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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 Newcastle North Tyneside South Tyneside Durham Gateshead Sunderland Northumberland
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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.