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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Scottish School Leavers Survey
The Scottish Executive has sponsored surveys of school leavers and young people since the early 1970s. These included the Scottish School Leavers Survey which, in the mid-1980s, was subsumed within the broader Scottish Young People's Survey ( SYPS). Following a review in 1991 of the use made of the findings by the Scottish Executive Education and Industry Department ( SEEID), the survey was redesigned and resumed the title of Scottish School Leavers Survey ( SSLS). The SSLS series was redesigned in 1996, to consist of samples of year-group cohorts who would be surveyed three times - at ages 16-17, 18-19 and 22-23 - with a new cohort being recruited on a two-yearly cycle. Given increasing policy interest in later youth transitions, it was decided in 2002 to refine this design further by extending the period of follow-up to 24 and bringing forward slightly the age group for the third sweep (from 22-23 to 21-22). Each cohort will now be surveyed on four occasions (at 16-17, 18-19, 21-22 and 23-24), with a three-year gap between recruitment of new cohorts.
The survey aims to describe the experiences of young people living in Scotland at school, the decisions made about staying on or leaving and the experiences in the labour market. In addition, the survey provides information on the educational and employment activities of young people after they leave school. Background characteristics are also ascertained, such as parents' level of education and social class, family circumstances, and housing tenure.
1.2 The 2005 survey
The 2005 survey is the second contact with the third cohort of 16-17 year olds to have been selected since the SSLS series was redesigned in 1996. At the time of the survey, cohort members were aged 18-19. They will be contacted on two further occasions; once in 2008 aged 21-22 and; once in 2010 aged 23-24.
Young people surveyed in 2005 were initially sampled when they were in the fourth year of secondary school, during the academic year 2001-2002. The sample was originally drawn from lists held by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and 20% of all eligible young people were selected to take part in the survey. Self-completion questionnaires for the 2005 survey sweep were only mailed to young people who had completed a questionnaire in 2003.
Before fieldwork started, addresses were checked for correct postcodes and, where telephone numbers could be matched, telephoned to make sure the respondent still lived at that address. If the respondent had moved, correct contact details were collected, where possible.
Having checked addresses, the questionnaire was mailed to 5,073 young people on 18th April 2005. In addition, young people were also sent a covering letter, a leaflet displaying some findings from previous rounds of the same study and a prepaid return envelope. Those young people who had not responded within two weeks were sent a reminder postcard and those who did not respond within a further two weeks were sent a second copy of the questionnaire along with a reminder letter. Finally, attempts were made to contact non-respondents by telephone in order to encourage them to either return their questionnaire or to answer questions over the phone. Telephone chasing continued until the middle of July 2005.
Following this extended reminder process, questionnaires were completed by 3245 young people: 2382 were received by post and a further 863 completed over the phone. This represents 68% of those remaining in the cohort following the first sweep in 2003, taking account of those for whom no valid contact information was available. Table 1.1 below details response rates to the survey.
Table 1-1 Response figures for the 2005 survey
| n | Response |
|---|
Original sample | 5,073 | |
|---|
Out-of-scope | 285 | |
|---|
No address known for sample member | 47 | |
|---|
Post Office return: address unknown | 47 | |
|---|
Post Office return: sample member unknown at address | 79 | |
|---|
Post Office return: sample member moved away (no forwarding address) | 110 | |
|---|
Sample member died | 2 | |
|---|
In-scope | 4788 | 100% |
|---|
Unproductive | 1543 | 32% |
|---|
Refused | 112 | 2 |
|---|
Ill / Away from home for entire fieldwork period | 93 | 2 |
|---|
Other reason | 986 | 21 |
|---|
Reason for non-completion unknown | 352 | 7 |
|---|
Productive | 3245 | 68% |
|---|
First questionnaire mailing | 1738 | 36 |
|---|
Second questionnaire mailing | 644 | 14 |
|---|
Telephone chasing | 863 | 18 |
|---|
Non-response to the survey was statistically related to a number of important factors, such as: the sample member's level of qualification, when he or she left school, their experience of truanting, their parent's social class, and their gender (these items of information were available from their responses to the previous survey sweep). In addition, it should be remembered that there is a general downward trend in response rates to self completion (and other) surveys in the UK generally; and that two years had elapsed since the last contact with members of this cohort who, for lifestyle reasons, are likely to be highly mobile. To correct for any bias caused by non-response to the survey, the data were weighted; this is described in detail in the technical report. The cognitive testing of the questionnaire is also discussed in the technical report, and the final self completion questionnaire is also appended.
1.3 This report
The report presents findings from the 2005 survey and, where appropriate, compares these findings with previous cohorts (19 in 1999 and 19 in 2001). It should be noted that results presented by region refer to the region respondents attended secondary school and not the region they were living in at the time of the 2005 survey.
The report has two main aims: to provide a descriptive overview of the main findings from the study; and to look in more detail at the specific issues of qualifications held by respondents and patterns of disadvantage among Scottish young people. It is envisaged that subsequent analyses will examine other specific issues in more detail.
The report begins by examining what young people were doing at the time of the survey and the nature of their jobs, training and education courses. Chapters three and four examine the domestic circumstances of the young people surveyed and their hopes for the future. Chapters five and six explore what qualifications 18-19 year olds had at the time of the survey (spring 2005), as well as patterns of disadvantage and some of the processes through which disadvantage is transmitted.
The report also includes some technical notes (Appendix A) designed to help the reader interpret the tables presented. Throughout this report, estimates are based on weighted data ( see Appendix A for a guide to the interpretation of bases). A key point to note is the small cell sizes in some of the analyses, which should be read with caution. The sub-groups on which analyses are based have become quite small in some cases, and individual cell sizes even smaller. Therefore, to help the reader interpret the analyses, percentages calculated from bases sizes of less than 30 are presented in brackets.
The SSLS series provides a rich dataset and secondary analyses of the data are encouraged. Data from all of the sweeps completed to date will be lodged with the ESRC Data Archive, along with copies of the questionnaires and other relevant documentation.
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