More young adults in Midlothian securing their future after school

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

This represents an increase of 1.96 per cent in positive school leaver destinations compared to the previous year, and a 0.16 per cent increase on the five-year average.

This brings the council closer in line with the national level, which stands at 93.23 per cent. The gap in positive destinations between leavers in the most deprived and least deprived areas is now 4.2 per cent, with 90.7 per cent 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 benchmarks with.

The council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Young People, Councillor Ellen Scott, said: “I am very proud of our young people and very pleased that we have managed to increase the numbers of school leavers maintaining their positive destinations.

Stock photo by John Devlin.

“This demonstrates the hard work and commitment of our young people, our schools, the Communities, Lifelong Learning and Employability team, Skills Development Scotland and others.

“This is a good result, given that the pandemic will almost certainly have continued to impact on the choices and opportunities available. We recognise however, that it is vitally important that we continue to support our young adults when they leave school.”