Free resources hub and data clinics for studying post-16 pathways

England has some phenomenal administrative data resources for studying young people’s journeys through school, further education and higher education, and onto their next steps. However, these resources remain underutilised, at least in part due to significant barriers such as complex application processes and a historic lack of guidance for using the data.

Things are changing, though. A number of introductory training courses are now available to help researchers become familiar with the main administrative datasets related to youth transitions. There is also a growing community of researchers using the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) database.

Our ADR England Research Community Catalyst project aims to support this emerging landscape by providing a range of resources and training primarily aimed at researchers looking to work with LEO data for their own projects.

Creating a Resource Hub

First, we will develop a youth transitions resource hub, similar to the one available for the ECHILD database. This hub will feature a user guide with example SQL scripts to support initial data setup and cleaning. These resources are based on our past projects using LEO to study the post-16 activities of young people.

This work involves working across several component datasets, including:

• School Census
• The Individualised Learner Record (ILR)
• The Higher Education statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record
• National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS)
• HMRC employment records
• DWP Benefit Records

We also hope that other researchers will link their code repositories to ours, helping to build a living and growing community resource.

Developing "How-To" Data Guides

We will also produce data “how-to” guides that capture our experiences working with the data.

These guides will cover both methodological and practical aspects. Topics will include:

• Calculating the returns to further education
• Identifying post-16 learner pathways
• Using distance to the nearest FE provider as an instrumental variable

These resources will help researchers navigate challenges and make the most of the data.

Training and Data Clinics

Early next year, colleagues at the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) at UCL will run a tailored version of their popular Introduction to LEO course, specifically focused on studying youth transitions.

In addition, we will pilot data clinics aimed at early career researchers considering using the National Pupil Database or LEO for studying youth transitions. These clinics will offer:

• Advice on which data items to request
• Guidance on assessing the feasibility of research ideas given the available data

These clinics will be available from the summer.

Next steps

We look forward to sharing more updates soon about our resource hub, training opportunities, and data clinic sign-ups!