Further education and apprenticeships

Participation and attainment in further education

Figures for further education are published by the Skills Funding Agency. Its FE data library provides figures on the total number of learners by age, gender, ethnicity, region and learning difficulties, as well as levels of attainment. There’s also data on the number employed in the workplace or in the community.

Data on vocational qualifications achievement is published by the Skills Funding Agency and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Figures for the UK are available back to 2005.

Young people not in education, employment or training (NEETS)

NEET statistics are published every three months by the Department for Education (DfE) and provide details on the proportion of young people aged 16-24 who are ‘not in education, training or work’.

The data is broken down age group, gender and region. Historical figures are available since 1985. However, the counting methods changed in 1994 and lower estimates have been recorded since then.

A separate release from the DfE analyses the participation patterns of NEETs in greater detail.

International comparisons of NEETS are published by the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat and an overview of the same is available from the House of Commons Library social indicators page. In addition, a one-off analysis of NEETs in Europe was produced by the European Monitoring Centre on Change.

How many apprenticeships there are

The number of vacancies for apprenticeships is published in the FE data library by the Skills Funding Agency. These can show live figures for the number of available apprenticeships, by subject type, at the end of the most recent month. Historical figures are presented in quarterly intervals and go back to the 2008/09 academic year.

People who take apprenticeships

Figures for the number of apprenticeships on-going, starting and ending are published every three months by the Skills Funding Agency. Historical figures mentioned in the release only go back to the 2002/03 academic year. The data is broken down by age, gender, ethnicity, region and learning difficulties. It’s also possible to compare apprenticeships by level and subject area.

This page also includes more detailed breakdowns including how many people apply, their success rates and how many are government-funded. The historical numbers only go back to 2008/09.

Historical figures for the number of apprenticeships date back to the 1996/97 academic year and were published in response to a 2011 parliamentary question. However, the way that the information was collected changed in 2002/03, so it’s not possible to compare perfectly the time periods before and after.

School leavers entering further education

The number of pupils who finish Key Stage 4 (GCSEs) and Key Stage 5 (A-Levels) is published as part of the DfE’s destinations statistics. They can show how many go directly into a further education college or other FE provider, how many take apprenticeships and how many go into training.

Inspection performance

Ofsted’s Data View is an interactive tool for inspection outcomes in a range of remits including early years, children’s centres, schools, further education and skills and children’s social care.