The gap in university entry rates between school leavers from the most and least deprived areas has widened since 2018, according to alarming figures.
Political opposition leaders have seized on the data, accusing SNP ministers of allowing the trend to move “in the wrong direction”. They also said the Government was letting down young people.
Just over 29 per cent of leavers classed as being in the “most deprived” quintile under the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation were in higher education (HE) approximately three months after the end of the school year in 2020/21. This compares with a rate of 65.1% for those in the “least deprived” quintile.
The 35.9 percentage point gap is up very marginally on the figure of 35.8 recorded for 2019/20 and has risen from 33.4 in 2018/19.
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Nicola Sturgeon said before the Holyrood election in 2016 that improving education would be her government’s “number one priority”. She added: "The goal of the SNP will be to substantially close the attainment gap in the next Parliament and to eliminate it within a decade.” However, an Audit Scotland report published last year warned that progress towards this aim had been “limited”.
Government officials stress the latest school leavers data should be treated with caution given changes in pupil assessment and certification during the Covid pandemic. They also point out that the HE entry gap is down compared with 2009/10, when it was 39.4 percentage points.
But political opponents have insisted the increase between 2018/19 and 2020/21 is evidence of persistent inequity.
Willie Rennie, education spokesperson for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: “These figures suggest that the higher education entry gap is now moving in the wrong direction.
"Five years ago Nicola Sturgeon said education was her top priority. I don't think many people believed her then and even fewer will believe it now when they see these figures.
"Scotland has an enviable set of higher education institutions but too often these are not accessible to everyone. The Scottish Government need to turn this widening gap around."
Scottish Conservative Pam Gosal, Shadow Minister for Further and Higher Education, Youth Employment and Training, was also critical. “It’s completely unacceptable that youngsters from our most deprived communities continue to be let down by the SNP Government,” she said.
“No-one’s future prospects should be determined by where they live – and it’s a damning indictment of the SNP that this is the case. SNP ministers vowed to close the attainment gap but these figures show that they are making little or no progress.
“Without proper investment to help pupils catch up and a clear plan to restore consistent standards in our education system, much of Scotland’s youth risk being left behind.”
The Scottish Government insisted the HE entry gap was “narrower than it had been in the past”.
A spokesman said: “In 2009/10, the gap between leavers from the most and least deprived areas in higher education three months after the end of the school year was 39.4 percentage points. It is now 35.9 percentage points.
“A record 282,875 students enrolled at Scottish universities in 2020-21 with a record high 16.7% of full-time first degree entrants to university coming from the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland in 2020-21. This has exceeded the interim Commission on Widening Access target to have 16% by 2021.”
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The spokesman also said the Scottish Government remained “committed to supporting children and young people impacted by poverty to access the same opportunities as their more affluent peers”.
He added: “That is why we are investing £1 billion over the course of this Parliament to improve the attainment of pupils impacted by poverty.
“Our refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge empowers schools and councils to drive education recovery accelerate progress in tackling the attainment gap, while allowing teachers the choice of providing additional mentoring and tutoring support for disadvantaged pupils who need it.
“All school pupils experiencing poverty will benefit from targeted funding in 2022-23 to help close the attainment gap. Our new fairer funding model was agreed with Cosla and directly measures household income, providing a precise count of children impacted by poverty.”
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