1. Centre for Vocational Education Research: what we do and how we influence educational policy
Evidence-Informed Decision-Making: from classroom to boardroom
LSRN Discussion Workshop, Thursday 24 November
Stefan Speckesser and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela
Centre for Vocational Education Research
Institute for Employment Studies
Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics
University of Sussex

2. Outline
Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) – who we are and what we do
First CVER discussion paper: Post-16 compulsory education choices
We have many other projects in progress. For example.. Post- compulsory education choices of low-achievers
Facilitating research

3. CVER: Who we are
DfE funded research centre from March 2015 for 3-5 years. Steering Group meets every 4 months (led by Prof. Alison Wolf)
LSE-led consortium of four institutions. Institutions/node leaders are:
LSE: Sandra McNally
University of Sheffield: Steven McIntosh
Institute of Employment Studies: Stefan Speckesser
London Economics: Gavan Conlon
Mostly economists doing quantitative research with large-scale administrative data sets and surveys

4. CVER main strands: what we do
Facilitating Strand – Data
Descriptive overview of VE sector and policy issues
Impact of VE on individuals, firms and growth
Quality of VE provision
Individual participation decisions and the costs and benefits of VE
More information:

5. CVER dissemination activities and engagement
We publicise outputs through:
- CVER Discussion Paper Series:
- Blogposts.
- CentrePiece Magazine (LSE magazine)
- The media (e.g. TES)
- A regular newsletter (subscribe on our website or send an request to
2. We present our findings at conferences and seminars (for policy makers/practitioners/academics) and participate in relevant calls for evidence (e.g. House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility; Sir Adrian Smith’s post-16 Maths review) and directly work with policy makers (e.g. BIS Academic Panel).
3. We host a seminar series and annual conference.
Follow us on Twitter!

6. CVER DP 001: Post-compulsory Education in England: Choices and Implications (Hupkau, McNally, Ruiz-Valenzuela, Ventura)
Analyse KS4 leaving cohort in 2009/10 and follow their educational choices until the age of 20, using linked administrative datasets (NPD, ILR, HESA)
Classify individuals by main activity at age 17:
a) Level 3:
A-Levels,
Applied Generals,
Tech Levels,
Key Skills/Functional Skills/NVQ,
Other Level 3
b) Level 2:
Tech Certificate
Vocational qualifications at Level 2
Key/Functional Skills
GCSEs
c) Below Level 2: All those with highest level of learning at Level 1 and below
d) Apprenticeships
e) Unknown (but appearing in the student census at 17)
f) Not observed in education

7. CVER DP 001: Post-compulsory Education in England: Choices and Implications
Main findings: Conditional on prior attainment at age 11, demographics, and school attended by the end of Key Stage 4:
A-levels and vocational equivalents at Level 3:
Strong predictors of staying on in education until 18 & achieving a Level 3 qualification before age 20
Still, A-levels are the dominant pathway to university
Most people classified as pursuing ‘Level 2’ qualifications at age 17 do not progress any higher up the education qualification ladder:
Only about 44% achieve a Level 3 qualification by the age of 20.
Getting stuck: around 10,000 students are observed working towards low-levels of qualification for four consecutive years
Apprentices have a completely different profile than those students who undertake A- levels and go to university:
9 out of 10 in university achieved 5 GCSEs (A*-C) compared to 57% for advanced
apprenticeships

8. CVER DP 001: Dissemination
Times Education Supplement: “Thousands of 16-year-olds are stuck in an educational ''revolving door'', returning year after year to study low-level qualifications, a major new study has found.”
The Conversation: “Nowhere is reform more necessary than in the options for 16-year-olds, after they finish their GCSE exams (…). There are thousands of qualifications available for 16- to 18-year-olds and it is hard to classify available options into sensible groupings, especially for lower levels of learning – what is called Level 2 and below”
CentrePiece magazine: “Well under half of young people in England complete A-levels, yet the baffling array of qualifications available for their peers is rarely discussed.”
Results already in circulation and cited in policy reports like: Making the apprenticeship system work for year olds (Institute for Public Policy Research)

9. Other ongoing research and emerging findings
An example of our ongoing work: vocational education “Below Level 2”
10% of schools leavers in England
Very little is known about their vocational education and labour market outcomes
Descriptive analysis of 2010/11 KS4 leavers using linked administrative data at individual level from:
National Pupil Data (NPD)
Individualised Learner Records (ILR)
Employment data from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) records

10. “Below Level 2” analysis
Progression from Low-Level education
Example of Highest level of education achieved three years after KS4 by initial destination after GCSEs

11. “Below Level 2” analysis
Understanding different trajectories of BL2 learners: Data visualisation methods and cluster analysis

12. “Below Level 2” analysis
Findings:
We find five main BL2 trajectories
Learners showing clear progression in vocational education (31% of all BL2 learners)
Those with transitions to a sustained status outside education and employment (19%)
Young people with extended participation in BL2 and delayed progression (29%)
BL2 learners making successful transitions to employment (9%) or apprenticeships (13%)
Main findings/conclusions of sequence analysis:
Those leaving BL2 to a NEET destination mostly drop out during the first year, likely to result from early disengagement.
One conclusion from this is that more effective mechanisms to monitor and to reduce disengagement need to be put in place
Colleges and youth support should try everything to avoid that young people drop out of their first year of post-16 education as this often results in persistent NEET episodes.
Next step: Understanding better the characteristics associated with
early dropout to help target interventions better

13. “Below Level 2” analysis
Engaging with education policy:
CVER is part of an internationally-leading research community on the economics of education
We deliver independent research to highest academic standards to make high-level recommendations on improving technical education, similar to the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Germany
We communicate our BL2 research (Discussion papers, meetings with Department for Education, stakeholders, other researchers, OECD, Cedefop, many more)
We participate in the debate on education reform, including parliamentary consultations, to improve provision for BL2 learners in the set-up of the new Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (e.g. Recommendation 28 of the Sainsbury report on the design and content of the transition year)

14. Facilitating research
Helping others to better understand available data
We run a data wiki to make the interested community more familiar with data
We are in the process of setting up data access via the ADRN

15. Facilitating research (Data wiki)

16. Further information See our website: http://cver.lse.ac.uk
Contact us to be put on our mailing list:
Follow us on twitter:

17. Appendix - 1

18. Appendix - 2

19. Appendix - 3