Extended Routes and Delayed Transitions Amongst 16‐19 Year Olds: National Trends and Local Contexts∗

∗Paper presented as part of the Seminar on the ESRC's 16‐19 Initiative held at the American Educational Research Association's Annual Conference in San Francisco, March 1989. In addition to data from the Initiative, the paper draws on information collected as part of the Youth Cohort Study which is funded by the Training Agency, the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Employment. The authors would particularly like to acknowledge the Economic and Social Research Council's support in undertaking the present analysis. The opinions and interpretations expressed in the paper remain, however, the sole responsibility of the named authors

Abstract

A decade or so ago, the choices facing British 16 year olds seemed relatively straightforward; either they stayed on in education or they left to enter the youth labour market. The subsequent rise in youth unemployment and the consequent series of government‐led responses have complicated the picture. But how complex has the post‐16 transition from school actually become? Does it still make sense to talk of the dominant ‘routes’ young people follow and, if so, how differentiated are they?

The paper uses the detailed survey data from the four areas in the ESRC's 16‐19 Initiative and further data on large nationally‐representative samples of young people drawn from the Youth Cohort Study to explore the opportunity structures that have been emerging in Britain during the eighties.

∗Paper presented as part of the Seminar on the ESRC's 16‐19 Initiative held at the American Educational Research Association's Annual Conference in San Francisco, March 1989. In addition to data from the Initiative, the paper draws on information collected as part of the Youth Cohort Study which is funded by the Training Agency, the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Employment. The authors would particularly like to acknowledge the Economic and Social Research Council's support in undertaking the present analysis. The opinions and interpretations expressed in the paper remain, however, the sole responsibility of the named authors

Notes

∗Paper presented as part of the Seminar on the ESRC's 16‐19 Initiative held at the American Educational Research Association's Annual Conference in San Francisco, March 1989. In addition to data from the Initiative, the paper draws on information collected as part of the Youth Cohort Study which is funded by the Training Agency, the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Employment. The authors would particularly like to acknowledge the Economic and Social Research Council's support in undertaking the present analysis. The opinions and interpretations expressed in the paper remain, however, the sole responsibility of the named authors