The note draws attention to certain aspects in which adolescent life-histories vary from region to region. In general the likelihood of recruitment to part-time rather than full-time study is greatest in English regions which are subject to economic decline. This appears to mirror the relative availability to school-leavers of conventional apprenticeship. Scotland, Wales and South-East England show important differences from this pattern due to the extreme lack of industrial infra-structure and the influence of vestigial `national' culture. In late adolescence the broad effect seems to be a loss of talent to London and the South-East. It is suggested that any attempt to account theoretically for regional decline should give special attention to the educational and economic constraints on adolescence.
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References
1.
This note is part of a study of regional further education assisted by the Nuffield Foundation Small Grants Fund. Dennis Marsden, Adrian Sinfield and Colin Bell suffered from earlier versions and offered valuable advice.
2.
J. Pratt and R. Allimano:The Equality Myth, the Guardian, feature beginning Sept. 19th 1972.
3.
`Further Education' is used here in its official sense to refer to tertiary education other than in universities, colleges of education, colleges of music and institutions aided or maintained by Government Departments other than the D.E.S. For a full definition see Statistics of Education, 1970, Vol 3, p. IX.
4.
Jane Synge: Research Note—Scottish Regional and Sex Differences in School Achievement and Entry to Further Education, Sociology, Vol 7, No. 1, 1973, pp. 107-116.
5.
I. Hordley and D. J. Lee:The Alternative Route—Social Change and Opportunity in Technical Education, Sociology, Vol 4, No. 1, 1970, pp. 23-50.
6.
Calculated from Statistics of Education, 1971, Vol 1, Table 5, page i2 and Table 9, page 24; also from Scottish Educational Statistics, 1971, Table 1, page 20 and Table 11 page 45. These figures exclude young men of that age in special schools and are based upon the `population aged 13 three or four years previously for whom the local authority is responsible' i.e. it excludes some independent schools and it is clear that the percentage `staying on' in the State system is lower than in the `direct grant and independent' sector. In England and Wales the gross number in 1970 was 32 per cent and 17 per cent for 16 and 17 year old boys in the first group versus 8o per cent and 58 per cent in the latter. The compiler of the Scottish Educational Statistics points out that statistics for voluntary staying on in Scotland are affected by outward migration which occurs at all ages thus understimating `the true tendency of pupils to remain beyond the statutory leaving age'. (ibid). This factor is not directly allowed for in this paper. Using a different basis for calculation produces slightly different results only marginally at variance with those reported.
7.
Statistics of Education, 1965 Vol. 11, Table 16, p. 40 and 1970, Vol. 3, Table 3, p. 4.
8.
Scottish Educational Statistics, 1971, Table 25, pp. 74-75.
9.
The same decline has been evident over the past 5 years in the enrolments of 18-21 year olds, but amongst those aged 21 and over numbers are increasing. The day release population is thus becoming older. The principal explanation seems to lie in the fact that the enrolment peak of the i963-65 period has now reached the oldest age group. The increase is thus temporary and numbers may be expected to decline in due course.
10.
All information given in this paper has been updated as far as the academic year 1970-71 but because administrative collection dates vary there is an element of non-comparability in the time of year to which they relate. Further Education enrolments are recorded in November of the academic year and school enrolments in January. Department of Employment data on school-leaver jobs relate to the preceding June.
11.
With the exception of Scotland, there appears to be no significant regional difference in the rate of decline of day release in the last eight years or so. Actual enrolment numbers vary mostly with the state of trade and the size of the age group. This should not be allowed to obscure the point that a given rate of decline overall in the percentage studying part time is felt more acutely in regions more dependent upon it.
12.
Table 3 does not permit any distinction to be drawn between the East and West Midlands. However, data from the New Earnings Survey, 1970, published in the Dept. of Employment Gazette, February, 1971, Table 108, p. 153 suggest that a higher percentage of boys hold skilled apprenticeships in the East Midlands than the West Midlands. This appears to affect the availability of day-release as shown in the final column of Table 2 of the present paper. The position of the West Midlands is thus an ambivalent one: in its industrial structure it undoubtedly leans toward London and the South East. In its support of continued full time education, it seems still to be influenced by `traditional' patterns.
13.
And as a result, Wales has an exceptionally large proportion of those leaving school below the age of 18 in `other jobs'—see Table 3.
14.
See, for example, Day Release, Report of the Henniker-Heaton Committee, HMSO 1964 and the conditions of award of grant of the various Training Boards.
15.
In Wales, for example, it is strongest in rural areas (Merioneth has 49 per cent of 16 year olds in school, Caernarvonshire 41 per cent, Cardiganshire 47 per cent) where the Welsh language retains its strongest hold. By contrast places like Swansea (33 per cent) or Merthyr Tydfil (31 per cent) seem to fit in better with the English `industrial' pattern.
16.
The most serious deficiency is the failure of Department of Employment statistics to pick out this particular age group. In most of the major series published by them it is not distinguished from the main body of the working population. Consequently it is not possible to give comparable information about regional differentials in the proportion of the insured population receiving day release; nor do we have much comparable data on the types of education and jobs pursued by young people at this age. The Statistics of Education present the regional totals of various sorts of enrolments in further education as a proportion of the age group living in that region. This is not as useful as it appears at first sight however, because young people of i8-20 form a particularly mobile age group. They make strategic changes of geographical area in order to receive higher education or in order to pursue crucial career decisions that have been made. Interpretation of the statistics is therefore difficult. One of the best items of material that we have comes from the New Earnings Survey, op cit., 1970. This indicates that the distribution of types of apprenticeship and training at 18 plus roughly corresponds with the analysis above.
