education after 16 is voluntary in united kingdom

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https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/01/11/school-leaving-age-can-you-leave-school-at-16-and-what-are-your-options/

School leaving age: Can you leave school at 16 and what are your options?

It is compulsory for young people to be in education or training until the age of 18, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay in school if it isn’t right for you.

There are plenty of different routes to go down when you turn 16, whether that’s going to college to do A Levels or a vocational course like a T Level , or starting to earn while learning as an apprentice .

Here we talk you through your post-16 options, from school and college, to apprenticeships and supported internships .

How old do you need to be to leave school?

Legally, you can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays. However, by September, you will need to be in official education or training.

These are your options:

• stay in full-time education, e.g. at a college, doing A Levels, T Levels or other academic qualifications,
• start an apprenticeship,
• work or volunteer for 20 hours or more a week while in part-time education or training.

Why is education and training compulsory for 16 to 18-year-olds?

We believe that being in education or training allows young people to develop the skills they need later in life, opening doors to future employment and helping them make the most of their potential.

This also reduces the chance of unemployment, boosts earning potential, and allows young people to develop new skills in different educational environments.

Whatever route you take, we’re also considering ways to make sure everyone is getting some form of maths education that is suited to their needs, until the age of 18. This will make sure all young people have the skills necessary to thrive in their chosen career. It doesn't mean that you have to take A Level maths though. You can read more about it here .

Can I work full-time after leaving school?

You can go to work, undertake voluntary work, become an intern or even set up your own business when you leave school.

However, you’ll still need to be doing part-time training or study at the same time that leads to a regulated qualification , like a Vocational Technical Qualification (VTQ). This means that as well as gaining valuable experience, you’ll also gain a recognised accreditation that supports your future career.

Part-time education or training alongside full-time work must be of at least 280 guided learning hours (GLH) per year. This means the equivalent of about one day a week spent being taught by a lecturer, supervisor or tutor. These hours can be taken flexibly around working hours, as distance learning, or in blocks.

What is an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships are a great option for young people from the age of 16 to begin their careers across a range of exciting industries. You’ll work and get paid, while doing off-the-job training at the same time.

There are thousands of apprenticeship vacancies on offer, with more than  640 high-quality apprenticeships approved for use  by employers, and can help to kickstart a career in anything from space engineering to advertising.

If you’re keen to get a degree but don’t think university is the right choice for you, you can also do a degree apprenticeship, which allows you to earn a full undergraduate or masters degree while you work.

What are T Levels?

T Levels are the gold standard vocational course, and a high-quality alternative to A levels. One T Level is worth the same UCAS points as three A Levels.

They are two-year programmes with 80% of that time spent in the classroom, and 20% on a minimum nine-week industry placement with an employer.

There are 16 T Levels already available  to study in a range of exciting subject areas including digital, education, health, science, construction finance and accounting. More courses will be available from September 2023 including legal services and agriculture.

What is a supported internship?

Supported internships are a work-based study programme for young people aged 16 to 24 who have an EHC plan. The aim is for interns to gain the skills and confidence to achieve their  long-term career goals .

They usually last for one year and include work placements that last at least six months. Interns are also helped by a qualified job coach who is trained to offer personalised support. Find out more here .

Getting advice on what to do after school

We know that working out what to do after school can seem overwhelming. To help pupils figure out their options, all state-funded secondary schools must provide independent careers guidance, including appointing a Careers Leader who oversees the careers programme. Ask your school about what careers guidance they can offer.

The National Careers Service  also provides free and impartial careers advice for anyone over the age of 13. If you’d like personalised advice from a qualified adviser, including on what to do when you leave school, there are lots of ways to  get in touch  including by phone, webchat or in person.

You may also be interested in:

• Maths to 18
• What are T Levels
• 5 reasons you should consider an apprenticeship

Tags: A levels , apprentices , Apprenticeship , Careers advice , Compulsory school leaving age UK , Minimum school leaving age uk , Post-16 , school leavers , School leaving age UK , T levels , University

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Participation of young people in education, employment or training

This page provides information on the law surrounding the participation of young people (16-18 years old) in education, employment or training. this includes the various options available to young people to ensure participation and the duties of the local authority to encourage participation.  , is education compulsory after the age of 16.

Under previous legislation it was compulsory for young people to remain in education until the age of 16. However, as a result of legislation introduced in September 2013, the law now requires that young people continue in education, employment or training until the age of 18. 

Statutory guidance published by the Department of Education which explains the legal position can be accessed here . 

Why has the participation age been raised?

This change was introduced to improve the career and life prospects for young people.

There are various advantages to remaining in education or training for longer:

• Young people can develop a greater range of skills
• The likelihood of unemployment is significantly reduced
• An increase in earning potential 
• Offers the opportunity for young people who are disengaged with mainstream education to develop new skills in an alternative setting.  

What are the options available for young people? 

• Option one is to study full-time at school, college or with a training provider. The definition of full-time participation is at least 540 hours a year; this is around 18 hours per week.
• Option two is full-time employment or volunteering (full-time is counted as more than 20 hours a week) combined with part-time study or training. To count as full-time work, the job must be for 8 or more weeks consecutively and for 20 or more hours per week. Part-time education or training alongside full-time work must be at least 280 hours per year.
• Option three is to enrol in an apprenticeship, traineeship or supported internship.

Section 2 Education and Skills Act 2008

What are the duties of the local authority?

The local authority has broad duties to encourage, enable and assist young people, between the ages of 16-18, to participate in education, employment or training.

The legislative framework:

Sch 2, Para 4 Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 – ‘’A Local Education Authority may secure the provision for their area of full-time education suitable to the requirements of persons over compulsory school age who have not attained the age of 19.’’

Section 10 Education and Skills Act 2008 – ‘’A Local Education Authority in England must ensure that its functions are (so far as they are capable of being so exercised) exercised so as to promote the effective participation in education or training of persons belonging to its area.’’

Section 12 Education and Skills Act 2008 – ‘’A Local Education Authority in England must make arrangements to enable it to establish (so far as it is possible to do so) the identities of persons belonging to its area who are not participating (in education or training.)’’ Strategic leadership should be provided up until the time that there was a meeting due to take place which and therefore there are many strategic support organisations which govern this particular

In so far as meeting these duties, local authorities are expected to: 

• Provide strategic leadership in their communities to ensure that there is a network of support available which encourages, enables and assists the participation of young people in education, training and employment. This includes liaising with local partners such as employers, Jobcentre Plus, community sector organisations and youth offending teams.
• Local Authorities must collect information about young people in their area who are not participating and to target their resources on those who require them most.
• Local Authorities are expected to liase with education providers to identify children under the age of 16 years old who are at risk of not participating post-16 and for intensive support to be provided to remedy the situation. This is particularly important in relation to children with SEND who are significantly less likely to participate post-16 in comparison to their peers without SEND.
• Every young person who reaches the age of 16 or 17 years old in any given academic year is entitled to an offer of a suitable place, by the end of September, to continue in education or training the following year. However, there is not the same duties on the Local Authority to offer the young person a place to continue their education or training; the duty is on the young person to apply to relevant education or training providers in order to obtain a place.

What are the duties of education providers?

The Education and Skills Act 2008 placed two Raising Participation Age related duties on education providers with regard to 16 and 17 year olds:

• Section 11 places a duty on education providers to promote good attendance to enable young people to meet their duty to participate.
• Section 13 places a duty on education providers to inform their local authority when a young person is no longer participating, for example, if they have dropped out.

Under Section 29  Education Act 2011 , schools are under a duty to secure independent careers guidance for pupils in Years 8-13 on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships. Schools are expected to work in partnership with local employers and other education and training providers to ensure that young people have a wide range of options available to them.

Enforcement 

The legal requirement to participate is on the young person, not the parent/carer. Enforcement does not form part of the current law, and therefore young people will not receive a sanction for non-participation. This could change in the future, as this position is regularly reviewed.

This information is correct at the time of writing, 11th December 2023 . The law in this area is subject to change.

Coram Children’s Legal Centre cannot be held responsible if changes to the law outdate this publication. Individuals may print or photocopy information in CCLC publications for their personal use.

Professionals, organisations and institutions must obtain permission from the CCLC to print or photocopy our publications in full or in part.

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• Education after age 16
• Schools & education

Quick links

Leaving school and further education.

In England, children must stay in education until the school year when they are 18. After 16, there are lots of different types of education to choose from, including exams, apprenticeships or training.

In Scotland and Wales, children can leave school at 16, but are entitled to free education in school until they are 18.

• See the main government website for more details.

The final year of school is usually the year a child becomes 18 (it is a bit different in Scotland).

If you do badly in a summer school exam (for example GCSEs, Highers or A-Levels), it is usually possible to resit the exam at your school in the autumn. If you need to do the course again, you can choose to go back to school or to study at home. However, students are not required to stay at school.

It is also possible for anyone aged 18+ to do these exams online, although you might need to pay. Many exam providers allow you to spread the cost.

Further Education (FE) is any education that happens after children leave secondary school aged 16, but is not at university degree level. This could be exams or job-based courses.

In England, children must stay in education of some type until they are 18. In Scotland and Wales, they can leave school at 16.

Some schools have a ‘sixth form’ (education for 16-18 year olds). Alternatively, there is ‘college’ – a separate school for 16-18 year olds (sometimes called a ‘sixth form college’ or ‘further education college’).

There is funding for people aged 16-19 on very low incomes, to help pay for specialist courses or items like laptops, books and school meals. Speak to your local council. Some college courses can be done part-time. See your local college prospectus for details.

• See the UCAS website for more information about Further Education.

Further Education is education after 16, but not including university degrees. It could be for exams like A-Level or BTEC, or apprenticeships. It might also be GCSE level education for adults.

Higher Education is for adults aged 18 and over. It is university-level.

Further Education is available for adults of any age. In state-run colleges, courses in English and Maths to GCSE level are usually free. Some computer courses are also free. People under 24 years old do not usually have to pay for their teaching in other subjects. If you have a visa, check that it allows you to study.

• Read the blog about further education for adults .

Further Education colleges (for students aged 16 and over) can be private or funded by the government.

Apply directly to the college for a place. This should be done in the winter of the year before the start of the course. You may have to go for an interview or exam. You may also be able to apply through UCAS Progress.

The Open University (the UK’s distance learning university) offers short courses and professional training through its FutureLearn website. Some courses are free.

There are more free courses on its OpenLearn website.

You don’t need an English qualification to do these courses. If you are unsure your English is good enough, try its special test .

In Britain, the word ‘college’ is rarely used to mean ‘university’ like it does in the USA. Instead, it usually means a place for education over the age of 16. Further Education colleges provide vocational courses (such as forestry or hairdressing) alongside more academic courses. They often have a link to a local university.

Another type of college is found within universities that are split into separate educational units (for example Imperial College, part of the University of London), or the colleges of the University of Cambridge.

Confusingly, some private schools also use the word ‘college’, even though they are for under16s – for example Cheltenham Ladies College or Winchester College.

Further education as an adult

University tuition fees - things to consider

Courses and skills to get you a better job

University and higher education.

Higher Education (HE) the name given to university-level education. It is for adults aged 18+. University is sometimes just called ‘uni’.

There is a charge for this type of education in England and Wales. In Scotland it is free for some people.

You must apply for university through UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). For most undergraduate courses, the deadline is in January of the year when you want to go to university. However, some deadlines are the year before, in October (especially music courses, and courses at Oxford and Cambridge), so make sure you check.

Most full-time Bachelor degree courses are 3 years long in England and Wales. In Scotland, they are usually 4 years.

In Scotland, university is free for many people, including most school leavers.

In England & Wales, adult learners might be able to get a grant or bursary .

When you apply to university, you will usually have an interview. If the university really likes you, it may give you an ‘unconditional’ offer, which means you will definitely get a place on the course.

Most offers are ‘conditional’ – they depend on you getting certain grades in A-Levels,  Highers or Advanced Highers. If you do not get the grades, you won’t get on that course.

If you don’t get on any of the courses you wanted or have changed your mind, you will have to apply through ‘clearing’. This is a list of courses that still have space. It is usually published in July.

• There is more information on the Complete University Guide website.

Before you choose a university, decide which subject you would like to do. Although Oxford and Cambridge have the best reputation, other universities are better for some subjects.

Some universities are famous for their research, but others might have better quality teaching, or have more graduates getting jobs afterwards.

In the UK, most jobs won’t need a specific degree. It can help to know this when you choose a course.

You should start thinking about the course you’d like to do a year before you want to start. Read about different universities on The Uni Guide website .

• Top universities can seem daunting, especially for state school pupils. The Zero Gravity app can help talented students from low-income backgrounds find mentors who will guide them.

Oxbridge is not a place. It is a name made by mixing the two best universities in the UK, Oxford and Cambridge. Saying someone ‘went to Oxbridge’ implies they are the educational elite. Entrance to these universities is not only based on grades, but also on reasoning, logic and attitude.

• Applying for Oxford or Cambridge universities can seem daunting, especially for state school pupils. The Zero Gravity app can help talented students from low-income backgrounds find mentors who will guide them.

The Russell Group is a group of 24 British research universities, including Oxford and Cambridge as well as other famous universities like the London School of Economics, Imperial College and the University of Edinburgh. These universities are often considered to be the best in the UK for most subjects.

Within this group are the ‘red brick’ universities (built in Victorian times and usually specialising in technical subjects) – Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield.

• Applying for one of these universities can seem daunting, especially for state school pupils. The Zero Gravity app can help talented students from low-income backgrounds find mentors who will guide them.

If you live far from a university and don’t want to move closer while you study, it is possible to do an online degree.

The Open University is the UK’s distance learning university. It has lots of different courses including degree courses, which you can do gradually from home to fit around your life. You only pay for 1 module at a time.

It also offers Masters degrees at its FutureLearn website.

If you are on a visa in the UK, make sure you are allowed to study because the rules for entry to the Open University are the same as rules for other universities.

Paying for university

All universities charge Tuition Fees for their courses. You might not have to pay these fees, depending on where you live and want to study. If you are on a low income, you might also be able to apply for a loan, scholarship, bursary or grant.

Tuition Fees have one price for people resident in Britain (the ‘home fee’, usually about £9,000 a year) and one for people from overseas (the ‘overseas fee’, up to £18,000 a year). This can also apply to British people living abroad.

• Read more about tuition fees for people who live abroad at the UK Council for International Student Affairs .

The help you can get with University Tuition Fees depends on your personal circumstances, and where you live and where you want to study. There are loans available that will cover the cost. If you are on a low income, you might also be able to apply for a scholarship, bursary or grant. Also, some employers will pay for you to attend university.

• England: Everyone who lives in England must pay Tuition Fees for UK universities. There are loans available to cover the cost. There are other loans, grants and funding available too. Find out more about student finance in England.
• Wales: If you live in Wales, you can apply for loans to cover Tuition Fees at any UK university. Grants and other loans can help with other costs. Find out more about student finance in Wales.
• Scotland : If you live in Scotland, you don’t usually have to pay Tuition Fees for Scottish universities. You must apply to Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) to have the fees paid for you. You will need to pay Tuition Fees to study at universities in other parts of the UK, but loans are available. Find out more about student finance in Scotland.

Read more about tuition fee loans in our blog.

Many students have some kind of job while they are at university, however some universities (for example, the University of Cambridge) have strict rules about how much work is allowed during term time.

If you are studying on a visa, there may also be rules about how much paid or unpaid work you do. It is usually 20 hours a week on a General Student Visa.

Overseas visitors

People age over 16 usually need a Tier 4 General Student Visa for full-time study on courses over 6 months. It will be granted for a specific university or school. Some work visas will allow study (for example the Tier 2 General Work Visa) as long as it does not affect your work.

Many short-term visitor visas (for example the Standard Visitor Visa) allow up to 30 days of study, as long as it is not the main reason for your stay.

If you are in the UK as the dependent family member of someone on a work visa, you may also be able to study. You will probably need a special ATAS certificate .

Members of the European Economic Area and Swiss nationals do not need a visa or ATAS certificate.

The Open University is the UK’s distance learning university. It has lots of different courses including degree courses, which you can do gradually. You only pay for 1 module at a time and it is possible to study for a degree from abroad.

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• International Student
• Study Centers
• Study in the UK

UK Education System

The education system in the UK is divided into four main parts, primary education, secondary education, further education and higher education. Children in the UK have to legally attend primary and secondary education which runs from about 5 years old until the student is 16 years old.

The education system in the UK is also split into "key stages" which breaks down as follows:

• Key Stage 1: 5 to 7 years old
• Key Stage 2: 7 to 11 years old
• Key Stage 3: 11 to 14 years old
• Key Stage 4: 14 to 16 years old

Generally key stages 1 and 2 will be undertaken at primary school and at 11 years old a student will move onto secondary school and finish key stages 3 and 4.

Students are assessed at the end of each stage. The most important assessment occurs at age 16 when students pursue their GCSE's or General Certificate of Secondary Education. Once students complete their GCSE's they have the choice to go onto further education and then potential higher education, or finish school and go into the working world.

Our overview of the education system in the UK is divided into five main sections:

Primary Education

Primary education begins in the UK at age 5 and continues until age 11, comprising key stages one and two under the UK educational system. Please visit the British Council page for more information on primary education.

Secondary Education

From age 11 to 16, students will enter secondary school for key stages three and four and to start their move towards taking the GCSE's - learn more about secondary education in the UK and what it will involve. Primary and secondary education is mandatory in the UK; after age 16, education is optional.

Further Education

Once a student finishes secondary education they have the option to extend into further education to take their A-Levels, GNVQ's, BTEC's or other such qualifications. UK students planning to go to college or university must complete further education.

Higher Education

Probably the most important subject area on this site, this explains more about the higher education system in the UK and how it works for international students. Most international students will enter directly into the UK higher education system, after completing their home country’s equivalent to the UK’s “further education.”

Entry Requirements

Each level of education in the UK has varying requirements which must be satisfied in order to gain entry at that level - learn more about the education entry requirements for the UK.

UK Degree Online

With online programs growing in popularity, this means the availability of top-notch online programs is also on the rise. If you want to obtain a UK accredited degree without having to relocate to the United Kingdom, choosing to study online is a good option for you. Getting a UK accredited degree online allows you to fit your studies into your schedule and save money on travel costs while having access to a variety of top programs.

Please note that Scotland has a separate education system and does not conform to the above structure. Please learn more about the Scottish Education System .

Related Content:

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• Society and culture
• Equality, rights and citizenship
• The report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: supporting research
• Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

Ethnic, socio-economic and sex inequalities in educational achievement at age 16, by Professor Steve Strand

Updated 28 April 2021

© Crown copyright 2021

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] .

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities-supporting-research/ethnic-socio-economic-and-sex-inequalities-in-educational-achievement-at-age-16-by-professor-steve-strand

Ethnic, socio-economic and sex inequalities in educational achievement at age 16: An analysis of the Second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE2) Report for the Commission on Ethnic and Racial Disparities (CRED) by Professor Steve Strand, Department of Education, University of Oxford

You can download a PDF version of this report .

This report analyses ethnic, socio-economic and sex differences in educational achievement at age 16. It uses the Second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE2), a nationally representative sample of 9,704 students who completed GCSE examinations at the end of year 11 in summer 2015.

The LSYPE2 includes ethnic minority boosts so that sample sizes are sufficient to make robust estimates, and is the most recent dataset from which a comprehensive measure of students socio-economic status (SES) can be derived.

The analysis uses regression modelling to explore the achievement of the 9 biggest ethnic groups, at 3 levels of SES and separately for boys and girls, thus considering a total of 54 estimates for all combinations of ethnic group, SES and sex.

The key results are shown in table 1 and figure 1. The key findings are as follows:

The groups with the lowest achievement at 16 years old are White British, and Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean (MWBC) students from low SES backgrounds, who have mean scores well below the average for all students. This is most pronounced for boys (-0.77 SD and -0.68 SD respectively), but low SES girls of Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean, and White British ethnicity are also the lowest scoring groups of girls (-0.54 SD and -0.39 SD respectively).

Low SES boys of Pakistani, White Other and Any Other ethnic group also have a mean score well below the grand mean, but still score substantially higher than comparable White British and Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean boys.

Among students from average SES backgrounds, only Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean boys and White British boys have mean scores below the average for all students.

The overwhelming picture is therefore of ethnic minority advantage in relation to educational achievement at age 16. At low and average SES, no ethnic minority has a mean score substantially (less than 0.20 SD) lower than White British students, and in 23 of the 32 contrasts the ethnic minority mean is substantially (greater than 0.20 SD) above White British students of the same SES and sex.

There are only 2 instances of ethnic under-achievement compared to White British students of the same SES and sex. First, Black Caribbean and Black African boys from high SES families score lower than comparable White British high SES boys. Second, Pakistani girls from high SES backgrounds do not achieve as well as White British high SES girls, and also substantially below high SES Pakistani boys, who have the highest mean score of all groupings.

The results are discussed in relation to theories of “immigrant optimism” (Kao and Thompson, 2003), “segmented assimilation” (Portes and Zhou, 1993), and teacher expectations and cultural norms.

Table 1: Mean best 8 score by ethnic group, SES and sex, and ethnic achievement gaps relative to White British

Notes: Mean Best 8 scores show the difference between the mean score for the group and the grand mean score across all pupils (which is set to 0). Gap vs White British shows the difference in the mean score between the ethnic minority and White British students of the same sex and SES. Ethnic groups are sorted in order of the mean Best8 score for pupils of average SES.

Figure 1: Mean best 8 score by ethnic group, socio-economic status (SES) and sex

Education is the key to future life outcomes. Success in education at 16 years old is strongly predictive of later occupational, economic, health and well-being outcomes and to future social mobility: this is why 13 of the 17 social mobility indicators drawn up by the government in England are measures of educational attainment (Cabinet Office, 2011).

In the 2019 GCSE examinations, the average Attainment 8 score for Black Caribbean (39.4) and Mixed White and Black Caribbean (41.0) pupils was over 5 points lower than the average for White British pupils (46.2), or over half a grade lower in each of the 8 subjects included. At the same time, the average scores for Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black African ethnic groups were above the White British average. What factors underpin such variation?

It is widely documented that socio-economic status (SES) is strongly implicated in low educational achievement. SES may have a direct influence, for example through poorer nutrition and an increased risk of a range of health and developmental problems, and an indirect influence through limited financial resources in the home, low parental education, reduced ability to help with homework, unemployment, maladjustment or neglect, housing instability or homelessness, greater family stress and poorer neighborhood quality in terms of services and crime (for example, Bradley and Corwyn, 2002; McLloyd, 1998; Reis, 2013; Spencer, 1996).

The greater socio-economic deprivation experienced by ethnic minority groups compared to the White ethnic group has also been well documented. For example, in England in 2016, 14% of White British pupils were eligible for a free school meal (FSM) but this doubled to 25% of Black African, 28% of Black Caribbean and 29% of Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils (Strand and Lindorff, 2021).

This unevenness extends across many socio-economic dimensions in employment, income, housing and health (Kenway and Palmer, 2007; Strand, 2011). Ethnic minority pupils may therefore be more at risk of low achievement because of the greater socio-economic disadvantage they experience relative to White pupils.

The purpose in taking the socio-economic factors into account is not to ‘explain away’ any ethnic achievement gaps, but to better understand the root causes and therefore identify relevant policy interventions and action. For example, if ethnic achievement gaps reflect the socio-economic disparities between ethnic groups, then a focus on in-service training to address racism by secondary school teachers would be unlikely to deliver substantial change, whereas a focus on increased resourcing for disadvantaged pupils (such as the pupil premium grant) may have a greater likelihood of success.

It is therefore important that any analysis looks not just at ethnicity in isolation, but looks simultaneously at ethnicity and socio-economic status as well as gender. Previous analyses of the first Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) have looked at these 3 factors simultaneously in relation to educational achievement at 11, 14 and 16 year old (See Strand 2011; 2012; 2014). A summary of the results at age 16 is reported in Appendix B. The results indicated average scores for ethnic minority groups were higher than for White British pupils of the same SES and sex, such that ethnic minority status was a facilitator, not a barrier, to achievement. However, the LSYPE cohort took their GCSEs in summer 2006, some time ago. This report analyses recent data from LSYPE2 which provides the most up-to-date data to analyse the combined effect of ethnicity, sex and socio-economic status in relation to students’ educational achievement at 16 year olds.

Methodology

We place the vast amount of information on the methodology in the detailed methodology, so that we can focus immediately on the key findings and discussion. We summarise here only those features that are essential to interpretation of the results and key findings. Detailed description of the dataset and analysis is also given in the detailed methodology.

The dataset

The LSYPE2 recruited a nationally representative sample of 13,000 young people aged 14 in year 9 in the 2012 to 2013 school year, and conducted detailed 45-minute interviews with them and with their parents in their own homes, as well as drawing from linked administrative sources such as the National Pupil Database (NPD).

Importantly, the LSYPE2 includes ethnic minority boosts with a target of 1,000 respondents from each of the main ethnic minority groups, so that the sample size is large enough to support robust national estimates for ethnic minority groups. The students and their families were interviewed again in wave 2 in year 10 and in wave 3 in year 11. Of the 10,396 students who completed wave 3, a total of 9,704 gave their permission for linkage to the NPD so we can analyse their GCSE results from the end of year 11 in summer 2015.

The measures

Ethnic group.

In 2019, one-third (32.9%) of the school population in England were from ethnic minority groups. We present a summary at the highest level of aggregation (White, Mixed, Asian, Black, Other) but believe there is value in a more differentiated analysis in relation to the 9 main ethnic groups in England (White British, White Other, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Asian Other, Black Caribbean, Black African and Any Other group). We include the Mixed ethnic groups in the ethnic minority part of their heritage – for example, we combine Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean students. The rationale is explained in the detailed methodology.

Socio-economic status

For descriptive purposes we focus on parental occupation as the single most frequently cited measure of social class (Raffe et al, 2006). We use the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Socio-Economic Classification (ONS-SEC), and indicative examples of the classification are given in Appendix B. We employ the dominance method (Erikson, 1984) taking either the father’s or the mother’s occupation, whichever is the highest. We do the same for parents’ educational qualifications and family income. For subsequent statistical modelling, we create a comprehensive measure of socio-economic status incorporating all 3 measures: parental occupational status, parental educational qualifications, and average family income. To do this we take the loading on the first factor of a principal component analysis of the 3 measures.

Educational outcomes

We calculate each pupil’s Best 8 point score, which is the total score across the best 8 examination results achieved by the pupil. The points are calculated on the QCA scale which is not a very familiar metric, and the score distribution is slightly negatively skewed, so for ease of interpretation we have applied a normal score transformation so the outcome is expressed in standard deviation (SD) units.

Therefore, the average score across all students is indicated by zero, and two-thirds of students score in the range between -1 and +1. For a threshold measure we report the percentage of pupils achieving a GCSE grade A* to C in both English and maths. This measure is still reported in secondary school performance tables (based on the percentage achieving a Grade 5 or above using the new 1 to 9 scale first examined from summer 2017) so is more useful than the headline measure in use in 2015, which was 5 or more GCSEs at A* to C including English and maths.

Key findings

Descriptive statistics for achievement by ethnicity, sex and ses.

Table 1 and Figure 1 presents the mean Best 8 points score and the percentage achieving GCSE A* to C in both English and mathematics by ethnicity, sex and 3 measures of SES (parental occupation, parental education and family income).

The key points are as follows.

At the highest level of ethnic aggregation, the mean Best 8 score was 0.05 for White students and -0.06 for Black students, giving a Black-White difference of -0.11 SD. This Black-White gap is statistically significant but small. By way of comparison, Cohen’s (1988) effect size thresholds suggest 0.20 SD is small, 0.50 SD is medium and 0.80 is large.

The results contrast strongly with those from the US, where in the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Black students scored -0.81, -0.83 and -0.89 SD below the mean for White students in mathematics at age 10, 14 and 18 respectively. They also scored approximately -0.72 SD below the mean for White students for reading at the same ages (US Department of Education, 2019).

When the ‘Black’, ’Asian’ and ‘White’ groups are disaggregated, some slightly larger gaps are found. However, the only ethnic group with an average score significantly below the White British mean is Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean students, with a gap of -0.29 SD, while Black African and Mixed White and Black African students have a mean score near identical to White British. All other ethnic groups score as well as, or in the case of Indian and Asian Other ethnic groups significantly better than, the White British average.

This Black Caribbean achievement gap is the same magnitude as the gender gap which is also 0.29 SD, with girls scoring higher than boys. However, both gaps are dwarfed by the parental occupation gap, which is over 3 times larger at 0.97 SD. The family income gap is 0.93 SD and the parental education gap is 1.14 SD.

If we take a conservative analysis, comparing the results for the 22% of students in the lowest 3 parental occupational groups (LTU, routine and semi-routine occupations) against the average for the 45% of students with a parent in the highest groupings (higher technical, higher managerial and professional occupations), the gap is 0.81 SD, still 3 times larger than either the Black Caribbean or gender gaps.

Table 2: KS4 results by ethnicity, sex and parental SEC

Notes: SEC is the ONS Socio-economic classification (SEC) of the occupation of the highest classified parent. Parent Educ. is the highest educational qualification held by the most qualified parent. Family income is average family income expressed in quintiles.

Figure 2: Mean Best 8 points score by ethnic group, sex and parental SEC

Figure 3: mean best 8 points score by ethnic group, sex and parental sec, ethnicity and socio-economic status (ses).

Considering the 3 factors of ethnic group, sex and SES separately is limited, because there is significant confounding between these variables. Most particularly, levels of socio-economic disadvantage are substantially higher among ethnic minority groups than among the White British majority. Table xxx presents averages for a wide range of socio-economic measures separately for each ethnic group.

The key findings are:

Parental occupation (r= 0.38), parental education (r= 0.38) and family income (r= 0.38) were all positively correlated with KS4 Best 8 score, but the overall SES measure gave the highest correlation (r= 0.45). Therefore, SES is the best single measure in relation to exam success.

In terms of SES, White British (0.22 SD), Indian (0.21 SD) and Asian Other (0.11 SD) had mean SES scores above average, Black Caribbean (-0.15 SD), Black African (-0.12 SD) and White Other (-0.14 SD) were closely grouped, while Pakistani (-0.53 SD) and Bangladeshi (-0.83 SD) had substantially the lowest SES.

The gaps in the underlying measures are often stark:

• for 20% of White British students the highest parent occupation is ‘LTU, routine or routine occupation’, but this more than doubles to over 40% for each of the Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups
• for 29% of White British students at least one parent has a degree, compared to Black African (40%), Indian (43%) and Asian Other (52%) students, but just 13% of Bangladeshi students
• White British students had the highest annualised family income (£40,785), followed by Indian (£36,246) and Asian Other (£33,862), but is more than one-third lower for Black Caribbean (£29,485) and Black African (£28,405) students, and half as high for Pakistani (£22,693) and Bangladeshi (£19,828) students
• 24% of White British students have been entitled to a free school meal at some time in the last 6 years, but this is more than doubled for Black Caribbean (47%), Any Other (49%), Black African (53%) and Bangladeshi (61%) students

While Black Caribbean and Black African students had similar overall SES (-0.15 and -0.12 respectively), they differed in their profile across the 3 underlying components: Black African students have a higher proportion of parents in ‘LTU, routine or semi-routine’ occupations (41% vs. 31%) and slightly lower family annualised income (£28,405 vs. £29,475), but had a higher proportion of parents educated to degree level (40% vs. 23% respectively).

Table 3: socio-economic variation between ethnic groups

You may need to scroll horizontally to see all columns.

Notes. ‘SES’ is a standardised score of the loading on the first factor from a principal components analysis of parental occupation, parental education and average family income. ‘Parental occupation’ as coded by the ONS Socio-Economic Classification (ONS-SEC) 3 category version. ‘LTU’ means long term unemployed, defined as 6 months or more. ‘Parental education’ is the highest qualification assessed on a 7 point scale ranging from no educational qualifications through to university degree. ‘Family income’ is average equivalised income per annum. ‘FSM’ indicates eligibility for free school meals in January of year 11. ‘EVER6’ indicates entitlement to free school meals at any point during the last 6 years (Y6-Y11). ‘IDACI’ is the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index quartile, based on the proportion of children in the neighbourhood from families entitled to state benefits. ‘X’ indicates fewer than 10 cases in the cell so the value is suppressed following ONS rules.

Interactive effects of ethnicity, sex and SES with achievement

Given these results, we complete a regression analysis to look at the combined associations of achievement with ethnicity, sex and SES. There were several highly significant ethnic and SES interactions, one ethnic and sex interaction and a 3-way ethnic, SES and sex interaction. Therefore, a full-factorial model was specified and effects were assessed using estimated marginal means. The parameters from the model are given in Appendix C.

Table 3 and Figure 4 present the mean Best 8 score for each ethnic, SES and sex combination, along with the ethnic achievement gap showing the difference between the average score for the ethnic minority compared to White British pupils of the same sex and SES.

The key findings are as follows.

Mean Best 8 score

The groups with the lowest achievement at age 16 are White British, and Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean students from low SES backgrounds, who are scoring substantially below the average for all students (which is set at zero). This is most pronounced for boys (-0.77 SD and -0.68 SD respectively), but low SES girls in the Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean, and White British ethnic groups are also the lowest scoring groups of girls (-0.54 SD and -0.39 SD respectively).

Low SES boys in the Pakistani, White Other and Any Other ethnic groups also score well below the mean, but still score substantially higher than comparable White British, and Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean peers.

Among students from average SES backgrounds, only Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean boys and White British boys score below the grand mean.

Beyond the above, no ethnic, SES and sex combination scores substantially below the grand mean, with the majority scoring well above the average.

Ethnic gaps relative to White British

The overwhelming picture is that ethnic minority groups have higher educational achievement at age 16 than White British students of the same sex and SES. This is particularly notable at low and average SES, where no ethnic minority groups have a significantly lower score than White British students, and indeed in 23 of the 32 comparisons the mean score for ethnic minority students is substantially higher than for comparable White British students.

There are only 2 instances of ethnic under-achievement compared to White British students of the same SES and sex. First, Black Caribbean and Black African boys from high SES families score more than 0.20 SD lower than comparable White British boys. Second, Pakistani girls from high SES backgrounds do not achieve as well as White British high SES girls, and substantially below high SES Pakistani boys, who have the highest mean score of all groupings.

Table 4: Mean best 8 score by ethnic group, SES and sex, and ethnic achievement gaps relative to White British

Figure 4: mean best 8 score by ethnic group, level of ses and sex, ethnicity and low educational achievement.

The key finding is that White British and Black Caribbean students, both boys and girls, from low SES backgrounds are the lowest achieving groups of all students. While low SES boys from Pakistani, White Other and Any Other ethnic groups also score below the overall average, they are still scoring significantly higher than White British and Black Caribbean low SES boys. It is also notable that at mean SES, it is again only White British and Black Caribbean boys who score substantially below the average. A key question therefore is why most ethnic minority groups are so much more resilient compared to White British and Black Caribbean students.

The ‘immigrant paradigm’ (Kao and Thompson, 2003) suggests that recent immigrants devote themselves more to education than the native population because they lack financial capital and see education as a way out of poverty. In a similar vein, Ogbu (1978) makes a distinction between ‘voluntary minorities’ (such as immigrant groups who may be recent arrivals to the country and have very high educational aspirations) and ‘involuntary’ or ‘caste like’ minorities (such as African Americans or Black Caribbean and White working class pupils in England) who hold less optimistic views around social mobility and the transformative possibilities of education.

This theory can, for example, account for the substantial contrast between Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils on the one hand and Black African and Mixed White and Black African pupils on the other, whose achievement is substantially higher despite the same or higher levels of risk in terms of low SES, neighbourhood deprivation, and poverty. Most Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils are third generation UK born, while many Black African pupils are more recent immigrants, some of whom have arrived directly from abroad. For example, the 2011 national population Census indicates that one-third (66.7%) of the Black African population were born outside of the UK, compared to 39.8% of the Black Caribbean population (ONS, 2013).

But if ‘immigrant optimism’ is the explanation, why does the achievement of Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean students more closely match that of White British students, particularly at low SES, rather than matching other ethnic minority groups? Partly this may be because they are one of the longer-standing migrant groups, with the largest waves of migration in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Ogbu (1978) suggests that those minorities who have been longest established in a country, particularly in a disadvantaged context, may be the least likely to be optimistic about the possibilities of education to transform their lives, and several studies have noted this ‘second generation’ gap (for example, Rothon et al, 2009). But Indian and Pakistani migration was also high during the 1950s and 1960s, why is the achievement profile for these ethnic groups not also closer to White British students?

Perhaps relevant here is “selective assimilation theory”. Black Caribbean migrants in the 1960’s predominantly moved into poor urban and inner city areas populated by the White British working class. The intersecting of the communities is reflected in the high level of inter-ethnic partnerships and births, with there now more being students in school from the Mixed White and Black Caribbean ethnic group than there are from the Black Caribbean ethnic group (1.6% vs. 1.1% of the school population) (DfE, 2019). Thus, Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean students may have cultural attitudes that parallel their (predominantly) White British working class neighbours.

In contrast, other long standing ethnic minority groups have different patterns of migration. Indian migrants were more likely to be of high SES in their host countries, many were professionals and managers, and migrated to a more varied and diverse selection of geographical areas. Other groups such as Pakistani migrants, while also tending to move predominantly to poor areas of inner cities where housing was cheap, tended to have higher levels of ethnic segregation, retaining greater cultural homogeneity.

The most direct support for the ‘immigrant optimism’ thesis comes from Strand (2011; 2014), in his analysis of the original LYSPE, which identified 4 key factors underlying the greater resilience of low SES ethnic minority pupils:

• high educational aspirations on the part of students to continue in education post-16 and to attend university, placing education in central role for achieving their future goals
• high educational aspirations by parents and strong ‘academic press’ at home
• high levels of motivation and homework completion
• strong academic self-concept

There is insufficient time to undertake further analysis at present before the deadline for this report, but further analysis will be completed later in the year to see if these results from LSYPE are replicated for LSYPE2.

Ethnic minority underachievement

The overwhelming picture is that ethnic minority groups have higher average levels of achievement than White British peers of the same SES and sex. While they were very much exceptions to the rule, there were 2 specific instances of ethnic under-achievement.

First, Black Caribbean and Black African boys from high SES homes underachieved relative to White British high SES boys. What underlies this particular finding is not known, and worthy of further investigation. Previous research has indicated that Black Caribbean pupils are under-represented by their teachers in entry to higher tier examinations, after a wide range of controls for prior attainment, SES, attitudes and behaviour (Strand, 2012), and that Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils are more often subject to disciplinary sanctions like exclusion than other ethnic groups, again after control for covariates (Strand and Fletcher, 2014).

It may be that in school settings, negative expectations about Black boys lead to greater surveillance and pre-emptive disciplining by teachers, which may be particularly disproportionately felt by Black middle class boys (Gillborn et al, 2012). Alternatively, it may be that White British middle class families use their financial resources to purchase advantages, like private schooling, to a greater extent than Black middle class families. In the LSYPE2 we found 6.7% of White compared to 2.2% of Black pupils attended independent schools, although analysis of the British Social Attitudes survey suggests no significant difference (Evans and Tilley, 2012).

Out of school factors may also be influential. For example, Foster et al. (1996) and Sewell (2009) argue that Black boys experience considerable pressure by their peers to adopt the norms of an ‘urban’ or ‘street’ subculture where more prestige is given to unruly behaviour with teachers than to high achievement or effort to succeed (for example, Foster et al., 1996; Sewell, 2009). Gangster culture and hyper-masculinity may be shared to greater extent by White and Black boys within working class contexts, more so than in middle class spaces. Issues of identity could also be felt particularly by Black middle class boys, with some researchers suggesting Black middle-class families often express “an unease about middleclassness which was viewed by some as a White social category” (Ball et al, 2013, p270, see also Archer, 2010; 2011). Of course, these arguments are not mutually exclusive, both in-school and out-of-school factors may well play a role.

Second, Pakistani high SES girls underachieved compared both to White British high SES girls, and indeed achieved less well than high SES Pakistani boys. It may be that traditional attitudes to gender roles, lower perceived benefits of daughters’ relative to sons’ education, and threats to respectability and modesty expressed by parents in Pakistan (Purewal and Hashmi, 2015) also apply in England. However, Fleischmann and Kristen (2014) looking at second generation immigrants in 9 European countries (including England and Wales) indicate that gender gaps favouring males in countries of origin are largely reversed in the second generation, transforming to the patterns of female achievement advantage seen in the host countries. This is a small group within the LSYPE2 dataset, because of the very skewed SES distribution for Bangladeshi and Pakistani students. For example, the number of Pakistani pupils in the top top 20% of SES is just 17 and fewer than 10 Bangladeshi pupils (the comparable figure for White British pupils is 1667 cases). The finding should therefore be treated with caution, but is worthy of further investigation.

These results indicate that ethnic minority groups on average achieve higher levels of success in education at age 16 than White British pupils. To the extent that there is a small gap for Black Caribbean students, this seems to reflect structural inequality in SES, with fewer parents in managerial and professional roles and lower average family income. Gaps in achievement at age 16 related to SES are large and persistent, and represent by far the greatest challenge to equity and social mobility agendas.

Educational achievement at age 16 is crucial, in that it acts as a gatekeeper to higher education and employment opportunities later in life. Nevertheless, ethnic variation in outcomes at later ages still remains. For example, in access to high-tariff universities (Boliver, 2016), in entry to work (Heath and Di Stasio, 2019) and to the highest occupational groups (UK Government, 2020).

Detailed methodology

Ethnic minority groups.

Table xxx indicates the unweighted number of pupils within each ethnic group as recorded in the LSYPE2 wave 3 dataset and with valid linkage to the NPD. The third column of the table shows the percentage that each ethnic group represents in the whole school population, sourced from the 2019 school census. This shows that one-third of the school population in England (32.9%) are from an ethnic minority group (DfE, 2019).

Table 5: Ethnic coding for purposes of analysis of LSYPE2

Table 5(a): full set of ethnic codes, table 5(b): ethnic groups used in the analysis.

Notes: (a) less than 10 pupils so number suppressed.

In analysing the LSYPE2 data, a balance needed to be struck between the number of ethnic groups, the size of these groups in the school population and the number of cases in the specific LSYPE2 sample.

The largest ethnic minority groups (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African, Black Caribbean, White Other and Asian Other) were retained.

The Mixed ethnic groups have been shown to be extremely heterogenous with little in common in terms of the achievement profile among the sub-groups (see Strand, 2015). In term of their achievement profile, there is greater similarity with the ethnic minority side of their Mixed ethnicity. For example, the achievement of Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils is similar to that of Black Caribbean pupils, the achievement of Mixed White and Black African pupils is similar to the Black African, and the achievement of Mixed White and Asian (MWAS) pupils is similar to that of Asian Other pupils. This is shown in Figure xxx, which is drawn from Strand (2015), p32.

Source: Strand (2015). ‘Ethnicity, deprivation and educational achievement at age 16 in England: trends over time.’ DfE Research Report 439B, p32.

Therefore, to more accurately reflect the patterns of achievement, and to maximise the analytic samples, the Mixed ethnic groups were included with the relevant ethnic minority group.

Smaller ethnic groups were merged. Thus, White Irish and Gypsy Roma Travellers (GRT) were included in White Other; Chinese were included in Asian Other and MWAS; and Black Other and Mixed Other groups were included in Any Other ethnic group.

Table 5(b) shows the 9 ethnic groups used for this analysis, the unweighted number of cases in each group and the percentage the groups represent in the whole school population (school census 2019).

Family socio-economic classification (SEC)

We utilised the ONS Socio-Economic Classification (SEC). A family SEC variable is included in LSYPE2 based upon the household reference person (HRP), but in a large number of cases the HRP was not interviewed (n=487) or the individual was not classifiable (n=121). We therefore created our own family SEC measure. First, we took the SEC for the main parent, which had fewer missing or unclassifiable instances (n=116). Second, to create a family measure, we substituted the SEC of the second parent (if present) if it was higher than for the main parent. As a robustness check we completed the same process taking the highest of the mother’s or father’s SEC. This measure was very highly correlated (r=0.996) with the MP/SP version, but the MP/SP version had fewer missing cases (n=116 as opposed to n=502) so was preferred.

Table 6: ONS Socio-economic classification (SEC) categories: LSYPE2 Sample

We also looked in wave 2 and wave 3 for SOC2010 values if there was no SEC record in the wave 1 file. These employ 9 major groups and 25 sub-major groups (see SOC2010 volume 1: structure and descriptions of unit groups ). We converted codes between SOC2000 and SOC2010 where needed (see https://www.bls.gov/soc/soc_2000_to_2010_crosswalk.xls ). We were able to find valid values for all but 33 cases.

Parental educational qualifications

We took the highest educational qualification of the main parent, substituting the highest qualification of the second parent (where present) if it was higher, termed the dominance method (Erikson, 1984). If we could not find a value in the wave 1 file we again sourced the variable from the wave 2 or wave 3 file. We were able to find valid values for all but 27 cases. A small number of cases (n=37) which were coded as ‘entry level qualifications’ were combined with ‘Other qualifications’. This created a 7 point scale ranging from ‘No educational qualifications’ through to ‘Degree or equivalent’. Descriptive statistics showing the relationship with student achievement are given in Table 1.

Family income

Household income is based on a survey response, with respondents picking a band from a list to represent the annual household income from all sources. The results have been edited to take account of implausible responses, primarily through the use of self-reported earnings data.

Earnings data was generally more credible, not least because parents reported their own earnings, over the time period of their choice, rather than having to combine sources and annualise the results. This data has also been edited where implausible, such as where what looked like an annual salary for the stated occupation was reported as being paid weekly.

Where the plausible earnings of a household were greater than the annual income selected, the earnings have been used instead. This is likely to underestimate the true income, as it excludes other sources such as benefits, but should still represent an improvement on the self-reported estimate.

The data was collected in 15 bands allowing a high degree of differentiation. For descriptive purposes we used the midpoint of the ranges as the data value rather than the band number to give a mean income in pounds per annum. It should be noted that income data is notoriously difficult to collect accurately via household surveys, and LSYPE2 is no exception, with a high level of non-response. To deal with this, we took the average income over all 3 waves of the LSYPE2, this reduced the missing cases to n=437 (or 4.5%) of our sample. To avoid losing these cases, we imputed the value predicted from a regression of income on other variables closely related to income (entitlement to a FSM, IDACI score and parental SEC), so only had one missing value in the final analysis.

Income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI)

IDACI is produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The index is based on 32,482 super output areas (SOAs) in England, which are geographical regions of around 1,500 residents, designed to include those of similar social backgrounds.

The IDACI score is the percentage of under-16s in the SOA living in income deprived households (primarily defined by being in receipt of certain benefits). This variable is highly skewed and so for the purpose of the current analysis the measure was normal score transformed to give a variable with a mean of 0 and SD=1. A score above 0 indicate greater than average deprivation, and score below 0 indicate less than average deprivation, relative to the average for the LSYPE2 sample. Both 2001 and 2007 IDACI measures were included in the LSYPE2 file. The means of the 2 were nearly identical (24.7% and 25.7%) and they correlated r=0.97, so the more recent 2007 values were used. You can see more information about IDACI .

FSM and EVER6

We took from the January census of year 11 whether the pupil was entitled to a free school meal (FSM) or had ever been entitled over the last 6 years (EVER6).

The LSYPE2 sample

The primary sample frame for LSYPE2 was the England school census, which was used to identify sample members in state-funded education. This provides access to pupil-level characteristics information about these young people, which was used to stratify the sample.

The stratification has been designed to maintain minimum numbers in certain subgroups of interest right through to the planned end of the survey, to ensure robust analyses of these groups can continue. These subgroups include those with free school meals, those with special educational needs (SEN), and certain ethnic groups. The sample also included pupils from independent schools and pupil referral units (PRUs), these schools and settings were sampled first and then asked to supply contact details for pupils.

Interviews took place with both the young person and at least one parent in the first 3 waves (until the young person was 15 or 16 years old). In wave 1 the interviews took place over a 5-month period, starting in early April 2013 and finishing in early September 2013. In wave 1 LSYPE2 achieved a response rate of 71%, representing an achieved sample of 13,100.

The analytic sample

As stated, there were 13,100 responding young people in wave 1 of LSYPE2. Of these, 12,152 responded in wave 2 and 10,396 in wave 3. Of those responding in wave 3, a total of 9,307 gave permission for linkage and were matched to results in the NPD. Some of those giving permission were in independent schools (n=410) who were missed by the DfE in the initial data match, and so are not yet included in our analysis (at 18/12/20). 9.307 was the total sample available, and we had complete observations for ethnic group and sex, but a small number of cases that were missing parental SEC (n=49), parental education (n=22), family income (n=26), SES (n=69), entitlement to a FSM/EVER6 (n=17) or IDACI (n=7), had to be excluded on a pairwise basis. The ONS-SRS does not have the SPSS Missing Values module, so we cannot impute missing values for these cases, but we will explore whether this might be possible through other means at a later date.

Approach to analysis

We were primarily interested in the relationship between variables, not in simply recapturing descriptive statistics for the relevant population. In these cases, the use of weights is sometimes argued to be problematic (Solon, Haider and Woodridge, 2015). However, given the extent of attrition from wave 1 to wave 3 of LSYPE2, we considered it important to use weights that are meant to limit the effect of differential attrition, and used the combined design and non-response scaled sampling weights from wave 3 in all analyses (LSYPE2_W3_Weight_scaled).

The ONS-SRS has not purchased the SPSS Complex Samples module, and so, despite the software being available to university staff and students throughout the country, we were not able to use it to simultaneously account for weight and for clustering at the school level.

However, we also ran all our models using a complex survey design using the svydesign() and svyglm() functions contained within version 3.35-1 of the Survey package (Lumley, 2019) in version 3.6.1 of R (R Core Team, 2019). These models used the students’ KS4 school URN as the cluster ID and the LPYSE2_W3_Weight_scaled as the sampling weight. In all cases there were no substantive differences in results, means were near identical. Although SEs tended to be marginally higher, all results that were statistically significant in our SPSS regressions were also significant in the R versions. Therefore, we do not consider this a problem for the analysis.

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Gillborn, D., Rollock, N., Vincent, C., and Ball, S. J. (2012). ‘You got a pass, so what more do you want?’: race, class and gender intersections in the educational experiences of the Black middle class. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(1), 121 to 139. doi:10.1080/13613324.2012.638869.

Heath, A. F., and Di Stasio, V. (2019). Racial discrimination in Britain, 1969–2017: a meta-analysis of field experiments on racial discrimination in the British labour market. The British Journal of Sociology, 70(5), 1774 to 1798. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12676

Kao, G., and Thompson, J. S. (2003). Racial and ethnic stratification in educational achievement and attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 29(1), 417 to 442. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100019

Lumley, T. (2019) ‘Survey: analysis of complex survey samples’. R package version 3.35-1.

McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist 53(2), 185 to 203. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.53.2.185

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2013). DC2205EW – Country of birth by ethnic group by sex . Office for National Statistics.

Portes, A., and Zhou, M. (1993). The new second generation: Segmented assimilation and its variants. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 530(1), 74 to 96. doi:10.1177/0002716293530001006

Purewal, N., and Hashmi, N. (2015). Between returns and respectability: parental attitudes towards girls’ education in rural Punjab, Pakistan. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(7), 977 to 995. doi:10.1080/01425692.2014.883274

R Core Team (2019) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, URL https://www.R-project.org

Raffe, D., Croxford, L., Iannelli, C., Shapira, M., and Howieson, C. (2006). Social-Class Inequalities in Education in England and Scotland, CES Briefing No. 40 . Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh.

Reiss, F. (2013). Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review. Social Science and Medicine, 90, 24 to 31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.04.026

Rothon, C., Heath, A., and Lessard-Phillips, L. (2009). The Educational Attainments of the “Second Generation”: A Comparative Study of Britain, Canada, and the United States. Teachers College Record, 111(6), 1404 to 1443.

Sewell, T. (2009). Generating Genius: Black Boys in Search of Love, Ritual and Schooling. Stoke on Trent: Trentham books.

Spencer, N. (1996). Poverty and child health. Medical Press.

Strand, S. (2011). The limits of social class in explaining ethnic gaps in educational attainment. British Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 197 to 229. 10.1080/01411920903540664.

Strand, S. (2014). Ethnicity, gender, social class and achievement gaps at age 16: intersectionality and ‘getting it’ for the white working class. Research Papers in Education, 29(2), 131 to 171. 10.1080/02671522.2013.767370.

Strand, S. (2015). Ethnicity, deprivation and educational achievement at age 16 in England: Trends over time (DfE Research Report 439B) . London: Department for Education.

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Appendix A: Age 16 points score by ethnic group, gender and SES from LSYPE (Strand, 2014)

The KS4 exam results for all pupils in England are available as part of the National Pupil Database (NPD), but there is only very limited data on socio-economic status (SES). The NPD contains only a single measure of SES sourced directly from the pupil, which is whether the pupil is, or is not, entitled to a free school meal (FSM), or whether they have ever been entitled to a FSM at some time in the last 6 years (EVER6). There are often criticisms that some pupils do not claim a FSM even if entitled because of the stigma, but perhaps more problematic is that a simple binary measure tells us nothing about the huge differences in home circumstances among the 85% of pupils who are not entitled to a FSM, which can range from families only just over the income threshold for FSM to those from extremely well-off circumstances.

Fortunately, there is good data on both ethnicity and SES is some of the England longitudinal datasets. For example, Strand (2014) used the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) to draw on data on parents’ occupational classification, their educational qualifications, whether they owned their own home, the deprivation of the neighbourhood in which they lived as well as whether the student was entitled to a FSM, in order to create a robust and differentiated measure of the family socio-economic status (SES). The LSYPE also includes ethnic minority boosts with a target of 1,000 respondents from each of the main ethnic minority groups, so that the sample size is large enough to support robust national estimates for ethnic minority groups.

The results of the analysis are presented below.

Notes: (1). The outcome (total points score) was drawn from examinations completed in 2006, and is a measure of achievement based on all examinations completed by the young person at age 16, expressed on a scale where 0 is the mean (average) score for all Young People at age 16 and two-thirds of YP score between -1 and 1. (2). The SES measure also has a mean (average) of zero and the effects for low SES are estimated at -1SD and of high SES at +1SD. Source: See Strand (2014) for full details.

Appendix B: Indicative examples of professions in the ONS statistics socio-economic classification (ONS-SEC)

Table 7: indicative examples of professions in each reduced ns-sec class.

Table source: Office for National Statistics

Long Term Unemployed (LTU) are defined as those who have been out of work for 6 months or longer and are included as an eighth category.

Most recently this has been highlighted in the Government’s Racial Disparity Audit (RDA), as reported on the government’s Ethnicity fact and figures website. Black African pupils are 3 times more likely than White British pupils to be entitled to a free school meal, Black Caribbean pupils are 3 times more likely to live in persistent poverty than White British pupils, pupils in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups are more likely than other groups to live in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and so on (for example, Strand, 2011).

Appendix C: Full factorial regression of Best8 score: regression coefficients and parameters

Notes: Estimated with adjustments for LSYPE3 weights and clustering at the school level.

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What Post-16 Education Options Do I Have?

Date Posted: 30th August

Categories: Sixth Form

Reaching the end of formal schooling is a huge moment in anyone’s life. There are big decisions to be made, and it is a significant moment of change that can be unsettling and overwhelming. However, knowing your options and exploring what to do post-16 is important. It can help you feel more comfortable about those next big steps and make the right decision for you.

We’re looking more closely at what happens after you “finish” school at 16 in the UK and what your options are when full-time education is considered complete. Let’s explore your post 16 education options and what you may consider the best choice going forward.

What is Post-16 Education?

Post 16 education and further education refers to all post-16 learning and incorporates vocational training and work-based learning as well as more formal further education environments. In some environments, Post-16 education can include children as young as 14 enrolled on the 14-19 vocational curriculum.

Post 16 education and training takes place in many environments, including school sixth forms, academies and individual sixth form education colleges. It also takes place in further education institutions, community learning centres and in provisions provided by private training companies, volunteering organisations and work-based learning providers.

What is the law on Post-16 Education?

The law on Post-16 education differs in the different countries of the United Kingdom. In England, you can leave school on the last Friday of June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the school holidays. You must then follow one of these pathways until you are 18:

• Remain  in full-time education, usually in school sixth form or a further education college
• Find suitable apprenticeships offer or traineeship
• Spend 20+ hours a week working or volunteering whilst also in part-time education or training.

In Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, pupils can leave school at 16, with the date for leaving dependent on their birth date in relation to the school year.

When Does Post-16 Further Education become compulsory?

Post 16 education has been compulsory in England since September 2013. At this time, new legislation passed that states young people must continue in education, employment or training until the age of 18. Before this, pupils in England could leave school at 16.

What Are The Post 16 Education Options?

Your post 16 options are more varied than you might think, and it’s worth spending some time considering the different possibilities open to you. You can choose between remaining in education or finding a programme that combines work and academic study. There are different courses you can try and different ways to combine work and study and we’ll look at each in turn below.

A Levels is one of the most popular routes for further education after school. You can carry on studying the subjects you took for GCSE or choose new subjects you are interested in. Most students take 3 A Levels and specialise in subject areas they have a keen interest in. It’s the most traditional route to university and leads you towards an academic route forward if you wish to enter higher education.

T Levels are a more work-focused approach to learning. They are equivalent of 3 A Levels, and pupils will study a single T Level to a high standard. T Levels include at least 45 days of industry placement work, meaning you gain work experience as well as academic learning with this kind of approach. T Levels are designed in partnership with specific employers to train students in the specific employability skills and knowledge to enter the workplace.

Vocational and Technical Qualifications, i.e. BTecs

This type of qualification may be industry or job role specific. You may prepare for a specific career area such as health and social care or engineering, or you may train in an individual job role such as chef or hairdresser. The qualifications you earn are job specific and set you up with a vocational set of skills for the world of work.

Traineeships

Traineeships are a combination of learning and work experience. Traineeships are courses that include a work placement with the aim of preparing you for an apprenticeship or specific job role. You get the chance to combine work experience with the opportunity to improve your maths and English skills. Traineeships prepare you for the world of work or further education.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are available at post 16 level up to degree level qualification. They combine on-the-job training with opportunities to learn and classroom-based learning. You get training and practical learning specific to the job role your apprenticeship is focused on. The work-to-study ratio should be 80:20, and many apprentices find a role in the company they did their training, though this is not always the case.

About Wycliffe’s Post 16 Options in Full Time Education

Wycliffe offers an exceptional and high-quality sixth form experience for pupils looking for their next move after school. Our post 16 options are varied and designed to give pupil’s the ultimate opportunity to succeed.

27 A Levels

Our range of A Level options includes the most popular academic subjects such as English and Mathematics but also some more diverse offerings, including Japanese and Economics. Students have the opportunity to select the subject they excel in or make considered choices based on their hopes for university. We are extremely proud of our A Level performance , and our results speak for themselves, with pupils securing places at some of the world’s most renowned institutions.

3 BTecs & CTecs in Business, Digital Production and Sport

Our BTec full time courses give pupils the chance to achieve the equivalent of 1 or 2 A Levels over a 2-year period. They focus on giving students the chance to use their individual practical skills through different assessment methods to suit their needs. Wycliffe offers three different BTec courses:

BTEC Business

This comprehensive business course uses a variety of assessment techniques, making it stand out from the more formal examination and coursework utilised for A Level Business.

CTEC Digital Production

This course is designed for pupils looking to find a career in media. It gives the opportunity to explore a wide range of media industries and get an introduction to different roles and study areas. Students have the chance to experience media production, digital photography and more.

Anyone looking to study sports or sports science at university or finding a career in the world of sport can benefit from this BTEC course. It is predominately coursework based and gives students the chance to focus on their preferred area of sport.

Extended Project Qualification

The Extended Project Qualification can further help you stand out from the crowd and show potential universities you’ve got what it takes to succeed. It is equivalent to half an A Level and provides between 8 and 28 points. The EPQ can take the form of your choosing. Many pupils write a 5,000-word report while others undertake a musical or dramatic performance with a shorter 3,000-word report. It is also possible to design or produce an artistic or technological product alongside a 3,000-word report too. Many universities regard the EPQ very highly and may even lower their offers to applicants completing this project.

Career Management Support

Wycliffe has a dedicated Careers Department to support pupils in their next move after school. Our careers management department welcomes pupils in to chat about their options, and they also have full access to the Careers library and digital resources. We want to give our pupils the tools they need to make informed decisions for their future careers. We support our pupils in developing career management skills including financial support, and regularly schedule career activities to promote the importance of finding their niche in the world of work.

Our Careers Department is run by our highly-trained Career Education Manager, Caroline Hiorns, who holds Level 7 qualifications and is a registered career development professional.

Enhanced Pastoral Care

Wycliffe has always prided itself on giving pupils the highest level of support when it comes to their wellbeing and pastoral care, not just their academic success. Pupils have many points of contact they can access to discuss any feelings, thoughts or problems. Form tutors are perfectly positioned to support pupils. Still, there are also other professionals, including our Head of Sixth Form, onsite medical staff and the College Chaplain and Deputy Head Pastoral, who are here and ready to listen. A Levels and post 16 education can be hard-going, and it is a significant step up from GCSEs so it can be good to have someone to speak to. Our Pastoral Care Team are always available to support our pupils.

Extra-curricular Programme

We truly believe the Wycliffe experience is about much more than what happens in our classrooms. This does not stop when pupils enter the sixth form. Our extra-curricular programme offers ample opportunities to explore your passions, find new talents, and nurture new and interesting practical skills. We endeavour to offer an extensive and diverse range of extra-curricular opportunities to our sixth form pupils. We have over sixty different activities running every week and give our pupils every opportunity to find a passion or talent to call their own. Our programme includes a wide range of sports, drama and music programmes as well as more unusual offerings such as cryptology, Student magazine, War gaming and Model United Nations.

American and Overseas University Programme

We want our sixth form pupils to reach their goals, and for some, this means attending some of the world’s top educational institutions outside of the UK. We attract pupils who are solely focused on preparing for the SAT examination for US university entry, and we are proud to have many pupils now studying at top universities in America, including Ivy League institutions.

We appreciate our pupils’ ambitions extend beyond our borders, and we have an American and Overseas University Co-ordinator who helps pupils prepare for the PSAT, SAT and ACTs, as well as overseeing the applications and choice of universities around the world.

Contact Wycliffe

Wycliffe College is a leading independent school and sixth form nestled into the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside. We attract fantastic pupils from around the world and are always keen to invite new pupils to gain experience the Wycliffe way. Attending our sixth form is a fantastic way to further your education and give yourself the chance to advance your academic progress and become part of a thriving local community at the same time. Please get in touch directly to find out more about our post 16 education options and to arrange a school visit.

A private or independent Sixth Form, also referred to as Year 12 and 13, is a school offering post-16 education in a private setting. Many private Sixth Forms are attached to independent schools though there are some fully independent private Sixth Form institutions too. They differ from state Sixth Forms due to fees being paid, and soin most instances, the level of education, access to opportunities like extracurricular activities and university preparation is higher in a private setting.

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• Education and training statistics for the UK

Correction to the headings of two tables to reference latest 2021 data

Introduction

This release compiles information on education systems across the United Kingdom. Education is devolved in the UK, so each part of the United Kingdom has a separate education system, with different attainment measures.

In this release, there are sections focusing on the school system: numbers of schools, pupils and teachers and pupil teacher ratios.

This is followed by sections looking at post-compulsory education, which includes the number of further and higher education institutions and the number of students. There is also a section on young adults (aged between 16-24) who are not in education or employment.

The next sections focus on students’ qualifications, typically taken at ages 16 and 18 (although given the different qualifications systems and headline measures, it is not suitable to present a direct comparative picture of pupil performance across the UK), as well as the highest qualifications held by adults in the UK (aged 19-64).

Finally there is a section showing government education expenditure in the UK.

Headline facts and figures - 2021

• Pupil numbers in secondary and special schools increased in every part of the UK, however primary pupil numbers fell in all parts except Wales. Teacher numbers rose in every part of the UK at every level, except nursery level.
• Pupil-teacher ratios in maintained schools were lowest in Scotland ( 13.3 ) and similar in England ( 18.0 ) , Wales ( 19.2 ) and Northern Ireland ( 18.0 ).

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View or create your own tables.

View tables that we have built for you, or create your own tables from open data using our table tool

Data catalogue

Browse and download open data files from this release in our data catalogue

Data guidance

Learn more about the data files used in this release using our online guidance

Download all data (ZIP)

Download all data available in this release as a compressed ZIP file

School numbers

In 2020/21, there were 29,644 maintained schools across the UK, an increase of 20 compared to 2019/20, driven by an increase at nursery level in Scotland and in special schools in England. There were 32,163 schools overall (excluding independent schools in Scotland).

Data on the number of schools in each part of the UK (and each region of England) is available in the underlying data.

Pupil numbers

The number of pupils in maintained schools continued to rise in 2020/21 across the UK, with an increase of 0.3% in England, 1.2% in Wales and 1.0% in Northern Ireland. There was a fall of 0.3% in Scotland, but this is driven mainly by a decrease in the number of pupils in nurseries; when nurseries were removed, the number of pupils increased by 0.6%.

The number of pupils in state-funded nurseries decreased by 10.1% in England and 6.5% in Scotland. This may be due to a reduction in enrolments in nursery as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, although there is also likely to be some effect from demographic changes. The number of pupils aged between 5 and 11 fell by 0.7% across all maintained schools in the UK, whereas the number of pupils aged 12 and above rose by 3.3%.

Similarly, the number of pupils in maintained secondary and special schools across the UK  increased by 2.5% and 2.4% respectively, whereas the number of pupils in primary schools fell by 1.1% overall. Wales was the only area of the UK where the number of pupils in primary schools rose between 2019/20 and 2020/21. In Wales, there was also an increase of 7.5% in the number of pupils in middle schools.

Data on the number of pupils by gender and school type in each part of the UK (and each region of England) is available in the underlying data along with data by age and school type at a UK level.

Teacher numbers

The number of full-time equivalent teachers across maintained schools increased by 1.7% between 2019/20 and 2020/21 across the UK, with increases in each part of the UK at every level, except nursery schools.

Northern Ireland saw the largest increase (2.7%), followed by Scotland (2.2%), England (1.6%) and Wales (1.5%).

The impact of changes in both teacher and pupil numbers can be seen in the section on pupil teacher ratios. 

Data on the number of teachers by gender and in each part of the UK (and each region of England) is available in the underlying data.

Pupil teacher ratios (PTR)

Pupil teacher ratios (PTR) show the number of pupils for every teacher. Across the UK the PTRs follow a similar pattern across all phases, with Scotland having the lowest PTRs and England, Wales and Northern Ireland all having very similar PTRs.

PTRs for all maintained schools fell slightly in each part of the UK, driven by PTRs in primary schools. This means there were slightly fewer pupils per teacher in primary schools in each part of the UK.

PTRs in secondary and special schools remained stable, suggesting teacher numbers have roughly reacted to changes in pupil numbers.

Attendance in education settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

Every part of the UK is publishing regular data on attendance in school during the coronavirus pandemic. As there are differences in data collection methods, presentation and definitions between each part of the UK, we do not advise making comparisons.

The relevant published data can be found at:

England - Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

Scotland - Coronavirus (COVID-19): trends in daily data

Wales - Attendance of pupils in maintained schools

Northern Ireland - Management information on attendance of pupils in school | Department of Education (education-ni.gov.uk)

Higher and further education

In 2019/20 there were 2.7 million students doing higher education at UK higher education providers and further education colleges. About two thirds of these were studying first degrees (also known as bachelor's degrees), 1 in 5 studying a masters or other postgraduate aims, 1 in 25 doing a PhD and 1 in 10 on other undergraduate courses.

Females made up 57% of the overall student population and made up a greater share at every level except PhDs (49.5%). This has remained stable between 2018/19 and 2019/20.

The most popular subject group studied in higher education in the UK is business and management with 447,000 students (17% of all students), followed by subjects allied to medicine (12%) and social sciences (10%).

There are clear differences in the subject group figures by gender: 

• Females were more likely to enrol in both subjects allied to medicine and social sciences than males. 16% of all female students enrolled in subjects allied to medicine and 12% in social sciences whereas for males the figures were 6% and 8% respectively.
• For males the most popular subjects were business and management (20% of all male students) followed by engineering and technology (13%) and computing (10%). Only 2% of female students enrolled in each of these subjects.

These figures are available in the underlying data by level of education and mode of study. 

The number of overseas students studying higher education in the UK continued to increase in 2019/20, rising by 12% to 559,000 overall. Although this follows a rising trend, this was a larger increase than in recent years.

The total number of students in further education in the UK continued to decrease in 2019/20, falling in every part of the UK and by 11.4% overall compared to 2018/19. The number of students fell by 11.9% in England, by 8.4% in Scotland, by 8.1% in Wales and by 7.2% in Northern Ireland. The decrease in the number of students in further education in Scotland in 2019/20 follows year-on-year increases between 2015/16 and 2018/19. The 2019/20 data covers the early months of the global COVID-19 crisis and the nationwide lockdown. This may have affected enrolment figures and therefore extra care should be taken in comparing and interpreting trends over time.

Further information on the demographics of further education students (gender, age and mode of study), as well as the number of colleges, can be found in the underlying data.

Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)

The percentage of 16-24 year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the UK was 9.3% in April-June 2021, down from 10.8% in the previous quarter and 11.3% in the same quarter last year.

The trend was similar for males and females : 

• The percentage of males who were NEET was 9.8% in April-June 2021, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points compared to April-June 2020
• The percentage of females who were NEET was 8.7% in April-June 2021, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points compared to April-June 2020

However, there has been a difference in the magnitude of the decrease in the NEET when looking at age groups. 

• The percentage of 16-17 year-olds who were NEET was 3.7% in April-June 2021, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points compared to April-June 2020
• The percentage of 18-24 year olds who were NEET was 10.8% in April-June 2021, a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared to April-June 2020

More information on these statistics is available from the Office of National Statistics . Statistics for each part of the UK are available at:

England - Statistics: NEET and participation

Scotland's Labour Market: People, Places and Regions

Wales - Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)

Northern Ireland - Quarterly Labour Force Survey Tables

Qualification headline measures

Given the different qualifications systems and headline measures, it is not suitable to present a direct comparative picture of pupil performance across the UK.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the summer exam series was cancelled in all parts of the UK in 2020. As a result most of the headline measures across the UK have either been significantly affected or not calculated and published for 2019/20. The data that has been published should not be directly compared to attainment data from previous years for the purposes of measuring change in student performance.

• In England pupils were awarded either a centre assessment grade (based on what the school or college believed the student would most likely have achieved had exams gone ahead) or their calculated grade using a model developed by Ofqual - whichever was the higher of the two.
• In Scotland the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) did not collect coursework or mark coursework that had already been collected. As a result, grades awarded in 2020 were instead based on teacher estimates.
• In Wales all qualifications that would have been sat as examinations in the 2019/20 summer term were replaced with the best of either the centre assessed grade or the standardised grade calculated by the Welsh Joint Education Committee.
• In Northern Ireland results awarded by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) for GCSEs were based solely on the Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) provided by schools and colleges. Results awarded for A-Levels were the higher of the CAG or the grade initially awarded by CCEA on 13 August 2020.

More detail on how each part of the UK awarded and presented its performance measures can be found at the relevant sources for each part of the UK and each level of education:

England - Key stage 4 performance

England  - A level and other 16 to 18 results

Scotland - Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations

Wales - Examination results

Northern Ireland - School performance

Highest qualification for adults aged 19-64

Across the UK, 83% of adults aged 19-64 have a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level of 2 or above. This decreases to 66% with NQF level 3 or above and 47% at level 4 or above.

A higher percentage of females are qualified to each of these levels than males. 

The percentage of those aged 25 to 29 who hold NQF level 2 or above, or NQF level 3 or above, is the highest of any age group; this then decreases with each older age group. For NQF level 4 or above the percentages of those aged 25 to 29 and 30 to 39 are the highest, this percentage also decreases with each older age group.

Education expenditure

The amount of government expenditure on education rose by 6% from 2019-20 to 2020-21, with an increase of 2% on primary education and a 7% increase in spend on secondary education.

Expenditure in real terms fell by 0.4% over the same period, but as a percentage of GDP it rose from 4.0% to 4.5%, the highest it has been since 2013/14.

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Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

National statistics

These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics . Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 .

Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

• managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
• meet identified user needs
• produced according to sound methods
• well explained and readily accessible

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing [email protected] or via the OSR website .

If you have a specific enquiry about Education and training statistics for the UK statistics and data:

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