Job Description

This opportunity is only open to internal Scottish Government applicants who are currently 'Priority Movers'. Applications from individuals not currently on the Priority Mover list will be rejected and not considered.

This post sits within the team responsible for statistics on school attainment and leaver destinations. The post-holder will report to the C1 Statistician team leader and will be supported by other statisticians in the unit and the Senior Statistician unit head.

This post will lead on the analysis and publication of statistics on initial leaver destinations and attainment and follow-up leaver destinations.

These statistics form an integral part of the National Improvement Framework, informing 7 of the 16 key measures which are used to monitor progress towards reducing the poverty-related attainment gap.

Availability during key delivery periods

This role supports the delivery of time-critical outputs with fixed deadlines. The post-holder will be required year round, but particular peak periods include November – February (SSAILD), May – June (FULD) and late July – Aug (Exam results).

This post will lead on the analysis and publication of statistics on initial leaver destinations and attainment and follow-up leaver destinations.

Responsibilities

• Liaison with data suppliers (Skills Development Scotland and Qualifications Scotland).
• Quality Assurance of data received from suppliers.
• Using statistical software to process and analyse the data to create publication tables, charts in an accessible and user-friendly format.
• Contribute to briefing of policy colleagues and ministers on the results and working with communications colleagues to disseminate the statistics and findings. This will involve presenting results to audiences of peers or academic stakeholders.
• Carrying out secondary ad-hoc analysis of attainment data as requested by external and internal users.
• Analysis of Qualifications Scotland results day data to provide briefing for Ministers and policy colleagues with a tight turnaround during the pre-release period before publication.
• Development and testing of the team’s code base to achieve our goals of switching all analytical code from SAS software to R by end 2026.
• Testing code to ensure that our processes can continue to run successfully once data has been migrated to the cloud as part of the Move2 project, by end 2026.
• The post holder will also play a key role in the briefing activity around Qualifications Scotland’s exam results statistics in August and December each year.
• The post holder will have lead responsibility (with C1 support) for the preparation and publication of two publications; Summary Statistics on Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations (SSAILD) and Follow up Leaver Destinations (FULD).

Working pattern

This role is a permanent level transfer position.

How to Apply

Applications for this position will only be accepted from substantive B2 employees.

Please submit a statement outlining your suitability for the role, relevant skills and experience, and what you would bring to the team (maximum 500 words).

Selection Process

All candidates will be invited to an informal discussion with the Hiring Manager.

Informal discussion dates tbc.

Further Information

If you have specific questions about the role, please contact Julie.Ramsay@gov.scot

Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.