Meaningful destinations: using national data to investigate how different education pathways support young people’s progression in England

ABSTRACT

Until recently, school accountability measures in England have focused on assessment results rather than on what students do after they leave school/college. However, destination measures are increasingly being seen as key tools in assessing how schools prepare their students for a successful transition into the next stage of education or training, or into employment.

Research into destinations has been limited in the past due to data availability. However, recent linked data from the Department for Education offers the opportunity to examine the relationship between students’ education and their destinations. This research investigated, in particular, how different qualifications and pathways support students’ progression.

Our findings showed statistically significant effects of secondary education pathway. After taking into account student and school characteristics, vocational pathways in lower secondary education led to higher progression to any destination (education, employment or training) than any other pathway amongst students with low attainment. However, as the students’ attainment levels increased, those following academic or mostly academic pathways had higher progression than those on vocational or mostly vocational routes.

Upper secondary students on vocational pathways, independently of their prior attainment, were less likely than those on academic pathways to progress to any sustained destination.

KEYWORDS:

• Progression
• education pathways
• destinations
• quality indicators

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their careful reviews and valuable comments, which led to significant improvements in the presentation of the research findings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Producing the destination measures requires a number of different data sets, from different sources, to be linked and this creates a considerable time lag.

2. Points are allocated to test/exam results using scoring systems set out by the DfE (see, for example, http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/archive/16to18_08/testandexam_pointscores08.doc).

3. Comprehensive schools, selective schools, city academies and secondary modern schools are state schools that cater mainly for students aged 14–18. The differences between those schools are in the type of body that runs them and their admissions policies. More details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/overview. Private schools (also known as independent) charge fees to attend instead of being funded by the government. FE colleges cater mainly for students aged 16+ and offer courses and qualifications in a wide range of vocational and academic subjects at many levels. Sixth form colleges mainly cater for students aged 16–18 and specialise in academic courses to prepare students for higher education. Tertiary colleges combined the functions of a FE college and a sixth form college, offering FE through a full range of courses, both vocational and academic, primarily to students aged 16–19.

4. The calculated probabilities shown are for female students living in areas with a medium level of deprivation, in a comprehensive school in London.

5. The calculated probabilities shown are for female students living in areas with a medium level of deprivation, in a comprehensive school in London.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carmen Vidal Rodeiro

Carmen Vidal Rodeiro is a senior researcher at Cambridge Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge. Her current areas of interest include designing and conducting impact studies in education, subject provision and uptake in schools and colleges, standards monitoring, and the validity of general and vocational qualifications as predictors of university and career success.

Joanna Williamson

Joanna Williamson is a researcher at Cambridge Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on aspects of educational measurement and qualification reform.