Figures show region’s school leavers move on to bright futures

Perth and Kinross has achieved its best school leaver destination figures for five years, according to statistics just released.

Data from the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) covering 52,249 senior phase school leavers across the country also show Perth and Kinross achieved the secondbiggest improvement of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland.

The Perth and Kinross figure for positive destinations is up from 92.1% in 2014-15, when the region was slightly lower than the Scottish average of 93%.Positive destinations include employment, higher education, further education, training, voluntary work and activity agreements.

Some 95% of 1,389 Perth and Kinross students leaving school in the fourth, fifth or sixth year of secondary school in 2015-16 progressed to a positive destination – higher than the Scottish average of 93.3%.

The data found the main three outcomes were higher education (39%), employment (28%) and further education (26%).

Steven Stewart, chairman of the Perth and Kinross Developing Young Workforce Regional Board, described the figures as “extremely encouraging” and “great news for the future” of young people.

“The strong programmes and links we have here between business and education are clearly making a difference, particularly in helping young people go straight from school into work and apprenticeships,” he said

“However, we can’t be complacent and there’s still more work to do to make sure we provide the right range of routes into employment for all of our young people.”

Jill Hunter, area manager (Tayside) at Skills Development Scotland, said: “This is a positive testimony to the partnership activity that takes place to support young people to be resilient career planners.”

Key partners in the employability drive include Perthshire Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses and Perth and Kinross Council.