at primary school sit a set of national standardised assessments, with secondary pupils sitting the national standardised assessments in S3 in literacy, reading and numeracy. The assessments provided data and information to track pupils progress in education and allows the Scottish Government to collate data across Scotland regarding educational performance.
The National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education was launched to ensure that children and young people in Scottish education experience a range of opportunities to learn and develop skills and capacities and ensuring that children and young people experience a broad general education. The National Improvement Framework document highlighted six key drivers for improvement in Scottish education; School and Early Learning and Childcare leadership, teacher and Early Years Practitioner professionalism, parental/carer involvement and engagement, curriculum and assessment, school and Early Learning and Childcare improvement and performance information.
Progression in Qualifications S4 S5 S6 National 3 National 4 National 5 National 4 National 5 Higher National 5 Higher Advanced Higher