Academic year 2020/21

16-18 destination measures

Data guidance

Published 20 October 2022

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘16-18 destination measures: 2020/21’ National Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License (opens in a new tab) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data (opens in a new tab).

The publication methodology, available on the publication report, should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

Coverage

This release provides information on destinations from:

state-funded mainstream schools and colleges
state-funded special schools (including non-maintained special schools)
independent schools

This information is based on data from the National Pupil Database and the Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset.

File formats and conventions

The Code of Practice for Statistics requires us to take reasonable steps to ensure that our published or disseminated statistics protect confidentiality. Where appropriate we apply disclosure control to protect confidentiality.

The following symbols have been used in this publication:

( 0 ) zero

( c ) small number suppressed to preserve confidentiality or for accountability reasons

( z ) not applicable

(x) not available

( low ) positive % less than 0.5

Small cohorts

At institutional level, where cohorts are less than 6, all data are suppressed. This is to ensure that schools are not held to account for small cohorts of pupils rather than for confidentiality reasons.

This does not apply to levels of data other than institutional level.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

16-18 national level destinations

Filename: 1618_dm_ud_202021_nat_rev.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2010/11 to 2020/21
Content: National level destinations data for students leaving 16 to 18 study for different characteristic groups, provider types, and qualification levels.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
all_notsust	Not recorded as a sustained destination
all_unknown	Activity not captured
all_work	Sustained employment destination
appl2	Intermediate apprenticeships (level 2)
appl3	Advanced apprenticeships (level 3)
appl4	Higher and degree apprenticeships (level 4 and above)
appren	Sustained apprenticeships
characteristic	Student characteristics
cohort	Number of pupils completing 16-18 study
cohort_level	Qualification levels
data_type	Data type
edu_combo	Sustained education combination destination
education	Sustained education destination
fe	Further education
fel1	FE entry level and no identified level
fel2	FE Level 2
fel3	FE Level 3
he	UK higher education institution
ind	Independent schools
inst_count	Number of institutions
institution_type	Institution group
non_des	Non-designated provision
notsust	Education or employment not sustained
notsust_ben	Education or employment not sustained and known to be NEET
only_ben	No participation and known to be NEET
other_edu	Other education destinations
overall	Sustained education, apprenticeship or employment
sfc	Sixth form college
spec_prov	Specialist provision
ssf	School sixth form - state funded
unknown	Not identified in any data
unknown_id	Identified as DWP/HMRC customer

Footnotes

All schools includes all local authority maintained mainstream schools, sponsored academies, converter academies, free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs), studio schools, special schools and independent schools. Also includes city technology colleges (CTCs). Alternative provision is not included.
State-funded mainstream colleges includes sixth-form colleges and other further education colleges.
Non-selective schools in highly-selective areas includes all non-selective schools in local authorities with a high level of selection (where 25% or more of state-funded secondary places are in state-funded selective schools). These local authorities are Bexley, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Medway, Poole, Slough, Southend-on-Sea, Sutton, Torbay, Trafford and Wirral. See technical note for further details.
State-funded mainstream schools also includes city technology colleges (CTCs). Figures for this institution type are not shown separately in the table. Excludes pupil referral units (PRUs), alternative provision (AP), hospital schools, maintained and non-maintained special schools, independent schools, independent special schools and independent schools approved to take pupils with special educational needs (SEN).
Other non-selective schools includes all non-selective schools that are not in highly selective areas, including those in areas with some selection.
This includes pupils who were captured in the source data and had some participation in the academic year but did not complete the required six months sustained participation.
All other education destinations include school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, independent schools, specialist post-16 institutions, special schools and education combination destinations.
Reforms to technical and applied qualifications mean that the makeup of level 3 and level 2 approved qualification groups differ significantly between destination years 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20. Comparisons across years and approved/other qualification groups should therefore be made with particular caution.
State-funded mainstream schools include local authority maintained schools, academies, free schools and city technology colleges.
Selective schools admit pupils wholly or mainly with reference to ability. These schools are formally designated as grammar schools. The schools status is based on admission policy in the secondary phase (i.e. age 11).
Other are qualifications that are not included elsewhere in the 16-18 attainment performance tables
Special schools group include all types of special schools due to the small numbers of schools.
The student was not found to have any participation in education, apprenticeship or employment nor recorded as receiving out-of-work benefits at any point in the year. Possible reasons for this could be that the pupil was living, working or studying abroad or was attending a Scottish or Welsh college or school.
Total state-funded mainstream schools and colleges covers all state-funded mainstream schools, academies, free schools, city technology colleges (CTCs), sixth-forms and other and FE sector colleges. Excludes alternative provision, special schools, other government department funded colleges and independent schools.
Other FE sector colleges excludes other government department funded colleges.
Please note data for independent schools has much lower coverage than state-funded schools. This is likely to be due to difficulties linking their education records to employment data.
Total for all schools and colleges includes all mainstream and special schools and colleges.
Independent schools: please note data for independent schools has much lower coverage than state-funded schools. This is likely to be due to difficulties linking their education records to employment data.
Local authority maintained includes community, voluntary aided, voluntary controlled and foundation schools.
State-funded mainstream colleges excludes other government department funded colleges.

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16-18 local authority level destinations

Filename: 1618_dm_ud_202021_la_rev.csv
Geographic levels: Local authority; Local authority district; Opportunity area; Parliamentary constituency; Regional
Time period: 2010/11 to 2020/21
Content: Local authority level destinations data for students leaving 16 to 18 study for different characteristic groups, provider types, and qualification levels.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
all_notsust	Not recorded as a sustained destination
all_unknown	Activity not captured
all_work	Sustained employment destination
appl2	Intermediate apprenticeships (level 2)
appl3	Advanced apprenticeships (level 3)
appl4	Higher and degree apprenticeships (level 4 and above)
appren	Sustained apprenticeships
characteristic	Student characteristic
cohort	Number of pupils completing 16-18 study
cohort_level_group	Qualification level
data_type	Data type
education	Sustained education destination
fe	Further education
fel1	FE entry level and no identified level
fel2	FE Level 2
fel3	FE Level 3
he	UK higher education institution
institution_group	Institution group
level_methodology	Level based on LEA area or provider location
other_edu	Other education destinations
overall	Sustained education, apprenticeship or employment

Footnotes

State-funded mainstream schools also includes city technology colleges (CTCs). Figures for this institution type are not shown separately in the table. Excludes pupil referral units (PRUs), alternative provision (AP), hospital schools, maintained and non-maintained special schools, independent schools, independent special schools and independent schools approved to take pupils with special educational needs (SEN).
This includes pupils who were captured in the source data and had some participation in the academic year but did not complete the required six months sustained participation.
All other education destinations include school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, independent schools, specialist post-16 institutions, special schools and education combination destinations.
The student was not found to have any participation in education, apprenticeship or employment nor recorded as receiving out-of-work benefits at any point in the year. Possible reasons for this could be that the pupil was living, working or studying abroad or was attending a Scottish or Welsh college or school.
Total state-funded mainstream schools and colleges covers all state-funded mainstream schools, academies, free schools, city technology colleges (CTCs), sixth-forms and other and FE sector colleges. Excludes alternative provision, special schools, other government department funded colleges and independent schools.
State-funded mainstream colleges excludes other government department funded colleges.

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Headline data 16-18

Filename: 1618_dm_headlines_202021_rev.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2020/21
Content: National level destinations headline data for students leaving 16 to 18 study for different characteristic groups, provider types, and qualification levels.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
all_notsust	Not recorded as a sustained destination
all_unknown	Activity not captured
all_work	Sustained employment destination
appl2	Intermediate apprenticeships (level 2)
appl3	Advanced apprenticeships (level 3)
appl4	Higher and degree apprenticeships (level 4 and above)
appren	Sustained apprenticeships
cohort	Number of pupils completing 16-18 study
edu_combo	Sustained education combination destination
education	Sustained education destination
fe	Further education
fel1	FE entry level and no identified level
fel2	FE Level 2
fel3	FE Level 3
he	UK higher education institution
ind	Independent schools
inst_count	Number of institutions
institution_type	Institution type
non_des	Non-designated provision
notsust	Education or employment not sustained
notsust_ben	Education or employment not sustained and known to be NEET
only_ben	No participation and known to be NEET
other_edu	Other education destinations
overall	Sustained education, apprenticeship or employment
sfc	Sixth form college
spec_prov	Specialist provision
ssf	School sixth form - state funded
unknown	Not identified in any data
unknown_id	Identified as DWP/HMRC customer

Footnotes

This includes pupils who were captured in the source data and had some participation in the academic year but did not complete the required six months sustained participation.
All other education destinations include school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, independent schools, specialist post-16 institutions, special schools and education combination destinations.
The student was not found to have any participation in education, apprenticeship or employment nor recorded as receiving out-of-work benefits at any point in the year. Possible reasons for this could be that the pupil was living, working or studying abroad or was attending a Scottish or Welsh college or school.

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