Students who do not achieve a grade C or above in English and Maths

Researchers: Professor Carlo Raffo | Dr Stephanie Thomson ...

Project overview


This project aims to investigate the opportunities and trajectories for 16 to 18 year olds in England who have not achieved grade C or above in English and Maths at GCSE.

Success in GCSEs at 16 continues to act as the key watershed for further progression in education, training and employment – nearly twenty years on since Pearce and Hillman (1998) highlighted the problem in their study of the nation’s low rates of post-16 participation in education and training.

The study will focus on three key areas:

  • Understanding the characteristics of this group of learners and identifying their different attainment profiles both prior to and after GCSEs
  • Identifying how learners with different characteristics and attainment profiles progress in the 16-18 phase
  • Investigating how different factors at the local level such as training provision and transport influence their opportunities and success in this phase.

As part of the project, the researchers will bring together individual-level data with information on post-16 pathways and options provided in two city-regions in England. This will allow them to identify how new localised strategies for policy and practice might be designed to enable schools, sixth form colleges, Further Education colleges and training providers to improve social mobility in post-16 education and training.

The project also aims to provide important early evidence about how recent GCSE reforms and the introduction of Progress 8 may impact on this group of learners.

Low attainer data dashboard

This dashboard was developed so that users can easily explore data on ‘lower attaining’ pupils in different years and geographies. The data was taken from the National Pupil Database, and is available at national, regional, combined authority and local education authority level, and at present covers cohorts from 2013 to 2017. Full information about how to use the dashboard, and about the data itself, are given in the ‘Information’, ‘Dashboard’ and ‘More guidance’ tabs. The data dashboard is available to download in the Publications section below.

For more information, please contact either Professor Ruth Lupton or Dr Stephanie Thompson, at ruth.lupton@manchester.ac.uk or stephanie.thomson@abdn.ac.uk

Team


  • Professor Carlo Raffo
    University of Manchester
  • Dr Stephanie Thomson
    University of Aberdeen
  • Professor Lorna Unwin
    University College London
  • Professor Ruth Lupton
    University of Manchester
  • Sanne Velthuis
    University of Manchester

  • Director, Education
    Nuffield Foundation

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