Description
This document describes the data included in the ‘Level 2 and 3 attainment age 16 to 25 in 2023’ National Statistics release’s underlying data file. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License (opens in a new tab) and is intended to meet at least three stars for Open Data (opens in a new tab).
Note: The ‘time_period’ shown in the data files below relate to the year in which the young person will turn 19. There is an additional indicator in the underlying data files named ‘cohort_age_in’ which shows the academic year the person was the age stated in the indicator ‘age’. For example, a person ‘age’ = 16, 'cohort_age_in' = 2022/23 will have a ‘time_period’ = 2025/26 as this is the year they will turn 19.
The underlying data files include:
1. Overall estimates
(i) Numbers (numerators) are based upon all young people in the dataset (the Young Person’s Matched Administrative Dataset, or YPMAD), not just those in the state sector at 15.
(ii) The cohort sizes (denominators) are taken from school census population data when learners were academic age 14 (i.e. age 14 at the start of the academic year; 15 by the end of the academic year). It includes those in independent schools, alternative provision and PRUs who are excluded from the state-funded cohort figures.
The following underlying data reports on attainment for young people who were in the mainstream state sector at academic age 15. As well as overall attainment for this group, we report on attainment by characteristics, as recorded in the school census at academic age 15. All estimates are based on the YPMAD dataset.
2. Estimates by characteristics for those in the state sector at academic age 15 (including prior attainment in English and maths figures)
(i) Numbers are based upon the number of young people in the state sector at academic age 15 who reached Level 2/3 or Level 2 with English and maths by 19.
(ii) The cohort is the number that were in the state sector at academic age 15.
(iii) Pupils attending independent schools, PRUs and other non-mainstream provision at academic age 15 are excluded from these figures.
3. Local authority and local authority district figures by characteristics for those in the state sector at academic age 15
(i) The cohort and attainment numbers are as in characteristics.
(ii) The figures are calculated for each local authority based on where the pupil was learning at academic age 15.
(iii) Regional figures are aggregated from local authority figures and are not directly comparable with overall national estimates.
The methodology published with the release provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining the methodology used in producing the data.
File formats and conventions
Rounding
All figures in the underlying data are unrounded except in the local authority underlying data where regional and national figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 in order to avoid secondary suppression within local authorities.
Disclosure control
In the local authority data all figures where the cohort is 5 or less have been suppressed to avoid disclosure.
All characteristic data for the Isles of Scilly has been suppressed due to risk of disclosure due to small cohorts.
Characteristics information
Sex
The sex of the pupil is recorded as male or female on the school census. If a school is unsure as to which sexshould be recorded for a particular pupil, the advice from the department is to record the sex according to the wishes of the pupil and/or parent.
Disadvantaged
In order to be counted as disadvantaged the learner must have been recorded as falling into at least one of the following categories by (academic) age 15;
- being eligible for free school meals on Census day in any termly or annual Census in the last 6 years up to the learners current year, or the learner must have been recorded as eligible for FSM in any other termly School Census. This includes the Alternative Provision (AP) and the Pupil referral Unit (PRU) Census.
- being part of a Post looked After Arrangement (PLAA) through adoption, a guardianship order or a child arrangement.
- being looked after for at least one day during the year.
Free school meals (FSM)
Free School Meals (FSM) is a binary indicator variable that states whether a pupil's family have claimed eligibility for free school meals in the academic year reported at the time of the annual spring school census. Parents are able to claim free school meals if they receive a qualifying benefit.
Please note: The FSM variable does not relate to pupils who actually received free school meals but those who are eligible to receive free school meals. Pupils not eligible for free school meals or unclassified pupils are described as ‘Not eligible for FSM’ in this release.
Ethnic Group
Ethnicity is broken down into two main variables: a minor grouping variable and a major grouping variable.
If a pupil or parent has refused to give the information then refused is recorded and returned. Ethnicity is a personal awareness of a common cultural identity. Ethnicity relates to how a person feels and not necessarily how they are perceived by others. It is a subjective decision as to which category a person places themselves in and therefore does not infer any other characteristics such as religion, country of origin etc. Ethnicity monitoring advice is available from the Department’s website.
Table 1: The DfE main ethnicity categories and descriptions
| Ethnic grouping | code | code description |
| White | WBRI | White – British |
| White | WIRI | White – Irish |
| White | WIRT | Traveller of Irish Heritage |
| White | WOTH | Any other White Background |
| White | WROM | Gypsy / Roma |
| Mixed | MWBC | White and Black Caribbean |
| Mixed | MWBA | White and Black African |
| Mixed | MWAS | White and Asian |
| Mixed | MOTH | Any Other Mixed Background |
| Asian | IND | Indian |
| Asian | APKN | Pakistani |
| Asian | ABAN | Bangladeshi |
| Asian | AOTH | Any Other Asian Background |
| Black | BCRB | Black Caribbean |
| Black | BAFT | Black African |
| Black | BOTH | Any Other Black Background |
| Chinese | CHNE | Chinese |
| Other | OOTH | Any Other Ethnic Group |
| Refused | REFU | Refused |
| Information not obtained | NOBT | Information not obtained |
Special Educational Needs (SEN)
The SEN variable indicates whether a young person has learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most young people of the same age.
Prior to 2015 the school census return for pupils with special educational needs comprised those at School Action, School Action Plus or with statements of SEN:
- School Action – where extra or different help is given, from that provided as part of the school’s usual curriculum.
- School Action Plus – where the class teacher and the SENCO receive advice or support from outside specialists (the specialist teacher, an educational psychologist, a speech and language therapist or other health professionals).
- Statement – a pupil has a statement of SEN when a formal assessment has been made. A document setting out the child’s needs and the extra help they should receive is in place.
The 2015 school census return changed to take account of the implementation of the SEND reforms introduced in September 2014. Two new categories were added:
- Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan
- SEN support
The transfer of statements to an EHC plan took place in April 2018. All categories are included in this release.
Special primary educational need
The SEN type field on the school census records the nature of a pupil’s primary special educational need.
Up to and including 2014, the type of special educational need was only collected for those with a statement or on school action plus. In 2015, the type of special educational need was collected for all those: with a statement, with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, on School Action Plus or on SEN Support.
In 2016, the type of special educational need was collected for all those with a statement, with an EHC plan, or on SEN support.
Table 2: Pupil SEN type
| Code | Description | Notes |
| SPLD | Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| MLD | Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| SLD | Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| PMLD | Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| BESD | Behaviour, Emotional & Social Difficulties | BESD replaced with |
| SEMH | Social, Emotional and Mental Health | SEMH in 2015 census |
| SLCN | Speech, Language and Communication Needs | |
| HI | Hearing Impairment | |
| VI | Visual Impairment | |
| MSI | Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| PD | Physical Disability | |
| ASD | Autistic Spectrum Disorder | |
| OTH | Other Difficulty / Disability | |
Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)
IDACI is provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), now the ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG). The index is based on Super Output Areas (SOAs) in England based on 2001 census data. Each SOA is given a rank between 1 and 34,378 where 1 is the most deprived SOA.
IDACI is a subset of the Income Deprivation Domain of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IoD). Each SOA is given a score showing the percentage of pupils aged under 16 that live in families that are income deprived, i.e. they are in receipt of certain benefits and their equivalised income is below 60% of the median before housing costs.
The IDACI bands used in this publication are based on 2015 IDACI scores.
Geography
Geographic data which is matched to DfE data collections and used in all official statistics is provided by ONS Geography, a business unit of ONS that provides the geographic data and services that support the production of high quality statistics.
The ONS’s presentation guidance for administrative areas sets out the recommended standard for presenting and publishing statistics at regional and sub-regional levels in the UK ONS guidance: presenting statistics for administrative areas.
The geography structures and codes used in the production of DfE’s statistical releases can be downloaded from the ONS geography portal.
Local authority (LA) tables show the LA that maintains the school which returned the school census.
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.