This is an area of education which is changing and developing faster than any other. The list of links on post-compulsory education is potentially very large and, for simplicity at this stage, the site links exclude work-related training and adult education apart from Basic Skills and Information Technology. However, the Government’s Learning Targets for England for 2002 and its 3-year Expenditure Plans published in April 2000 are included. Together these point up Government priorities and give some idea of how this whole area might develop (http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/DB/NLT/index.html http://www.dfee.gov.uk/insidedfee/pdfs/deprep.pdf).
Structural changes for post-16 non-University education are already in progress. From April 2001:
the Learning and Skills Council (http://www.lsc.gov.uk) replaced the Further Education Funding Council and the Training and Enterprise Councils, working with a budget of £5 billion
two committees will advise the National L&S Council –the Young People’s Learning Committee and the Adult Learning Committee
47 local Learning and Skills Councils have been appointed with, between them, over 600 members drawn from business, local communities and a wide variety of possible learners and providers such as voluntary associations and trade unions. They will take decisions about the range and balance of provision in the area; a corporate plan (http://www.lsc.gov.uk/corporate_plan/index2.cfm) has been published which indicates initial thinking about their role and their links to providers. Consultation on the plan ended on 1 June and the plan will guide development over the next three years
a new organisation, Connexions (http://www.connexions.gov.uk) will be responsible for advice and support to young people
new arrangements are being established for inspection, with Ofsted responsible up to the age of 19, including the Youth Service, and an adult and work based learning inspectorate for 19+ provision
These changes are designed to establish a high-standard and coherent England-wide system while encouraging diversity to meet local needs. How this works out in practice will depend on the decisions taken by the LSC and on the amount of funding allocated to various policy elements. Clearly tensions will arise, perhaps within and between institutions as they adapt to changes and, almost inevitably, between the national and local LSCs.
The website includes links to statistical information on Higher Education, Further Education, and A level Studies in schools, Sixth Form Colleges and Colleges of Further Education, Basic Adult Education (Literacy & Numeracy) and IT. There are many links to statistics relating to students themselves: how many, their socio-economic background, their gender, the schools they came from, the courses followed, their staying-on rate and their results. These include “Statistics of Education – Schools in England – 2000” (http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/DB/VOL/v0192/vol04-2000.pdf) which includes data on students in secondary schools, but not in colleges.
A series of Statistical First Releases and Statistical Bulletins (for list see http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/catego.html#m4, and click on title you want) give information about FE and HE students. Some of these documents allow comparisons to be made among LEAs, e.g. http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/DB/SBU/b0216/index.html and among students from different social classes www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/DB/SFR/s0230/sfr02-2001.pdf
There are also statistics relating to overall levels of achievement. For school students’ results see http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/DB/VOL/v0192/vol04-2000.pdf, while http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/DB/PER/p0215/index.html gives achievements and destinations of students in FE. A range of statistical documents on “Attainment, outcomes and destinations” are listed on http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics/catego.html#m5.
There are also statistics relating to funding and expenditure. The DfEE publishes its “Expenditure Plans” in a large document (for 2000-2001 see http://www.dfee.gov.uk/insidedfee/pdfs/deprep.pdf - pages 92-96 funding of FE; pages 110-121 funding of HE, and for 2001-2002 see http://www.dfee.gov.uk/insidedfee/pdfs/01/report01.pdf).
Parliamentary Written Answers collected for this part of the website indicate concerns of MPs – or of their constituents’. Most of the PWAs (e.g. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmhansrd/cm010116/text/10) in this list are concerned with HE, and in particular with student loans and fees, for example proposals about top-up fees for some universities. This most probably reflects concern that students are deterred by the prospect of paying fees. In fact the statistics show the number of students under 21 still increasing but a significant drop in applications from mature students (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/cm001117/text/01).
Government concern with these complaints shows up in the Press Releases listed here. Although several are concerned with inspection and the improvement of teaching in Further Education; many more are concerned with improved access for students, particularly financial rewards to encourage young people to stay on in education and to alleviate hardship for students in Higher Education.
Other PWAs search more widely for barriers to access to HE, and the answers reveal interesting facts. Staying with differences of age, a greater proportion of applicants over 21 are rejected than are those under 21. Statistics can tell you what, where and when but leave you to speculate on why. Similarly, numbers of students from different social class and ethnic groups do not tell us, without information on how sizeable these groups are, what proportion has reached this level. However we can compare the success rate of applicants .The higher up the social class the applicants, the more likely are they to be accepted. But then we do not know their respective levels of attainment.
Back top Top Back to Post-compulsory Education Data