English Baccalaureate feeds students into higher education

Supply teachers will be interested to hear that 81 per cent of students who completed the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) were in higher education by the time they were 19-years-old.

Furthermore, in a bleak period for youth employment, only three per cent of EBacc students were not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The figures were released last week in a study focusing on the experiences of 19-year-olds conducted by The Youth Cohort Study and Longitudinal Study of Young People in England.

It was also revealed that 67 per cent of students with five GCSE passes at A* to C or equivalent, including English and maths, were in full-time higher education.

Subjects studied for the EBacc are geography, history, the sciences, a language and the compulsory maths and English.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said these statistics underline the importance of studying the core academic subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate.

He added: "Young people who achieve good grades in these subjects are more likely to go on to higher education and less likely to be NEET."

Yesterday, it was announced that universities were given clearance to charge £9,000 in tuition fees.

As such, more than a third of English universities will charge this fee adding to fears that the middle-classes will be isolated in their higher education choices. 

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