School leaver figures

Studying and jobs

A total of 91.8 per cent of last year’s North Lanarkshire school leavers moved on to “positive destinations” including education, training and work.

Higher education accounted for the greatest proportion of S4 to S6 pupils leaving the authority’s 23 secondaries, with 43 per cent going to university and another 25 per cent to colleges – matching the combined national average total for education.

A further 21 per cent of the 3701 youngsters to leave school in 2016-2017 moved into employment, while a further two per cent were in training and one per cent took on voluntary work.

The North Lanarkshire figure for initial “positive destinations” in the three months after leaving school was 1.9 per cent below the national average, and compared to the area’s high of 93.1 per cent two years earlier.

Monklands MSPs Alex Neil and Fulton MacGregor noted that the number of pupils leaving school and taking up education, employment and training opportunities has risen more than four per cent in the past six years, from 87.6 per cent in 2012.

Airdrie representative Mr Neil said: “Being able to go on to a positive destination is a great boost for young people, improving their self-confidence and setting them up to make positive cont ributions to our communities as adults.”

Coatbridge counterpart Mr MacGregor added: “Our young people need fulfilling work, study or training to ensure they do not get left behind – and these figures show they are benefitting from exactly that.”