Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Scottish Executive has sponsored surveys of school-leavers and young people since the early 1970s. These include the first incarnation of the Scottish School-Leavers Survey (SSLS) which, in the mid-1980s, was subsumed within the broader Scottish Young People's Survey (SYPS - this series is held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) under GN 33227). Following a review in 1991 of the use made of the findings by the Scottish Executive Education and Industry Department (SEEID), the survey was redesigned and resumed the title of the Scottish School-Leavers Survey. A further review in 1996 led to the establishment of the current design, which involves sampling cohorts of young people in fourth year and then collecting data from them on four occasions, at the ages of 16-17, 18-19, 21-22 and 23-24 years. The series is conducted for the Scottish Executive by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), who were known as Social and Community Planning Research prior to 1999. The Scottish Centre for Social Research (SCSR or ScotCen) was created in 2004 by combining NatCen's existing operation in Scotland with an independent research consultancy, Scottish Health Feedback. SCSR have now taken over the running of the SSLS series. The SSLS series obtains information on the educational and employment activities of young people after they leave school; their views and experiences of school itself; and key decisions made about whether to stay on at school or not. In addition, background characteristics are gathered, such as parents' level of education and social class, family circumstances and housing tenure. One of the main aims of the survey is to try and predict demand for higher education. The survey involves a random sample of all pupils in the relevant school year group. The only exception is that pupils at special schools (but not those in mainstream schools registered as having special educational...