Qualifications

HC Deb 17 May 1991 vol 191 cc277-8W

Mr. Straw

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimate he makes of the proportion of the age group who by their 19th year have achieved (i) five or more GCSE passes at grade C or above, or qualifications at national vocational level 2 and (ii) two or more A-level passes, or qualifications at national vocational level 3.

Mr. Eggar

Information on students' attainments in national vocational qualifications is not held centrally, nor is information collected about GCSE passes gained by students in FE colleges.

However, the proportion of all school leavers in England who had gained five or more GCSE passes at grade C or better in the academic year 1988–89 was 31.9 per cent.

As a proportion of the 18-year-old age group, 17.4 per cent. of school leavers and home full-time students in FE colleges had gained two or more A/AS passes, with two AS passes counting as one A-level.