Young people from ethnic minority backgrounds : evidence from the Education Maintenance Allowance Pilots Database

This report uses quantitative data collected as part of the evaluation of the Education Maintenance Allowance Pilots to explore comparatively the destinations and achievements of young people from different ethnic minority backgrounds. The report covers two cohorts of young people who finished compulsory education in the summer of 1999 and 2000 respectively and who were interviewed three times at one year intervals, that is, when they were approximately 16, 17 and 18 years of age. It combines data from a random sample of young people in ten EMA pilot areas and 11 control areas Part A of the report focuses on 14,700 young people at the time of their first interview which took place shortly after the end of compulsory education. It compares young people’s school experiences during Years 10 and 11, their qualifications at the end of Year 11, their destinations immediately after compulsory education, the advice they received during Year 11 about these destinations and the reasons they gave for their choice of destination. The final section reflects on the role of EMA on decisions to remain in post-16 education. Data in Part A have been weighted to be representative of all young people in the pilot and control areas. Part B of the report concentrates on 8,300 young people who had taken part in the first three survey interviews. It compares the destinations at ages 17 and 18 of those who initially remained in full-time education at age 16 and then considers the destinations at age 18 of all young people, irrespective of whether they initially remained in education, and explores the relationship between destination, ethnicity and other characteristics known to be associated with remaining in education. The final piece of the analysis explores the relationships between ethnicity, destinations at ages 16, 17 and 18 controlling for certain of these characteristics. Data in Part B have been weighted to be representative of all young people in the pilot and control areas and to take account of differential attrition from the sample between survey interviews.