Data on those assessed as having a special educational need (SEN) is not captured on the FE individualised learner record (ILR) databases that underpin the success rate figures produced by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). However, learner self-assessment of whether they have a learning difficulty, disability and/or health problem is recorded on the LSC’s learner data for learners participating in work-based learning, further education and adult and community learning.
In 2004-05 the national success rate for learners in LSC-funded FE provision with a self-declared learning difficulty, disability and/or health problem was 73 per cent. compared to 74 per cent. for those without. Comparable success rates for those in work-based learning or adult and community learning have not been calculated.
The self-declared information captured on the ILR is very different from the SEN status attributed during compulsory education against a national legitimate and agreed framework, so an analysis using solely the LSC’s learner data is deemed to be too inaccurate an approximation to provide a valid response to the question.
Learner data for school sixth forms is currently not collected on the LSC’s ILR, so success rates can not be calculated. However, statisticians in the Department and the LSC are working to collect data which will enable the calculation of these success rates; a date for publication has not yet been agreed.