CREID Briefing paper 2 - Educational attainment and inequality in Scotland: How does Scotland compare with the rest of the UK?
When deciding whether or not to seek independence from the UK, the Scottish electorate will need to consider how Scotland has fared in its governance of areas that are already devolved. Education is one such high-profile area of policy. It is highly devolved in the UK, and the fact that all four constituent countries have pursued very different policies in the recent past provides a good testing ground to undertake a comparative review of the merits or otherwise of the education reforms that have taken place.
This briefing presents findings from an LSE research project funded by the ESRC. The project examined the performance of children educated in the devolved Scottish system in comparison to those educated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, at all ages and key stages. Thus, the project offers a unique and valuable insight into the impact of Scottish devolution in a high profile area of public policy.
In this pre-event briefing, we provide background information relating to the following questions:
- What do home international comparisons tell us about the relative performance of pupils and students in Scotland?
- Does Scotland’s system of one year Highers (for some pupils) discourage staying on?
- What are the implications of educational inequalities for higher education?