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CVER was commissioned by the Department for Education to undertake research in support of the then current Review of Post-18 Education (The Augar Review) [report available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 136.666]. This research brief summarises some of the key findings that came out of that research [report available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 136.802]. The general theme of the analysis is post-16 education, focussing in particular on young people's educational aspirations and routes actually followed through this stage of education. The aim is to look at the aspirations that young people have for their education after the age of 16, and then the routes that they actually take. A particular area of focus is changes over time, given that data on two cohorts of young people are used, observed almost a decade apart. Key factors that could potentially affect aspirations and choices are prior attainment and socio-economic background, and attention will be focussed on these.

To summarise the main findings, the academic route remains the more popular amongst young people aged 16-18, particularly amongst those with higher attainment at GCSE. For a given level of prior attainment, there is also evidence that young people are more likely to aspire to an academic qualification if they are from a more advantaged background. Nevertheless, as overall post-16 participation has increased, the results also show a higher proportion of the later cohort undertaking vocational Level 3 learning, including improved progression rates from Level 2 vocational courses. There is also increased interest in apprenticeships amongst the later cohort, with more young people discussing them as a possible option, for example in school careers discussions, though only limited evidence of increased participation, particularly for Advanced (Level 3) Apprenticeships. Amongst lower level vocational learners, there is only limited evidence of 'churning' between low level courses and the labour market, with a majority who start such a course in Year 12 remaining in education throughout that year.

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Despite the contribution of both human capital and R&D to economic growth, the UK fiscal system does not treat the two equally when it comes to employer incentives to invest. Specifically, firms that invest in R&D are able to claim generous tax relief on their investments whereas there is no such across-the-board incentive to invest in the training of their workers. In this briefing note, we explain the economic rationale for government support in the form of tax credits (Section 2). We discuss current practice in the UK in relation to R&D (Section 3) and evidence on effectiveness (Section 4). We then discuss how the policy might be adapted to provide similar incentives for investing in human capital (Section 5).

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We analyse whether there is an earnings differential associated with having a [Business and Technology Education Council] BTEC qualification as a young person's highest qualification. Previous analyses of wage differentials using survey data on a sample of all working age individuals have shown positive returns for BTEC qualifications for both males and females. More recently, using matched administrative data for a group of young individuals in England, we showed positive earnings differentials for women in possession of BTECs, but failed to observe any positive differentials for males. In this study we investigate further the characteristics of young individuals in possession of BTEC qualifications and estimate earnings differentials compared with a range of different counterfactuals.

An analysis of the characteristics of learners in possession of vocational qualifications show that the group of individuals with BTECs typically have higher levels of prior attainment at school and a higher proportion are from [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] BAME backgrounds compared with individuals in possession of other vocational qualifications at the same level. Moreover BTECs act more often as a stepping stone to learning at higher levels (including degree level) compared with other vocational qualifications. When we consider those with BTECs as their highest qualification, we find that earnings differentials are strong and positive for females across all specifications, while they are positive for males only when compared to individuals in possession of BTECs at the level of the [Regulated Qualifications Framework] RQF immediately below or to individuals enrolling in the same qualification but failing to achieve.

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Most policy debates addressing educational issues focus on primary and secondary education. When higher education is considered, it is often through the narrow angle of university attendance and completion. Yet, most students do not follow an academic track, and most importantly, most of them do not go to university. In England, about 60 per cent of a typical cohort enrolls in post-compulsory institutions qualified as 'further education colleges'. Most of these students attend general/tertiary further education colleges, which provide some form of vocational or technical training. For various reasons, this sector has historically been under-considered by academics and policy makers alike. This briefing note fills some of the knowledge gap by investigating the role of principals in further education (FE) colleges.

The study uses a novel panel dataset of principals in FE institutions in England over the period 2003 to 2015, and combines it with data on students' education performance. It also exploits the information contained in the Staff Individualised Records (SIR). To estimate the importance of principals, we exploit the fact that we observe principals and colleges over time. We therefore see a given principal in different institutions, and a given institution managed by different principals. We focus only on the outcomes of young, publicly funded learners that can be linked to their past education performance (who did their GCSE exams between the years 2002 and 2014). We proceed in two steps to investigate college principals' role. First, we look at whether principals do matter for students' educational performance. The three achievement outcomes we use are whether the student achieves a Level 2 qualification, whether the student achieves a Level 3 qualification, and whether the student enrols in any kind of Level 4 - or above - qualification. Then, we investigate potential mechanisms that could explain principals' performance, in particular recruitment and wage policies set by the principals. The results show that principals do matter for the educational performance of their students. Most importantly, principals notably differ in their ability to enable students to progress.

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After finishing compulsory education, young people in England have a range of higher education (HE) and further education (FE) options available to them. While people are familiar with the route taken by most HE learners - completing A Levels and then a degree at university - less is commonly understood about FE at tertiary level. In this note, we address this by describing the educational routes taken by individuals who choose to pursue tertiary-level FE courses. Additionally, we show how learners in different post-18 education routes differ by prior attainment, age and gender. As well as presenting descriptive evidence, we examine the association between different educational pathways and future earnings. Specifically, we present estimates of the early-labour-market returns (at age 26 and age 30) associated with different levels of post-18 qualifications.

We find that, on average, certain FE qualifications, such as Level 4 qualifications for men and Level 5 qualifications for women, are associated with higher average early-labour-market earnings than completing a degree. We find that these patterns hold even once we condition on observable characteristics. Whilst we use the term 'returns', we are careful not to claim that these estimates capture the causal impact of taking these qualifications, as there may be other factors that we do not observe that may potentially account for selection of different individuals into the different routes. This note is structured as follows. We begin by introducing the data and sample used in our study. Next, we present our emerging findings on the different routes taken through post-18 education, as well as the characteristics of learners in different routes. Finally, we investigate earnings outcomes for the different post-18 routes and what happens to those earnings outcomes once we condition on observable characteristics of the people taking them.

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The objective of this briefing note is to provide an overview of further education (FE) in England relying on administrative data from the Individualised Learners Record (ILR). There are four different types of FE providers: general FE and tertiary colleges, sixth form colleges, private training providers and other publicly funded providers. The authors present findings on the evolution of the number of FE learners from 2004 to 2014, also considering learner characteristics such as age, whether they study full or part-time, the sector of study, whether they start an apprenticeship and what type of institutions they attend. The emerging trends will be presented in light of important policy changes that have taken place throughout the period under consideration (although the authors are not making causal inferences as many other factors may also be relevant, including changing economic conditions).

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In the light of recent controversies in the UK over the slowdown in the number of apprenticeship starts and the potential connection with the change in the funding system, this briefing note is a synopsis of findings that are mainly from published CVER research since its inception in 2015. The author first explains what an apprenticeship in England is then outlines changes over time, including very recent change up to data released in 2017/18. There is a discussion around the trade-off between quantity and quality and gauging the 'value' of apprenticeships in terms of an earnings premium in the labour market in subsequent years.

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This briefing note discusses the results of a questionnaire distributed to all incoming apprentices at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield in September 2015, and responded to by 61 apprentices (response rate of around 50 per cent). These respondents were young, mostly aged 16-18, well-qualified, almost all having five or more good [General Certificate of Secondary Education] GCSEs including English and Maths, and half having at least one parent in a professional or managerial occupation. The data from this questionnaire were used to answer the question 'what factors influence the decision of young people to undertake an apprenticeship?'

The results show that the desire to undertake an apprenticeship was not developed strongly at the apprentices' former schools. The majority (54 per cent) reported that they received neither encouragement nor discouragement to undertake an apprenticeship from their school, while a similar proportion (22-23 per cent each) were either encouraged or actively discouraged from following such a course. Those with better school qualifications seem to be particularly likely to have been actively discouraged.

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The Apprenticeship system has been subject to a number of major changes in recent years. These include: the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017 for employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million; a change in funding rules for all employers; and the transition from Apprenticeship Frameworks to Apprenticeship Standards which, amongst other things, introduces end-point assessment on all apprenticeships. In this Briefing Note, we explore the evidence on the composition and distribution of apprenticeship training undertaken in England in recent years using a matched apprentice-employer level dataset. This contains information from the ILR (Individualised Learner Record) matched to the IDBR (the Office for National Statistics' Inter-Departmental Business Register). Overall the number of apprenticeship starts has fallen significantly since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, from around 0.5 million starts per year before the Levy was introduced to around 0.4 million per year today. Overall, the evidence presented does not suggest that there was a direct association between the introduction of the Levy and the decline in the number of apprenticeship starts, as large enterprises (which are more likely to be paying the Levy) experienced a smaller reduction in the number of starts compared to smaller enterprises (less likely to be paying the Levy). For smaller enterprises which are less likely to be directly impacted by the Levy, the strong decline in starts may be linked to a combination of adapting to the new funding system, the constraints on the pool of funding actually available for apprenticeship training, and the ongoing switch from Apprenticeship Frameworks to Apprenticeship Standards which have higher quality requirements.

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For the cohort of all 516,880 intermediate and advanced apprenticeships starting in England in 2011/12, we find that one third were withdrawn and a further 10 per cent were not completed within 36 months. We find that completion is strongly related to measures of prior achievement (full Level 2 or 3 qualifications) and we observe substantial variation by framework, i.e. apprentices are more likely to achieve if they choose certain vocational areas instead of others. Ongoing apprenticeship reform should more clearly look at such indicators to evaluate whether reforms actually increase individual achievement or similar outcomes. Another implication is to provide better information for those interested in apprenticeships on expected outcomes. For example, the 'findanapprenticeship' website could offer a tool for potential apprentices to insert personal characteristics, and be given information on the probability of achievement and expected labour market outcomes for a person with these characteristics.

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