A-Level examination sittings, which stretch from mid-May through to the end of June, often overlap with an international football tournament. Unfortunately, football lovers, who are more likely to be boys than girls, can find this a distraction from their revision schedule. Economists at the University of Bristol have noticed how this has damaged English boys [...]
Overall, A-Level pass rates have stayed broadly the same A*-A rates were down marginally from 25.9 per cent to 25.8 per cent of all entries. A*-C rates increased slightly from 77.3 per cent to 77.6 per cent, while A*-E rates stayed unchanged, with 98.1 of all entrants achieving a pass. A-Level entry numbers are down [...]
Last month, DfE published new guidance for academies wanting to open a new school sixth form. The guidance includes the recommendation that they should have at least 200 pupils and offer 15 A levels (as reported in TES last week). We think over 40% of existing school sixth forms fail to meet these guidelines, for [...]
Over the last two decades, the number of young people in England getting a degree has risen sharply: up from around 10 per cent as recently as the 1990s, to more than 30 per cent today. This expansion has led to concerns being expressed in some quarters that not all young people who get a [...]
In the past few weeks both CentreForum (in conjunction with our very own Mike Treadaway) and the Social Market Foundation have published reports on education. Both reports discuss gaps in attainment between pupils from different family backgrounds, drawing attention to the importance of education for social mobility. Education is usually seen as an important factor in [...]
In this project with Peter Urwin and Augusto Cerqua we analyse the returns to FE learning using matched ILR-WPLS administrative data. This programme of investigation identifies good labour market returns to FE learning, and compelling evidence that previous less favourable findings [for instance relating to Level 2 vocational learning] were a result of data limitations, rather than [...]
In this blog, we examine the variation between areas in rates of first degree achievement and further education participation at age 19 or above. Young people who were living in London at age 15, particularly those who were eligible for free school meals, were more likely to go on to achieve a degree than those [...]
In all the recent debate over grammar schools, a sizeable group of critics has argued that they do nothing for social mobility. So why do we not hear so many voices standing up for a group of institutions that can do something about it? These institutions are those in the further education (FE) sector. And [...]
So you’ll get your GCSE results on Thursday. They’ll show that you’ve done really well. Have you decided what you’re going to do next? Has your school got a sixth form? Are your grades good enough? Are there any Colleges nearby? What do they offer? Now imagine you come and live with me in South [...]
