Challenge
The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) is an annual study conducted for the UK’s Department for Education. It follows cohorts of young people from their early teens through to 20/21 years old, tracking their transitions from secondary and tertiary education and training to workplace roles in early adulthood. Kantar Public has held the contract for this ground-breaking study – the largest of its kind that the Department for Education has conducted, and one of the largest studies of its kind in the world – since 2004.
Approach
Kantar Public offers deep expertise in educational policy evidence and advisory that spans the education system from early years to adult learning. Kantar Public’s ability to deliver this complex longitudinal programme has allowed policymakers to uncover important causal relationships in educational and economic outcomes in areas including the education participation age, for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), teenage parents and for young people with special educational needs.
Insight
LYSPE is an important landmark study from many points of view. By tracking and interviewing cohorts of young people every year for a period of 7 years, it provides a robust evidence base that draws on highly sensitive data, highlighting trends and changes in young people’s lives over the last decade. It enhances the government’s ability to monitor and evaluate the effects of existing policy, as well as providing a strong information base for future policy development.
Impact
LSYPE data have been used by other government departments also to inform policy development and by academics to investigate an array of associations between attainment and the demographic measures available in the study. LSYPE continues to add to the evidence base and to inform policies on a range of issues impacting young people.
