The proportion of Scottish school leavers who have gone on to a positive destination has reached a record high.
Figures released on Tuesday show that 89.5% of pupils who left school during 2010/11 were in a job or training or studying at university or college by March this year. That was up from 87.2% on last year’s survey.
There was also a rise in attainment, with 55.8% of pupils passing at least one Higher, compared to 52.5% last time, while only 1.7% of pupils left school with no qualifications at all, down from 2.1% last time.
Youth employment minister Angela Constance said the figures were “great news” for young people.
“More have gone into training and further and higher education, demonstrating that the need to give themselves the best possible chance of being work-ready is understood better than ever, especially as the difficult economic climate continues,” she said.
She added that the “very positive job figures” showed that work to support young people into employment, including a guarantee of an offer of a place in education or training for 16 to 19-year-olds, was paying off.
Some 23.9% of school leavers have found work.
However, the minister said attainment “could still be better” especially among deprived communities.
The figures also showed that more schools have met Government targets for providing physical education for pupils.
Primary pupils are meant to get two hours of PE per week and Angus and Dundee were among the local authorities to have all of their primaries meet the standard.
Elsewhere the figures were Clackmannanshire 95%, Perth and Kinross 90%, Fife 94% and Stirling 85%. The Scottish average was 88%.
In secondary schools, S1 to S4 pupils are meant to get at least 100 minutes of PE per week.
All Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Perth and Kinross secondaries met the target, along with 95% in Fife and 71% in Stirling. The Scottish average was 91%.