Scotland’s schools narrow attainment gaps across the board and ‘most deprived’ 14/15 year-olds make major strides in literacy

Note how the those pupils from deprived areas improved by 10% while those least deprived barely did so.

From Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels, 2024-25 published on 9 December 2025:

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.

Source: https://www.gov.scot/news/achievement-of-curriculum-for-excellence-cfe-levels-2024-25/

Comparisons with England are limited by differences but if this below was the other way round, as with drug deaths, you can be sure BBC Scotland would not hesitate to report it:

https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=2013208827475177550

Note key point from the above – Attainment gaps in Scotland narrowing but in England, persistent.

Sources with Links

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