Further Education

(asked on 7th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many 18 to 24 year olds started a course at (1) Level 4 and (2) Level 5, qualification level in each year from 2010 until 2019.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 21st December 2020

Research published by both the department and Gatsby Foundation provides a full mapping of level 4 and 5 technical education. This research is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/913988/L4-5_market_study.pdf and http://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/reports/pdf/mapping-the-higher-technical-landscape-final-version.pdf respectively.

The latter showed that in the 2015/16 academic year, approximately 87,000 learners aged 24 or under were studying at level 4 or 5 in England.

The department collects and publishes data separately on regulated further and higher education, which includes learning at level 4 and 5. The department is investigating whether these data collections could be combined to produce a more comprehensive data series for learners starting level 4 and 5 qualifications.

Further education and apprenticeships data are published by the department, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr.

Statistics on students at higher education providers by specific qualification aim are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Latest figures refer to the 2014/15 to 2018/19 academic years and are available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/16-01-2020/sb255-higher-education-student-statistics.

Statistics for earlier years are available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/statistical-first-releases?date_filter%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=&topic%5B%5D=4.

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