What is the Participation Measure?

From August 2015, the new Participation Measure (PM) was published, outlining the status of all young people aged 16-19, whether in school or post-school.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have been working with the Scottish Government to develop the Participation Measure which appraises the impact of Opportunities for All, and the support provided by partner agencies, in relation to the age 16-19 population.

The Scottish Government’s Opportunities for All commitment offers a place in learning or training to every 16-19 year old who is not in employment, education or training.

The Particpation Measure is drawn from customer records on the SDS Customer Support System (CSS), which is updated by SDS Advisors and by partners (local authorities/schools, Colleges, SAAS, DWP etc) via the 16+ Data Hub. It gives all partners the ability to better understand the impact of interventions and the outcomes they deliver at every transition point for 16-19 year olds. An extract from the updated shared data set focusing on initial school leaver destinations (School Leaver Destination Report replacement) is gathered in October and published in February, with a follow-up report of this same cohort gathered in March and published in June.

The first Participation Measure for all 16-19 year olds was publised as 'experimental statistics: data being developed' on the SDS website in August 2015. The Participation Measure is now released annually around the end of February. Find out further information about your local school by visiting the School Information Dashboard.

General information about the PM can be found via this SDS link – Participation Measure Summary Page.

The most recent publication was released in August 2019 and can be found -> HERE