Post-Primary Outcomes - Academic Years Ending 2012 & 2013

This chapter provides an overview of outcomes in the calendar period 2012 – 2017 for post-primary students following either completion of the Leaving Certificate Examinations (LCE Completers) or those identified as having exited the post-primary system during the Leaving Certificate cycle but prior to undertaking the Leaving Certificate Examinations (Early Leavers).

Outcome years are calendar years relative to the year which the Leaving Certificate Examination occurred for each cohort. Therefore, outcome year one for the 2011/2012 cohort is 2012, while for the 2012/2013 cohort, it is 2013.

The analysis reports activity as a percentage of those students with valid Personal Identifier Keys (PIK), which enable matching to other sources (see Methodology). It should be noted that that the rate of valid PIKs is lower for Early Leavers than LCE Completers (see Background Statistics).

There are five classifications which are used to describe destinations within each outcome year: 

• ‘Education & training only' refers to students that are enrolled in an education and/or training programme but are not classified as being in substantial employment. ‘Education & training’ covers the following range of educational outcomes for all students;

• Repeat Leaving Certificate
• Re-enrolled in Leaving Certificate Programme
• Higher education (based on Higher Education Authority (HEA) enrolments)
• Further education (based on Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) awards and Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) course enrolments)
• SOLAS/FÁS training (based on QQI awards and SOLAS/FÁS course enrolments)
• Youthreach (Estimates)

• 'Education & training and substantial employment' corresponds to students that meet the criteria for substantial employment or self-employment and are enrolled in 'education & training' at some point within the same calendar year. 

• 'Substantial employment only' refers to students who meet the minimum criteria for employment or self-employment and have no record of enrolment in 'education & training' within the same year.

• ‘Neither employment nor education’ is the category comprised of students who are neither enrolled in 'education & training' nor are involved in substantial employment within the year but appear somewhere in the administrative data for that year. These graduates may have some record of (non-substantial) employment or may have claimed a benefit from the Department of Employment Affairs & Social Protection (DEASP) in the calendar year.

• ‘Not captured’ indicates the rate of students with outcomes including elements of international migration and those that are not identified in administrative data between 2012 and 2017. While some of this group are assumed to have migrated internationally, there is no definitive indicator of emigration available currently through administrative data sources. 

'Education & training' is the initial outcome for over three-quarters of LCE Completers

Just over three in four (77.4%) LCE Completers from the 2012/2013 academic year continue to engage with education generally ('education & training and substantial employment' or 'education and training only') in the first year after leaving post-primary education. In contrast, one in two (53.5%) Early Leavers continue to engage with education in outcome year one.

Almost two-thirds (64.7%) of the 50,810 LCE Completers from the 2012/2013 academic year were enrolled in ‘education & training only’ in the first year (2013) after post-primary education. This also represents the peak year for this category.

A further 12.7% of students were in ‘education & training and substantial employment’ in year one. This category peaked in year four at 45.5%.

In year five, those in ‘substantial employment only’ accounted for 28.6%. For the earlier 2011/2012 academic year, similar proportions of 27.4% and 45.5% were in ‘substantial employment only’ in year five and six respectively.

For the 2012/2013 academic year persons in ‘neither employment nor education’ amounted to 5.9% in year five. For the 2011/2012 academic year 7.1% were in this category in years five and 7.9% in year six.

The proportion of persons from the 2012/2013 academic year ‘not captured’ stood at 9.3% in year one, falling to 5.8% in year five. For the 2011/2012 academic year, 5.7% were ‘not captured’ in year five, rising to 8.7% in year six.

For the academic year 2012/2013, less than one-half (48.3%) of 2,810 Early Leavers were in ‘education & training only’ in the first year after post-primary. This figure peaks in year two at 53.6%.

Additionally, in year one 5.2% were in ‘education & training and substantial employment’. The proportion in this category rises continuously to 19.7% in year five. For the 2011/2012 academic year, 19.1% and 19.4% were in this category in years five and six respectively.

‘Substantial employment only’ accounts for 21.5% of Early Leavers’ outcomes in year five for persons from the 2012/2013 academic school year. For the 2011/2012 academic year, the proportion in 'substantial employment only' after five years is 20.9%, and 24.5% after six years.

For the 2012/2013 cohort, Early leavers are in ‘neither employment nor education’ in year one at a rate of 10.1%, rising to 17.9% in year five. The corresponding figures, for years five and six of the 2011/2012 academic year, are 21.6% and 19.7% respectively. 

The proportion of Early Leavers ‘not captured’ for the 2012/2013 academic school in year one is 32.2%, falling to 11.7% in year five. For the 2011/2012 cohort, year five registers 10.3% in this category and year six registers 12.8%.

Female students more likely to be in 'education & training' in the first year after post-primary education

Of the 24,980 female LCE Completers in the 2012/2013 academic year, 66.3% were in 'education and training only' in year one, compared to 63.2% of the 25,830 male completers.

The share of female completers in ‘education & training and substantial employment’ in year one was 13.8% compared to 11.6% for males, peaking for both females and males in year four at 47.9% and 43.2% respectively.

By year five, 29.8% of males were in ‘substantial employment only’ compared to 27.4% of females. For the 2011/2012 academic year, 25.8% of females and 28.9% of males were in this category in year five, increasing to 46.1% and 44.9% respectively in year six.

For the 2012/2013 academic year, 5.5% of males were in ‘neither employment nor education’ after five years, compared to 6.3% of females.

The rate of females in the category ‘not captured’ in year five was 5.8% and the rate for males was 5.9%.

There were 2,810 Early Leavers in 2012/2013 and 56.2%, or 1,580, were male. The proportion of males in ‘education & training only’ in year one was 50.4%, peaking in year two at 52.6%, compared to the proportion for females of 45.7% in year one, and 54.8% in year two.

In year one, 3.6% of female Early Leavers were in ‘education & training and substantial employment’ compared to 6.4% of males.

For the academic year 2012/2013, the proportion of males in ‘substantial employment only’ after five years was 26.7%, while the proportion for females was 14.8%. In year five, for the 2011/2012 cohort, 24.0% of males and 16.5% of females were in this category, rising to 27.7% and 19.9% respectively in year six.

By year five, 21.8% of females and 14.9% of males from the 2012/2013 cohort were in 'neither education nor employment'.

Females and males from the 2012/2013 academic school year were in the category ‘not captured’ after five years at a rate of 11.6% and 11.9% respectively. The gender breakdown for this category after six years for the 2011/2012 academic year was 12.3% of females and 13.1% of males.

 

Statbank tables: PPO01 - Outcomes Overview