VETrack : longitudinal study of learners in vocational education, wave 1 report

The aim of VETrack is to understand the factors that are associated with successful outcomes from studying a vocational course at Level 3 in the further education (FE) system in England. It is a longitudinal study that tracks a cohort of learners as they leave their study and then progress towards employment. There are two types of learners – college-based students in full-time study and apprentices with work-based learning, and hereinafter respectively referred to as ‘students’ and ‘apprentices’. As the study develops it will be possible to identify how VET policy might be developed to improve outcomes for young people studying at Level 3. This report presents findings from Wave 1 of VETrack. This first wave surveys students and apprentices at the point of completion of their studies/training. It is intended to provide benchmark data for subsequent analyses. The report’s next section first provides the background to and the focus of VETrack. It then outlines the research design of VETrack before providing an overview of the responses to the Wave 1 survey. The descriptive findings are then presented. The penultimate section indicates data collection to measure return and outcomes of VET at Level 3 beyond Wave 1. The final section of the report indicates the project’s next steps