Fife Council records its highest number of students going on to 'positive destinations' after leaving school

That’s the highest Fife’s figures have ever been and Education Scrutiny councillors said it’s the first time the Kingdom has been “within touching distance” of national figures.

Fife Council is the second largest education authority in Scotland, but it has always lagged behind the rest of the country in one important area – positive destinations for school leavers.

“Positive destinations” are a national way of measuring where children go after leaving school. They include higher education, further education, employment, training, personal skills development and voluntary work.

Just a few years ago, Fife hit an all time low with only 92 per cent of pupils leaving school for positive destinations in 2019-20. However, new data from 2022-23 has revealed that students are now leaving for positive destinations at the highest rates ever recorded.

“We’re pleased to report Fife is now sitting at 95.3 per cent and further closing the gap we have nationally – which last session was a gap of 0.9% – and now reducing to 0.6 per cent,” said Maria Lloyd, head of education services.

There was an acknowledgement that Fife still has improvements to make, but a lot of work has gone into bringing up these results so far.

“I want to add my congratulations and thanks for the effort that went into cracking that 95 per cent barrier for the first time,” Councillor Alistair Suttie (SNP for Leven, Kennoway and Largo) said. “It’s an absolutely superb thing to do and it must have taken a lot of hard work to get from that low point of 2019-20. Now we’re within touching distance of the Scottish figures overall.”

The Education Scrutinee report revealed that Fife is currently ranked 21 out of Scotland’s 32 local authorities in terms of positive destinations.

“We rank in twenty-first place, jointly with five other local authorities, whose destination rates are the same as Fife’s,” the report stated.

Councillor Altany Craik (Labour for Glenrothes West and Kinglassie) suggested that in some sense, Fife could be seen as sharing joint 17th place on the list alongside the City of Edinburgh, West Dunbartonshire, Midlothian, Highland, and Argyll & Bute.

However, Cllr Craik also highlighted some of the less flattering aspects of the report as well, which shows some of Fife’s most vulnerable students are still seeing some of the poorest outcomes.

Figures from the scrutiny report show that just 92 per cent of Fife’s poorest and most deprived students are leaving for positive destinations.

Only 90 per cent of children who qualify for free school meals are leaving for something positive. Looked after children are fairing even worse with only 86 per cent leaving school for something positive.

“Our most disadvantaged [students] are still behind,” Cllr Craik said. “These are almost insoluble numbers because it’s been like that for the last 12 years that I’ve been doing this job and we’ve been making limited progress.”

Although these are the best figures Fife has ever seen, councillors and council officers are both pushing for greater success.

The report stated that Fife Council will continue to monitor the activities and strategies that are in place while also continuing to focus on at-risk groups – like looked after children and children receiving school meals – to improve outcomes.

Education will also “continue with stretch targets and robust outcomes meetings with schools” to help improve positive outcomes.

“Our young people are a credit to us but they need to be supported,” Cllr Craik concluded. “They’re working in an environment that’s changing more now than it’s ever done. That’s where we need to start talking with friends and partners across the country about what’s working.”