Young adults in Midlothian securing their future

New figures released by the Scottish Government show that 92.93% of school leavers in Midlothian were in education, employment, training, volunteering or personal development in 2020/21. 

Increase

This represents an increase of 1.96% in positive school leaver destinations compared to the previous year, and a 0.16% increase on the five-year average from 2015/16 to 2019/20.

Positive trend

The positive trend for 2020/21 brings the council closer in line with the national level, which stands at 93.23%. The gap in positive destinations between leavers in the most deprived and least deprived areas is now 4.2%, with 90.7% of leavers from the most deprived neighbourhoods in a positive destination. Both this figure and the gap are better than those of the seven comparator local authorities Midlothian Council benchmarks with on these statistics.

Commitment

The council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Young People, Councillor Ellen Scott, welcomed the latest figures.

“I am very proud of our Midlothian young people and very pleased that we have managed to increase the numbers of school leavers maintaining their positive, follow-up destinations,” said Councillor Scott.  “This demonstrates the hard work and commitment of our young people, our schools, the Communities, Lifelong Learning and Employability team, Skills Development Scotland and other partners.                                    

Career journey

“This is a good result, given that the COVID-19 pandemic will almost certainly have continued to impact on the choices and opportunities available to some school leavers. We recognise however, that it is vitally important that we continue to support our young adults when they leave school to make sure they continue on a successful career journey and are able to reach their full potential.”