A THIRD of Scottish pupils in the early years of secondary school are failing at numeracy, according to an official study.

The Scottish Government survey found 32% of pupils in S2 were "not yet working" at the level they should be.

A further 26% were working at the correct level, although they achieved less than 50% in a set of tests. Only 42% achieved above 50%.

Performance in primary schools was better, with three- quarters of pupils performing well or very well – and the vast majority of the rest working at correct levels, but achieving less than 50%.

The survey also showed that S2 pupils living in areas with lower levels of deprivation were twice as likely to be performing well or very well compared with pupils living in areas with higher levels of deprivation.

Boys tended to outperform girls at P4 and P7, although there was no statistical difference between the genders at S2. Previous studies have shown girls outperforming boys.

The results were published yesterday as part of the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) – the first national survey of primary and secondary pupils' numeracy skills.

The findings are based on the results of a set of written and practical tests, undertaken by 11,000 pupils in P4, P7 and S2 in May last year, and have been introduced to assess the impact of the new Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).

Although worrying, the drop-off in S2 has been a feature of previous studies, with the earlier onset of adolescence, a lack of relevance in the curriculum and wasted time after the move to secondary school being blamed.

A survey of pupil attitudes produced as part of the SSLN survey highlighted additional factors.

Some 30% of pupils in S2 said their teachers "hardly ever or never" talked to them about how well they were doing, while about 25% said teachers rarely spoke to them about how to improve.

Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, said he was "hugely encouraged" by the performance of primary pupils, but accepted more could be done in S2.

"The performance results taken from S2, who were the last cohort of pupils not to benefit from CfE, shows more is needed and the link between deprivation and attainment remains too strong," he said.

Mr Russell said national education quango Education Scotland would release additional teaching support material on numeracy as well as provide support for schools.

Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, described the survey findings as "simply unaccept-able" and called for more testing in primary school.

"What is particularly worrying is that we seem to lose pupils ... and not just the pupils who come from more disadvantaged backgrounds," she said. "This reinforces the need to introduce better testing in P7 so we can send more pupils to secondary school with better results."

Liam McArthur, education spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the survey was "a real concern".

"Work needs to be done on looking at how pupils can be better supported as they move from primary into secondary. This must be a priority for the Education Secretary," he said.

The Scottish Labour Party said an initiative by the former Scottish Executive to reduce class sizes in maths in S1 could have made a difference, but it has now been largely dropped.

Overall, the study found the vast majority of pupils enjoyed learning, although the strength of enjoyment was reduced among older pupils.

More than 90% of pupils agreed what they were learning would be useful outside school. And 90% of primary teachers and 80% of secondary teachers reported they were "very" or "fairly" confident they could improve learning using CfE.