Background
to the
Research
- This survey was a follow-up
to the NI pilot SELS and traced the educational and labour outcomes
of young people three years after they left school.
Research
Approach
- The research took place in two parts. The
first part involved face-to-face interviews, through the CSU of the
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, with those school-leavers
who were known to be employed or in FE in 1992.
- The second part of the research was aimed
at those school-leavers who were in HE in 1992, with NIERC mailing questionnaires
to them.
Main
Findings
- The analysis of the data was aimed towards
seeing how possible it is to explain the status of those surveyed in
terms of their social, educational and family background and their "first
destination" in 1992.
- Just over 50% of young people were employed.
Those unemployed in 1992 were likely to remain unemployed in 1994/95,
with only 45% becoming employed. In contrast, those who were in FE in
1992 were likely to be either employed or in HE by 1994/95.
- 30% of those in HE in 1992 had moved to
employment, with the leading status for the rest being continuation
in HE.
- Those who had stayed in school until Upper
Sixth were more likely to be in HE, as were those educated in Grammar
Schools. The proportion of unemployed were "closely comparable" between
those who had left school in fifth form and those who had left in Upper
Sixth.
- Catholic unemployment rates were higher,
although there were few differences in terms of training and participation
in FE and HE.
- Those who had been eligible for free schools
meals were more likely to be unemployed and less likely to be in HE
than those who were ineligible, thereby indicating that deprivation
is a key factor in the life histories of young people.
- The more GCSE passes a young person had,
the less likely it was that they would be "economically active" in 1994/95.
- The board area where a young person was
educated also had an effect on their status in 1994/95, with leavers
from Belfast more likely to be unemployed than those from other areas.
- Those whose first destination after school
was anything but HE (except government training) were more likely to
be employed in 1994/95.
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