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Further Education

Volume 481: debated on Thursday 23 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what surveys his Department has conducted to estimate the proportion of the school student population which wishes to stay on in full-time education beyond the age of 16 years; and what the findings were. (227898)

There are a number of surveys which have been conducted by the Department which have asked young people about their intentions after age 16:

Longitudinal Study of Young People in England

The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) is a longitudinal (panel) study of young people. In the first interview or ‘wave' of LSYPE (Spring 2004), sample members were asked at age 13/14 what their intentions were after Year 11. The results show that at age 13/14 78 per cent. of LSYPE respondents intended to stay on in full-time education either at the school they were currently attending or somewhere else. LSYPE did not ask about intentions to other learning routes.

Tellus2 and Tellus3

Tellus2 and Tellus3 were national online surveys of pupils in years 6, 8 and 10, carried out to gather the views of children and young people on topics relating to the five Every Child Matters outcomes. The relevant question asked: What do you hope to do when you leave school? (Years 8 and 10 only). The results are as follows:

Percentage

Get a job at 16

Study and get a job at 18

Study and go to university

Something else

Don't know

Tellus2 average nationally

16

17

50

7

10

Tellus3 average nationally

13

19

54

6

9

Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Pilots

Various surveys of 21,500 young people who were in their final year of compulsory education in 1999 or 2000 were carried out for the evaluation of the EMA pilots. 78 per cent. wanted to stay in full-time education after age 16, 18 per cent. wanted to enter work or training and 4 per cent. were undecided or wanted something else.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils stayed in education in 2008 after the age of 16 having attended a secondary school (a) with and (b) without a sixth form. (228682)

The official measure of post-16 participation cannot be disaggregated by the type of secondary school previously attended. However, using matched administrative data, we can estimate post-16 participation rates by characteristics of the school attended at age 15, including whether or not that school had a sixth form. These estimates, shown in the following table, exclude post-16 participation in independent schools.

Participation of 16-year-olds in education and training by whether secondary school had a sixth form, mainstream maintained schools in England, 2006/07

Percentage

No sixth form

Sixth form

All mainstream maintained schools1

Full-time education

73

79

77

Part-time education

4

3

3

Work-based learning (WBL)

8

6

7

Total education and WBL

85

88

87

1 Excludes special schools, pupil referral units and independent schools.

Source:

Matched Administrative Data, 19 in 2009 cohort.