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Summary of Findings

1.1.1 Introduction

The Scottish School Leavers Survey ( SSLS) series aims to describe the experiences of young people at school, the decisions they make about staying on or leaving, and their transitions and experiences after leaving school. The Scottish Centre for Social Research (formerly NatCen Scotland) has run the SSLS since the early 1990s when the series succeeded the Scottish Young Persons Survey ( SYPS). This summary provides findings from the last survey sweep of the third cohort, based on young people aged 24 in 2006.

1.1.2 Method and Sample

The sample was originally drawn from lists held by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and a 20% sample of all eligible young people was selected to take part in the first sweep of the survey in 1999. Subsequent sweeps were conducted in 2001 and 2004. For this fourth and final sweep self-completion questionnaires were only mailed to young people who had completed a questionnaire in 2004.

Following an address checking period, the questionnaire was mailed to 2,548 young people on 10th April 2006. Questionnaires were completed by 1,627 young people: 1,326 were received by post and a further 301 completed over the phone. This represents 67% of those remaining in the cohort following the last sweep in 2004, taking account of those for whom no valid contact information was available.

1.1.3 Key findings

Main Activity

• The majority of respondents, now aged 23-24, had completed their education and entered the labour market, with full-time employment being the main activity for 68%. However, one in ten were still undertaking some form of education, with 9% engaged in higher education and 1% in further education, as their main activity. Participation in a Government Training Programme ( GTP) decreases with age, with only 2% of respondents describing this as their main activity. Other main activities of young people aged 24 were: working part-time (8%); looking after home and family (4%); out of work (6%); or doing something else (2%).
• Differences between the activities of males and females were less pronounced than in previous sweeps of this cohort. The only statistically significant differences were that males were more likely to be out of work (8% compared with 4%), whereas females were more likely to be looking after the home/family (9% compared with 0%).
• Those staying at school until S6 were more likely to be studying full-time higher education at age 24 (16%) and less likely to be working part-time (6%), be out of work (3%) or looking after family/home (2%). The reverse can be seen with those who left school in S4 where the comparable percentages are 1%, 13%, 10% and 10%.
• The likelihood of being in full-time education at the age of 23-24 was clearly linked to parental social class, with respondents from lower socio-economic groups less likely to have continued to further or higher education and still be in further or higher education at this age - 10% from partly skilled and unskilled occupations compared with 28% from professional and intermediate backgrounds.
• Around one quarter (24%) were in full-time, part-time or distance learning (including those for whom this was not their main activity), and over half of these respondents were studying for an ordinary, honours, higher degree or professional qualification, with no variation by gender. Of those who were studying or training 44% were working full-time as well.
• The most common industry respondents were likely to be working in (whose main activity was full-time work, part-time work or GTP) was the education/health and social services (20%). However, there were variations. For example, the most common industry for part-time workers was wholesale/retail/repair (35%) and the most common industry for males was construction (16%).
• Young people, overall, were most likely to be working in associate professional/technical occupations (19%). However, this did vary by gender with the most common occupation for women being associate professional/technical (24%), whereas for men, craft and related occupations were most common (26%).
• Sixteen percent of respondents who said their main activity was either full-time/part-time work or a GTP were working with a temporary contract, with no variation by gender.
• In all types of employment ( i.e. full-time, GTP, part-time and overall total) young men were significantly more likely to work more than 39 hours per week than young women.
• The vast majority (93%) of those in employment (full-time or part-time) or on a GTP in Spring 2006 were receiving some kind of on-the-job or off-the-job training.
• Around half (45%) of respondents said they had a student loan and/or other debts from studying at college or university. The average total amount of combined student debt from a student loan or other studying debt was £7,940; one in ten students (12%) had debts over £15,001 at age 24.
• Respondents working full-time had the highest monthly income, with a mean figure of £1,063 in comparison to the mean figure of £507 for those not working. Men working full-time were also more likely to earn more than £1,500 per month than women (16% compared with 4%).

Domestic circumstances

• The proportion of respondents with children increased compared with the previous sweep of the same cohort (4% to 12%).
• There was a clear relationship between the likelihood of having children at age 23/24 and the related factors of stage of leaving school and level of educational attainment. The longer respondents remained in education and the higher their level of educational attainment, the less likely they were to have children.
• Although parental class is still a predictor of young people having children at age 23/24, it is becoming less pronounced as the cohort gets older.
• At age 23/24 a smaller proportion of young people were living in the parental home compared with the previous sweep of this cohort.
• Young men were more likely to live with their parents than young women and were less likely to live with a partner.
• Young people who were most likely to be living with parents were those who were out of work or in part time employment.
• Females were more likely to move house to attend education or training whilst males were more likely to move because of an existing job, to find work or to take up a new job.

The future

• Young people were largely positive about their plans for the future, with having a career or profession being the most important aspiration overall (92%). However one quarter (27%) said they would just see where they ended up.
• The gender gap between attitudes toward the future in 2006 was less pronounced than those surveyed age 24 in 2004.
• There was little evidence of a relationship between main activity and parental social class and attitudes towards the future, with all groups having largely positive expectations about what they hoped to do.
• There was a relationship between aspirations for the future and whether respondents had children or not.
• Overall results from questions about control over life were largely positive. Around three quarters (74%) of respondents felt they had control over the things that happen to them. A similar proportion (78%) disagreed with the statement that there was really no way they could solve some of the problems they had.
• Respondents in employment or education felt in more control of their lives than those looking after the home/family, out of work or doing something else.
• There was not a strong relationship between feelings of control and parental social class or whether respondents had children or not.

Qualifications

• By age 23/24 the vast majority of young people (71%) had attained a significant level of qualification success having achieved qualifications equivalent to SVQ Level 3 or above.
• There appears to be a continuing polarisation between a majority who achieve a significant level of qualification success and a minority of around one in five of the cohort who do not achieve any qualifications aside from their Standard Grades.
• Nearly two-fifths (38%) of the cohort are expected to achieve a university degree, whilst over half (53%) are expected to achieve a higher education qualification through academic or vocational routes.
• There were significant differences according to gender and social class among those likely to obtain a university degree or higher education qualification to the advantage of females and the Professional and Intermediate social class.
• Previous regression analysis on the 2004 sweep (of this cohort) highlighted how social class differences in those who were expected to achieve a university degree or other higher education qualification remained after controlling for prior educational attainment.

The Disadvantaged

• At age 23/24 the vast majority of all respondents had completed full-time education, although it was those from advantaged families or areas who were most likely to remain in education.
• Among those remaining in education, those who were disadvantaged in some way were more likely than their more advantaged peers to be studying at sub-degree level.
• Although education provides some protection against unemployment, at this stage young graduates are still trying to establish themselves in the labour market, and they too encounter periods of unemployment with many having experienced unemployment sometime over the period. Yet those with recent experience of unemployment tended to suffer from educational, personal or labour market disadvantages.
• Long-term unemployment was concentrated in certain parts of the country, especially Glasgow, Argyll and Ayr and Lanarkshire.
• From the perspective of those who were unemployed, the main reasons given related to a lack of opportunities or indecision rather than to personal or family problems, ill-health or competing responsibilities.
• At age 23/24, more than one in ten females were outside of the labour market with three quarters of these having children. These young women were particularly disadvantaged.
• Many young people were working in low skill jobs. A high proportion of these had poor qualifications, had left education at a relatively early stage and faced a range of socio-economic disadvantages. However, at this stage low skill employment among those with extended experience of education was not uncommon.
• Although more than four in ten had participated in a government sponsored training programme since the age of 18/19, the numbers involved are too small to permit us to examine the impact of the training experience on subsequent employment patterns.

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