Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales, 1986-1988; Cohort Two, Sweep One to Three

<p>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</p>The <i>Youth Cohort Study</i> (YCS) is a major programme of longitudinal research designed to monitor the behaviour and decisions of representative samples of young people aged sixteen upwards as they make the transition from compulsory education to further or higher education, or to the labour market. It tries to identify and explain the factors which influence post-16 transitions, for example, educational attainment, training opportunities, experiences at school. To date the YCS covers thirteen cohorts and over forty surveys. The first cohort was first surveyed in 1985 and the thirteenth in 2007. The questionnaires have been designed, over the years, to be broadly comparable, but external changes and shifts in policy interest have brought about changes - some minor, some fundamental. Cohorts One to Twelve cover England and Wales but a change to the methodology means that from Cohort Thirteen, data cover England only. For further details of the methodology and coverage, see the documentation.<br> <br> The UK Data Archive currently holds data for the cohorts listed below:<ul><li>Cohort One (SN 3093) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1983-84</li><li>Cohort Two (SN 3094) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1984-85</li><li>*Cohort Three (SN 3012) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1985-86</li><li>Cohort Four (SN 3107) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1987-88</li><li>Cohort Five (SN 3531) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1989-90</li><li>Cohort Six (SN 3532) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1990-91</li><li>Cohort Seven (SN 3533) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1992-93</li><li>Cohort Eight (SN 3805) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1995-96</li><li>Cohort Nine (SN 4009) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1996-97</li><li>Cohort Ten (SN 4571) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 1998-99</li><li>Cohort Eleven (SN 5452) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 2000-01</li><li>Cohort Twelve (SN 5830) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 2002-03</li></li><li>Cohort Thirteen (SN 6024) surveyed those eligible to leave school in 2005-06</li></ul>*Some teaching materials using the data from Cohort Three have been developed. Details are available from the <a href="http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/185474/tramsswebsite_archive.pdf" title="Teaching Resources and Materials for Social Scientists (TRAMSS)">Teaching Resources and Materials for Social Scientists (TRAMSS)</a> website.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<br><i>Sweep One</i><br> The questionnaire for Sweep One included the following information:<ul><li>attitude towards school in 4th and 5th years</li><li>qualification attainment in 5th year</li><li>education and career advice</li><li>activities since last September (unemployment, youth training scheme (YTS), employment, education)</li><li>family</li><li>plans and views on the future</li><li>classificatory variables include gender, socio-economic grade of parents, school type and region</li></ul><i>Sweep Two</i><br> The questionnaire for Sweep Two included the following information:<ul><li> activities since last summer (unemployment, YTS, employment, education)</li><li>part-time employment</li><li>extra qualifications achieved since 5th year at school</li><li> plans and views on the future</li></ul><i>Sweep Three</i><br> The questionnaire for Sweep Three included the following information:<ul><li> activities in the past year (unemployment, YTS, employment, education)</li><li> part-time employment</li><li>qualifications since 5th year at school</li><li> courses in higher education</li><li>plans and views on the future</li>