Scottish universities still out of reach for poorer pupils

A total of 5.1 per cent of school leavers went on to become unemployed. Picture: contributed

The latest school leaver statistics reveal that just 26 per cent of pupils from the most deprived areas go on to higher education, compared to 62 per cent from the least deprived areas. They also show that there has been almost no progress on closing that gap in the last five years, with just a drop of 0.1 percentage points from 36 to 35.9 in that time.

Both the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour said the figures proved that children in Scotland’s most deprived communities were being short-changed when it came to gaining a university education.

And the failure to reduce the divide will be a blow to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who has urged Scots to “judge her” on the progress she makes in driving down the attainment gap.

But Deputy First Minister John Swinney, said that the statistics in terms of overall positive destinations were “encouraging” as they showed that when taking employment and colleges into account as well as universities, the gap had halved over the last decade.

Mr Swinney said: “We know there is more to do to raise attainment and ensure all our young people have the very best chance to build the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to succeed, regardless of their background.

“The gap between the richest and poorest communities for those getting into one of these positive destinations is now half what it was. That is real world progress in tackling an age old problem.”

The statistics for all school leavers last year showed that 41.1 per cent went on to higher education, 26.5 per cent were in further education and 22.7 per cent were in employment. A total of 5.1 per cent were unemployed.

Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said that the figures suggested there was a “class divide” in Scotland. “Young people from the most deprived areas are more likely to go to college and less likely to go straight to university after school,” he said. “Despite that, the SNP has under-invested in further education – diminishing opportunities for a whole section of young people.”

And Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “These figures show some encouraging signs. However, they also show that, as yet, there is no sign of the attainment gap narrowing. It is still the case that the odds are stacked against those pupils in deprived areas.”