Children educated outwith school statistics

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published results of the annual survey on children educated outwith school. These statistics provide information on the numbers of children who were educated outwith school at any point during the school year, whether out of necessity or by parental choice.

This survey was run for the first time in autumn 2001. Local authorities provided details of all children who were educated outwith school at any point during the school year, whether out of necessity (Section 14 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980) or by parental choice (Section 30). The survey replaced and extended the previous survey of pupils educated outwith school (SC4) which provided only a snapshot picture of Section 14 children during a given week in September.

The main findings are:

• The number of pupils known to be educated outwith school due to parental consent has remained almost constant at 755 in 2008/09 (this compares to 756 in 2007/08).
• There were 1066 pupils educated outwith school due to ill-health or family illness and other circumstances (this compares with 1097 in 2007/08, a decrease of 2.8%).

In previous years, these statistics have been presented with projections of pupil numbers. This year, pupil projections will be part of the Pupils in Scotland document to be published on 17 November.

Scottish Government news release: Children educated outwith school statistics 

Scottish Government publication: Results of annual survey of children educated outwith school