BACKGROUND NOTES
1. Sources
1.1 The information in this publication is derived mainly from the Pupil Census from 12 th September 2005 and previous years. Some 2004 data has been amended since publication last year, following resubmission by one local authority.
2 Coverage and Timing
2.1 The Pupil Census covers all publicly funded schools in Scotland (local authority and grant-aided). Where a school has more than one department, for example a secondary school with a primary department, these are counted as separate schools. The census of independent schools is published separately, and will be available on the Scottish Executive website.
2.2 Schools which provide education predominantly for children with special educational needs often have pupils from a wide age range and the data collected from this sector reflects this. Where pupils attend a 'special unit' attached to a mainstream school, they are usually included in the figures for the mainstream school. Some schools and local authorities have reported pupils from 'special units' separately.
2.3 Pupils who are withdrawn from school, for example, because of long-term illness, are not included in the school census returns. Information on such pupils is provided by local authorities in the annual survey of children educated outwith school, results of which are available on the Scottish Executive website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/14163317/33174
In 2004/05, 1,512 children were reported by local authorities to have received education outwith school at some point during the year.
2.4 From 2003 a separate staff census has taken place. Results of this will be published in "Teachers in Scotland, 2005", and will be available on the Scottish Executive website. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00489
3 Census content
3.1 The content of the Pupil Census is considered each year in consultation with the Data Exchange in Education and Children Services Group ( DEECS). This group includes representatives from local authorities, teaching unions and headteachers associations, as well as staff from the Scottish Executive. The committee operates in the light of National Statistics guidelines, which restricts the department to collecting only the information that is required, at a level which is fit for purpose, whilst always trying to minimise the burden on data providers. Recommendations for changes to the census are made to DEECS through the Scottish Exchange of Educational Data (ScotXed) network.
4 Collection methods
4.1 The information required to complete the September 2005 Pupil Census was collected electronically, through local authorities, from nearly all publicly funded primary, secondary and special schools, as part of the ScotXed programme. The information is generally stored on schools' management information systems, thus reducing the burden on schools.
4.2 ScotXed supports and promotes effective and secure data exchanges so that key partners in school education in Scotland can benefit from access to information to monitor and improve education services. Partners include local authorities, schools, the Scottish Qualifications Agency, HM Inspectorate of Education, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scottish Executive Education Department. Further information, including specifications of the data exchanges, can be found at www.scotxed.net.
5. New Information
5.1 For the first time in 2005, information was collected as part of the pupil census on the extent of Gaelic medium education. These figures are published in tables 6.14 and 7.12.
5.2 In order to assist in monitoring the Disability Discrimination Act, information has started to be collected on the number of disabled pupils and the need for physical, curriculum or communication adaptation. Poor data quality in some areas has meant that this information is not being published this year.
5.3 Information has also been collected in the area of English as an Additional Language. Again, due to various issues in it's first year of collection, this has not been published.
6. Definitions
6.1 Tables in this publication cover publicly funded schools only, i.e. local authority and grant-aided. Information on independent schools will be available on the Scottish Executive website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00490
6.2 Where numbers of pupils are given, these relate to pupils based at the school. Pupils who are attending the school but are based at another centre (for example, students from a Further Education College who are taking some classes at a school) are not included.
6.3 A class is a group of pupils normally supervised by one teacher. The group may occasionally be supervised by more than one teacher, for example, when pupils are receiving learning support from a teacher who is not the class teacher.
6.4 Maximum class sizes in primary schools are as follows:
- 30 for single stage class P1-P3
- 33 for single stage class P4-P7
- 25 for composite stage class
6.5 A few schools returned data that included pupils from other schools who spend some time in their classes (see 6.3 above). In this publication only pupils on the school roll have been included in the figures in order to avoid double counting of pupils. There still remain however a few schools unable to reconcile class totals with pupil totals. This information has been published as provided. This involved a net difference of 228 pupils. If the additional pupils were excluded, the average class size would remain at 23.6.
6.6 A composite class is a class of pupils from two or more stages.
6.7 The ethnic background and national identity categories were based generally on those collected in the 2001 population census and were agreed following consultation. Pupils and parents were given the option of not disclosing their ethnicity, and in such cases pupils were not attributed a category. About 97 per cent of pupils disclosed their ethnic background, an increase on previous years.
6.8 Figures for the special school sector are compiled from special schools and special units. There would appear to be inconsistency between schools and between local authorities in the reporting of special schools and special units as separate identities, as well as changes over the past years. We therefore advise caution when comparing results with previous years and across local authorities.
A few authorities do not have special schools, and may fund places in neighbouring authorities for their pupils.
The number of special schools includes 33 where there were no pupils based, but which received pupils based in other schools.
6.9 At September 2005 there was one grant-aided mainstream school, with primary and secondary departments, and seven grant-aided special schools. These schools are included in national totals, but are identified separately in the local authority level tables. In publications prior to 2003 they were included within the local authority of their location.
6.10 Free school meal data collected in the Pupil Census only counts those pupils who are registered for free school meals. Free school meal entitlement ( FME) data collected in the January School Meals Survey also includes those pupils who are deemed eligible for free school meals but who may not have registered for their entitlement, accounting for an additional 1.3 per cent of pupils. The FME indicator collected in the annual School Meals Survey was that currently used in funding calculations and in benchmarking schools. Information from the Pupil Census is used only where linkage to other pupil characteristics, or attainment, exclusions and attendance data is necessary.
6.11 A Record of Needs ( RoN) is provided for a child who has "pronounced, specific or complex special educational needs which require continuing review". The RoN contains the child's details; the details of the parent/guardian and "named person" (someone to represent them); an assessment profile; a summary of the child/young person's impairments; a description of the special educational needs arising from the impairments; a statement of the measures proposed by the education authority; the name of the school to be attended; a summary of the views of the parent/guardian; the date the record was opened and a summary of the reviews of the record; and a note of who is allowed to access the record. Following the implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act, information in this area will change for the 2006 pupil census.
6.12 Individualised Educational Programmes ( IEPs) are written plans setting targets that a child, with special educational needs, is expected to achieve. Targets should be limited in number and focus on key priorities of learning. They should be simple, clearly expressed and measurable.
6.13 Pupil census figures on children looked after by the local authority are evidently incomplete when compared with similar data from social work departments. They are published this year alongside the social work figures, as at 31 st March 2005, for comparison.
6.14 The urban/rural classifications in Table 1.3 are defined as follows:
- Large urban areas - settlements over 125,000 population. This covers the city conurbations of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.
- Other urban areas - settlements of 10,000 to 125,000 people.
- Accessible small towns - settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more.
- Remote small towns - settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people, who are not within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more people.
- Accessible rural areas - settlements of less than 3,000 people and within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more people
- Remote rural areas - settlements of less than 3,000 people who are not within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more people.
7. Rounding
7.1 All percentages are rounded separately and breakdowns may consequently not sum to 100 per cent.
8. Disclosive data
8.1 Numbers less than five are generally deemed to be disclosive, and hence not published. Where figures have been removed they are replaced by *. Other figures in the table may also be removed to stop a disclosive figure from being calculated from the total.
8.2 However, in some cases where there are a large number of pupils in the unknown category, i.e. ethnic background and national identity, there often exists a large enough amount of uncertainty for figures to be published.
8.3 Occasionally, as in data for grant aided schools, it has been preferable to swap a small number of data rather than removing figures elsewhere in the publication. Swapped data has still usually been marked as *.
9. Other data
9.1 Some further data, for example some school level data, will be made available on the Scottish Executive website www.scotland.gov.uk/stats . Ad-hoc tables are available on request.
9.2 Analysis on a more local level may also be available via the Neighbourhood Statistics website - http://www.sns.gov.uk.
10. Symbols
10.1 The following symbols are used:
. . = not available
- = nil or rounds to nil
# = not applicable
* = disclosive data
11. General
11.1 This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
11.2 The report was edited by: Mal Cooke, Louise Flanagan, Matt Flanagan, Colin Gallacher.
11.3 All tables are available on the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00487
12. Enquiries
12.1. Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this bulletin should be addressed to Mal Cooke, Education and Children Statistics Unit, Room 1B, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ. Telephone 0131 244 1689
or e-mail school.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
12.2 Media enquiries about the information in this notice should be addressed to:
Marion MacKay : 0131 244 3070
28 th February, 2005