§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table in the Official Report, showing the proportion of school leavers in Doncaster who continued into(a) university education and (b) other higher education for each year since 1979; and what was the national average in each year.
Mr. JacksonThe information is not readily available in the form requested. The table gives for the Doncaster local education authority and for England, the proportion of school leavers from maintained schools who intended to proceed to a course of further or higher education. The figures are drawn from a 10 per cent. sample of pupils at each school. Sampling error is a major consideration where a local education authority, such as Doncaster, has a relatively small cohort of school leavers. Such error alone could be the cause of fluctuations in the figures from year to year.
Proportion of school leavers intending to proceed to a course of further or higher education Maintained schools Percentages Academic year Doncaster local education authority England 1978–79 11.2 18.9 1979–80 10.5 20.0 1980–81 14.1 24.5 1981–82 14.1 25.7 1982–83 14.1 25.0 1983–84 16.1 25.9 1984–85 16.1 25.9 1985–86 15.4 26.5 1986–87 15.9 26.4