Examining the impact of entry level qualifications on educational aspirations

Abstract

Background: This article considers the impact of pupils studying for entry-level qualifications on their intentions of remaining in education. Such qualifications are intended to re-engage young people who are performing below expected levels and give them the opportunity to learn at a pace that suits them.Purpose: This article specifically attempts to estimate the impact of entry-level qualifications on a group of 14–16-year-olds approaching the end of compulsory schooling in England. The central research questions addressed in this article were; how do the aspirations and post-16 destinations of young people who have taken such qualifications compare with other similar young people who have taken more traditional qualifications, and is there any evidence of such qualifications being beneficial to those young people with lower levels of prior attainment?Sample: Roughly 10,000 students surveyed longitudinally within the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE).Design and methods: Initial data regarding the aspirations of young people was collected from the young people at age 13 or 14 in 2004. Details of the qualifications studied and achieved over the next two years were then collected from the National Pupil Database (NPD). At the end of two years, information regarding their aspirations was collected again. Data collections in subsequent years detailed whether young people had actually continued in education after the end of compulsory schooling at age 16. Multilevel modelling was used to examine the relationship between the qualifications studied by young people and their subsequent aspirations and destinations.Results: Overall, there were no differences between the outcomes of young people taking entry-level qualifications and similar young people who did not. However, the models revealed a statistically significant interaction between taking entry-level qualifications and prior attainment, suggesting a positive association between such qualifications and outcomes for those with low levels of prior attainment.Conclusions: There is some evidence that entry-level qualifications may be useful in re-engaging low-achieving young people in education.