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Adult Education and Training Outcomes

Statistics on the employment and learning outcomes of adult education and learning learners (excluding apprentices)

Education and skills
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North East outcomes

Summary

  • Among adult North East learners achieving an education and training course as their highest learning aim in 2020/21:
    • About 79% were in a sustained postive destination in 2021/22
    • this was a slightly higher percentage than nationally (78%)
    • it was the second highest value among the eight core city areas
    • within the North East, the rate was highest in County Durham (81%).

Detailed outcomes

  • Among adult North East learners achieving an education and training course in 2020/21:
    • About 71% were in a sustained employment destination
    • this included 61% in employment only and 10% combining employment with further learning
    • the North East sustained employment rate was above the national equivalent (65%) and the highest among the core city areas
    • the percentage in sustained employment was higher in County Durham than in any other North East local authority area.

Recent trends

  • Among adult North East learners achieving an education or training course:
    • The latest sustained positive destination rate was 12 percentage points higher than four years earlier
    • it had increased in each year during that period
    • the sustained employment rate has increased by a similar amount over this period
    • this rise has been driven by an increasing percentage in sustained employment only, as the percentage combining employment and learning has been unchanged.

Cohorts

  • The latest cohort in this dataset includes over 49,000 North East adult learners achieving an education or training course in 2020/21:
    • This total was 13% higher than in 2019/20
    • however, it was 4% lower than in 2018/19.

About the data source

  • This data set includes analysis of adult (19+) education and training outcomes from the further education outcomes (FEO) dataset
  • adult education and training is mainly classroom-based adult further education that is not classed as an apprenticeship or community learning
  • it can also include distance learning or e-learning
  • the FEO dataset shows the percentage of further education learners going to or remaining in an education and/or employment destination in the academic year after achieving their learning aim
  • the most recent data reports on learners who achieved their aim in the 2020/21 academic year, and identifies their education and/or employment destinations the following year (2021/22)
  • the data reports outcomes by various learner demographics and type and level of learning. Where a learner achieves more than one aim within an academic year, the outcomes for the learner are reported against the highest and latest aim within that year
  • the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset is used, which looks at how learners move through education and into the labour market by bringing together:
    • schools, further and higher education information from the Department for Education (DfE)
    • employment information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
    • benefit histories from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Levels and topics

Outcomes by level

  • Among adult North East learners achieving an education or training course in 2020/21:
    • The sustained positive destination rate was highest at level 2 (excluding essential skills) and at level 3
    • the rate was lowest below level 2 (excluding essential skills)
    • the sustained employment rate was highest at level 2 (excluding skills) and levels 4 and 5.

Cohorts

  • Among adult learners achieving an education or training course in 2020/21 within the North East:
    • About 67% were at level 2, excluding essential skills
    • about 15% were below level 2 (excluding essential skills)
    • most of the remaining 18% were essential skills courses or at level 3
    • about 43% were in the health, public services and care topic category
    • about 17% were preparation for life and work courses, with a further 12% in engineering and manufacturing technologies
    • more than half of the remaining 28% were in topics relating to business, administration and law; or retail and commercial enterprise.

Outcomes by topic

  • Among adults achieving an education or training course in 2020/21 in the North East:
    • learners in courses within the education and training topic and within the health, public services and care topic were most likely to be in a sustained positive destination
    • learners in courses in these topics and in engineering and manufacturing technologies were most likely to be in a sustained employment destination.

Outcomes by learner characteristic

Summary

  • Among adult North East learners achieving an education or training course in 2020/21:
    • there little variation in sustained positive destination rates between learners in different age groups
    • female learners had a higher rate than males
    • learners with learning difficulties or a disability had a lower rate than other learners.

Females and males

  • Comparing female and male adult learners in the North East who achieved an education or training course in 2020/21:
    • females were more likely to be in a sustained positive destination
    • females were more likely to be in a sustained employment destination, but the same is also true for sustained learning destinations
    • in particular, females were much more likely to be in a sustained combination of employment and learning 
    • almost 35% male learners were in essential skills and below level 2 courses, compared to 18% of females.

Age groups

  • Comparing three age-based cohorts of adult learners in the North East who achieved an education or training course in 2020/21:
    • those aged 25 to 49 were slightly more likely to be in a sustained positive destination
    • the rates in all three age groups were very similar
    • those aged 50 plus were most likely to be in a sustained employment destination
    • those aged 19 to 24 were most likely to be in a sustained learning destination.

Learning difficulties or disability

  • About 19% of adult learners in the North East who achieved an education or training course in 2020/21 had learning difficulties or a disability:
    • This group of people had a sustained positive destination rate of 68%
    • this was 14 percentage points lower than the rate for people without learning difficulties or a disability (82%)
    • this group were less likely than others to be in a sustained employment destination, but more likely to be in a sustained learning destination.

Further education outcomes

  • About 89% of further education learners in the North East with an achievement in 2020/21 undertook adult education and training courses
  • about 10% were apprentices, with the remaining 1% undertaking traineeships
  • the latest North East sustained positive destination rate for all further education learners was 80%
  • the rate was lower among those with an adult education and training course (79%) than among apprentices (93%)
  • learners undertaking essential skills courses; adult education and training courses at level 3; and intermediate apprenticeships were most likely to be in sustained learning destinations, sometimes alongside employment.