Further Education Outcomes: Methodology
Introduction
The Further Education (FE) Outcomes report outlines the findings from the Survey of FE College Leavers, in which leavers are surveyed approximately six months after qualifying from their course. It provides a snapshot of the destination of leavers following successful completion of their study, which helps provide evidence of the relevance of FE qualifications in achieving positive outcomes.
Generic Statistical Business Process Model
In order to produce the findings and statistical outputs, FE Outcomes follows the processes set out in the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM). Figure 1 shows the full model, outlining all phases and associated sub processes. The model is designed to be flexible with many different routes and potential pathways and this document will outline the phases and processes undertaken to produce the FE Outcomes outputs.
Figure 1: Generic Statistical Business Process Model
1. Specify Needs
The first phase in the cycle is to ‘Specify Needs’ for statistics in a particular area. In the case of FE Outcomes, there was a need to identify what happened to leavers once they gained their FE qualification.
Why has this survey been carried out?
The Department for the Economy (DfE) is monitoring the performance of FE Colleges in terms of the quality and relevance of the curriculum to the needs of the NI economy and the learner. Therefore, there is a need to identify what happens to the thousands of people who complete and achieve their regulated FE courses. In particular, it is hoped that information on the destinations of leavers following successful completion of a programme of study will provide evidence of the relevance of this learning in achieving positive outcomes. This research will inform that process by measuring the impact and outcomes of student learning in terms of progression into further learning and employment. The research also forms a key part of the underpinning evidence for the development of future policy and the FE curriculum in terms of:
- the progression of learners to and within employment
- the progression of learners to higher levels of study
- the development of skills of use within the workplace
2. Design
The ‘Design’ phase plans out and defines all elements of the survey cycle.
Coverage
The survey and report findings cover those leavers who completed and achieved a regulated qualification at Level 3 or below in the FE Sector. The activity of those qualifying at Level 4 or above are researched separately, through their participation in HESA’s Graduate Outcomes survey.
Timing
The survey is carried out approximately 6 months after leavers achieve their FE qualification, providing a snapshot of their activity at that time. The gap between achieving their qualification and the leavers undertaking the survey is relatively short, so the contact details held should remain the same in most cases, thus encouraging better response rates for the survey.
Questionnaire
The survey captures a snapshot of activities that leavers were engaged in approximately six months after completing their course. Details are captured on leavers’ employment, such as their mode of employment (full-time vs part-time), employment skills match and location of work. Those engaged in further study were asked where and what level they were studying. Leavers were also asked more generally about their satisfaction with their experience whilst gaining their FE qualification.
3. Build
The ‘Build’ phase entails setting up, testing and finalising the system that will collect the data.
Survey software
The current software used to issue the questionnaire and collect the data is ‘Snap Surveys’. This provides an opportunity for all eligible leavers with up to date email contact details, to participate in an online survey.
4. Collect
The ‘Collect’ phase includes all aspects of the data collection from the initial point when the sample is established throughout the full collection process until the survey is closed.
Sampling strategy
The sampling strategy for the Survey of FE College Leavers has changed over the years, however the past five years have all adopted a census approach. Previously, there were also elements of a census approach, but this was used in combination with telephone interviews based on random samples. Multiple survey sites were also used to gather the results. The final Consolidated Data Return (CDR) extract for the academic year is used to generate the target list. This involves the removal of previously selected students, including those that completed the survey last year.
The population for the 2024/25 survey were the 19,710 leavers who had completed and achieved a qualification at Level 3. However, this excluded
- Withdrawals
- Transfers
- Non-regulated enrolments where qualifications aren’t obtained
- Entitlement framework enrolments
- Individuals under 16 due to sensitivities involved with surveying children
- Null ULNs (Unique Learner Number), as ULN is used to ensure the same individual isn’t being contacted multiple times and thus overburdened
- Enrolments with missing level information
- Higher Education (HE) in Further Education (FE) as these leavers are surveyed on the same topics by Graduate Outcomes
- Individuals with Special Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (SLDD)
For more information on these, please refer to ‘Annex A - Commonly used terms and abbreviations’.
The contactable population was 18,894. This is due to invalid email addresses or recipients opting out.
Field work
Prior to the commencement of fieldwork, the FE Colleges issue a pre-notice email to their leavers alerting them that the survey is due to launch. This informs the student about the survey including why they have been selected along with the purpose and benefits of the survey. Students are also provided with further information on an information/FAQ page hosted on the Department for the Economy’s website.
The fieldwork itself commences as email invitations are sent to all leavers in the population of interest for which email addresses have been provided. Over the course of the fieldwork period (4 weeks), there are 5 email reminders issued to leavers who had not completed the Survey.
Response rates
Throughout the fieldwork, response rates are monitored and shared with each college to keep them informed and encourage responses from their leavers. The response rates are based on the number of survey respondents i.e. number of individuals who were eligible and submitted a response to the questionnaire.
The final response rate was (20.8%).
Over one-fifth (20.8%) of the total contactable population (18,894) participated in the online survey, resulting in 3,925 completed responses. It was, therefore, very important to ascertain the extent to which the profile of the achieved responses differed from that of the population of interest.
In this respect, key variations among respondents included:
- 21% studied at the SERC (compared with 4% in the population of interest);
- 19% studied at the NRC (4% in the population of interest);
- 49% were 25+ (33% in the population of interest).
5. Process
The ‘Process’ phase involves validating and transforming the data, so it is ready for analysis.
Data validation
The data is logic checked, and cleaned to remove any duplicate responses. This means that the survey responses are internally consistent, follow expected relationships, and comply with the rules of the questionnaire.
Data linkage
The Survey results are linked to information from the CDR. The CDR is comprised of data returns from each FE College. Each return consists of individual records for each enrolment recorded by the FE Colleges during the academic year. Linking to the CDR enables the results to be broken down by different personal characteristics e.g. sex, age and categorical variables in relation to their qualification e.g. mode and level.
Weighting
Raked weighting is used to improve the representativeness of estimates produced from the Survey. By using an algorithm in R, raking is converged in 35 iterations using age, mode of attendance, level of study, FE College and sex, to provide a closer match between the characteristics of the participants and the population of interest.
While it is designed to improve the representativeness of survey results, it should be borne in mind non-response weighting assumes the characteristics of non-respondents are like those of respondents.
As a result of the raked weighting model, shares of respondents among all target variables aligned with population estimates.
The result of the raked weighting model for all categorical variables is shown below.
Table 1: Sex Comparison: proportions for the population of interest and survey respondents
| Variable Categories | Percentage of population | Survey respondents before weighting | Percentage of respondents before weighting | Percentage point difference before weighting | Survey respondents after weighting | Percentage of respondents after weighting | Percentage point difference after weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 48% | 2230 | 59% | 12 | 1795 | 48% | 0 |
| Male | 52% | 1535 | 41% | -11 | 1965 | 52% | 0 |
| Not stated | 0% | 10 | .. | 0 | 15 | .. | 0 |
Table 2: Age Comparison: proportions for the population of interest and survey respondents
| Variable Categories | Percentage of population | Survey respondents before weighting | Percentage of respondents before weighting | Percentage point difference before weighting | Survey respondents after weighting | Percentage of respondents after weighting | Percentage point difference after weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-19 | 57% | 1650 | 44% | -13 | 2155 | 57% | 0 |
| 20-24 | 10% | 285 | 8% | -2 | 360 | 10% | 0 |
| 25+ | 33% | 1840 | 49% | 15 | 1260 | 33% | 0 |
Table 3: Mode Comparison: proportions for the population of interest and survey respondents
| Variable Categories | Percentage of population | Survey respondents before weighting | Percentage of respondents before weighting | Percentage point difference before weighting | Survey respondents after weighting | Percentage of respondents after weighting | Percentage point difference after weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part time | 66% | 2640 | 70% | 4 | 2505 | 66% | 0 |
| Full time | 34% | 1135 | 30% | -4 | 1270 | 34% | 0 |
Table 4: Level of Study Comparison: proportions for the population of interest and survey respondents
| Variable Categories | Percentage of population | Survey respondents before weighting | Percentage of respondents before weighting | Percentage point difference before weighting | Survey respondents after weighting | Percentage of respondents after weighting | Percentage point difference after weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Level | 4% | 170 | 5% | 1 | 150 | 4% | 0 |
| Level 1 | 7% | 240 | 6% | 0 | 250 | 7% | 0 |
| Level 2 | 46% | 1655 | 44% | -2 | 1740 | 46% | 0 |
| Level 3 | 43% | 1715 | 45% | 2 | 1635 | 43% | 0 |
Table 5: FE College Comparison: proportions for the population of interest and survey respondents
| Variable Categories | Percentage of population | Survey respondents before weighting | Percentage of respondents before weighting | Percentage point difference before weighting | Survey respondents after weighting | Percentage of respondents after weighting | Percentage point difference after weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast Metropolitan College | 3% | 675 | 18% | 14 | 690 | 18% | 15 |
| South Eastern Regional College | 4% | 805 | 21% | 17 | 825 | 22% | 18 |
| Northern Regional College | 4% | 730 | 19% | 16 | 635 | 17% | 13 |
| North West Regional College | 2% | 480 | 13% | 10 | 465 | 12% | 10 |
| Southern Regional College | 3% | 520 | 14% | 11 | 565 | 15% | 12 |
| South West College | 3% | 560 | 15% | 12 | 595 | 16% | 13 |
6. Analyse
The ‘Analyse’ phase is the production of the statistical outputs for dissemination. This includes preparing the commentary, technical notes and ensuring the outputs are fit for purpose.
Prepare outputs
The outputs consist of a HTML bulletin that outlines the main findings from the survey results and a dashboard detailing the results and enabling the user to drill down into more granular detail using a series of filters.
The HTML bulletin was created using an accessibility template, to ensure it meets the current accessibility guidelines. It details the outcomes for FE leavers once they have gained their qualification, providing commentary, tables and charts to bring the results to life.
The dashboard is created for users who want to know more than just the headline statistics. Users can explore each section of the bulletin e.g. employment, learning etc, in more detail by using the filter options to find out more about the various cohorts of leavers:
- College
- Level of Study
- Mode of Study
- Broad STEM
- Narrow STEM
- Apprenticeship
- ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
- Essential Skills
- Subject Area
- Sex
- Age Band
- Disability
- Deprivation Quintile
The information detailed in both outputs are quality assured prior to release.
Disclosure control – Rounding Strategy
FE Outcomes conforms to the HESA rounding strategy to ensure the data disseminated does not breach confidentiality rules. Due to the provisions of the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Human Rights Act (1998), HESA (and therefore DfE) implements a strategy, in published and released tabulations, designed to prevent the disclosure of personal information about any individual. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest 5, and suppressing percentages and averages based on small populations.
A full list of the rounding strategy includes:
- 0, 1 and 2 are rounded to 0;
- all other numbers are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5;
- percentages based on fewer than 22.5 individuals are suppressed;
- averages based on a small group of people (7 or fewer) are also suppressed;
- percentages and averages are based on unrounded figures;
- percentages are rounded to the nearest integer;
- Total figures are also subject to this rounding methodology; so the sum of numbers in each row or column may not match the total shown. Similarly, percentages may not sum to 100%.
7. Disseminate
Produce products
The FE Outcomes outputs are available on the DfE website and this includes links to the bulletin and dashboard.
The target audience for the release is the DfE, Directors of FE colleges in Northern Ireland, board members of FE colleges, educational professionals, academics, media and members of the public interested in the FE sector.
Interpreting the findings
When interpreting the findings presented, it is important to be aware of the following points:
Individuals in FE Colleges can enrol and achieve on multiple courses simultaneously. The methodology used to determine the population of interest was to select the highest level of regulated qualification (up to and including Level 3) achieved for each individual, which resulted in 19,710 individual FE College leavers being eligible for inclusion in the 2024/25 Survey.
Although it was intended that everyone who completed a qualification would be contacted and provided an opportunity to respond to the survey, not all had valid contact details, leaving a contactable population of 18,894.
Inferences/statements about the population of interest can be made because the profile of survey respondents has been re-weighted by the profiling variables (age, mode of attendance, level of study, FE College and sex), so that it is broadly similar to that of the population of interest in respect of these key variables (refer to Tables 1 to 5).
Due to rounding, some figures may not add to 100%; differences reported may not equate to the difference between the two figures shown in the text; and summing of proportions may not equate to the value reported.
8. Evaluate
Feedback
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Annex A - Commonly used terms and abbreviations
Academic year: 1st August to 31st July.
Course: A course leading to a regulated qualification at Level 3 or below.
ESOL: An ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) course is for students who want to improve their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills and for whom English is not their first language. Further information can be found on the ESOL page of the NI Direct Website.
Further Education sector: The six FE Colleges in NI -
- Belfast Metropolitan College (BMC);
- Northern Regional College (NRC);
- North West Regional College (NWRC);
- South Eastern Regional College (SERC);
- Southern Regional College (SRC); and
- South West College (SWC).
Leavers: FE College leavers who completed and achieved a regulated qualification at Level 3 or below during the 2024/25 academic year.
Leavers in employment: This includes: working in paid employment; self-employed; and waiting to start a confirmed job.
Leavers in learning: This includes: on a scheme/training scheme; waiting to start a confirmed scheme; at school in sixth form; at FE College; at university; or waiting to start a confirmed course at college/university.
Leavers unemployed: This includes FE College leavers who were unemployed and looking for work.
Leavers classed as other: This includes any FE College leavers not included in employment, learning or unemployed.
Qualification level: Each regulated qualification has a level between Entry Level and Level 8. Qualifications at the same level typically have a similar level of demand or difficulty. The content and size of qualifications at the same level may be quite different. For further information on comparing qualifications across the UK, Republic of Ireland and overseas please refer to the GOV.UK ‘what different qualifications levels mean’ webpage.
Regulated Qualification: Any course at Level 3 or below offering a qualification that has a qualification code on the Register of Regulated Qualifications (RRQ) or any course at Level 4 or above.
SLDD: Special Learning Difficulties and Disabilities courses. These require specialised teaching, and are often taught in a reduced class size or in a day centre.
Sector Subject Area: Sector Subject Areas (SSAs) were developed according to industry sector and academic subject area by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) and the Department for Education and Skills (Wales), along with other key educational bodies. They aim to allow more consistent reporting of data across the UK. SSA codes are derived from the OFQUAL Register of Regulated Qualifications, based on the qualification or unit code. The SSA code registered against each qualification or unit has been assigned by the responsible awarding organisation. Further information can be found on the OFQUAL guidance on qualification descriptions.
ULN: Unique Learner Number. This is a unique code used to track each student through their Learning Cycle and is defined by the Learner Records Service (LRS). It is generated by education providers and held by the Learner Register.