§ Mr. John Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many pupils at local authority schools in Scotland left without any academic qualifications in 1985–86; what was the comparable figure in similar schools in England and Wales; and if he will publish a breakdown of the overall Scottish figure by regional council.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth19,385 of the pupils leaving Scottish education authority schools in 1985–86 (24.4 per cent. of the total) did not hold a Scottish certificate of education (SCE) qualification. However, some of these school leavers would have held qualifications such as the certificate of secondary education (CSE), the SCOTVEC national certificate or other qualifications. Information on the numbers involved is not available.
The table gives a breakdown by region and islands area of the school leavers not holding an SCE qualification, together with the percentages these represent of all school leavers in the respective areas.
74,705 of the pupils leaving maintained schools in England and Wales in 1985–86 (10.4 per cent. of the total) did not hold a graded CSE or GCE qualification. Because these figures include CSE awards, they are not directly comparable with the figures for Scotland.
Comparisons will be easier once the GCSE and SCE standard grade examination have been introduced.
Scottish school leavers1 1985–86 with no SCE qualifications, by region and islands area Number Percentage of leavers Borders 263 16.6 Central 982 22.2 Dumfries and Galloway 503 20.6 Fife 1,180 21.4 Grampian 1,342 19.3 Highland 590 18.6 Lothian 2,578 25.3 Stralhclyde 10,534 27.6 Tayside 1,202 20.9 Orkney 51 17.3 Shetland 33 9.2 Western Isles 127 24.9 SCOTLAND 19,385 24.4 1 From education authority schools.