Figures released on pupils attainment levels

More than half of Scotland's 2010 school leavers left school with at least one Higher or Advanced Higher, according to figures from the Scottish Government, which also show that 85.2% of those leavers were in positive destinations by March 2011.

The figures reveal that of those who left Scotland's schools in 2010, 34.1% had secured at least one or more passes at Higher level, with 16.2% gaining one or more passes at Advanced Higher level.

On both measures, these figures represent an increase on the results recorded for those who left school in 2008 and 2009.

The percentage of pupils leaving school with at least one Standard Grade pass at Credit, General and Foundation levels were, respectively, 26.8%, 17.4% and 2.8%.

2.6% of leavers attained no passes at SCQF Level 3 or better. For the second year running, this represented a 0.4% decrease.

Those school leavers who go into higher or further education, training, voluntary work or employment are classed as having reached positive destinations, and the 85.2% figure is little changed from the previous March.

Roughly one third of school leavers were in higher education in March while almost a quarter were in further education. Although there was an increase in the number going into employment, the figure for those who were unemployed also rose, albeit by a smaller margin.

The leaver destination figures were based on self-reporting by school leavers, and you can view the information on the Scottish Government website.