• About this study
• Our findings

Disengagement from education among 14 - 16 year olds

Did you know?

40% of 13/14 year olds are highly engaged with school and education.

from : Disengagement from education among 14 - 16 year olds

About this study

Latest research has shown that 40% of Year 9 pupils are highly engaged with school and aspire to continue with their education up to degree level.

We identified three other general levels of engagement or disengagement from education among 14-16 year olds.

Find out more

• You can read headline findings from our research here, or,

• Read the full report here

What do we mean by engagement & disengagement?

In previous studies disengagement is normally narrowly defined as poor attainment, or by high levels of truancy.

We think that disengagement is more complex than this. For example, a number of young people may continue to attend lessons but not really engage with their education.

Consequently, our research takes into account pupil's attitudes, motivations and behaviour. This gives us a better understanding of what constitutes disengagement and who is most at risk of becoming disengaged.

Potential policy impact

The implications of disengagement for young people and for wider society are well known. For young people disengagement can lead to poor labour market opportunities and the risk of being "not in education, employment or training", as well as other negative outcomes.

The engagement of young people is particularly crucial in relation to recent legislation which has raised the participation age in compulsory education to 17 by the year 2013, and then 18 by 2015.

Methods

Our findings are based on data collected from Longitudinal Study of Young People in England interviews conducted between 2004 and 2007.

Using a segmentation approach (Latent Class Analysis) the study identifies four types of engaged / disengaged young people that describe typical ways in which disengagement is expressed in our schools today.

Using this methodology we describe the characteristics of those young people who are at greatest risk of disengagement as well as the factors that might help to prevent disengagement.

We also identified whether there is a critical point at which young people are most likely to disengage, and how young people's engagement or disengagement develops as they complete the last three years of their compulsory schooling.

Of interest: