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 needs) are excluded from the survey. The sample consists of all pupils born on any one of certain predetermined days of the month.
Sweep Two Cohort Two, Sweep Two, conducted with 18-19 year-olds, was the first follow-up survey (i.e. second interview) with the first cohort of pupils selected since the series was redesigned in 1996 (Cohort One was drawn from respondents already included in the SLSS prior to the redesign). The population of interest was those pupils in the fourth year of secondary school during the academic year 1995-96. Their first interview was in 1997 aged 16-17 (that study is held at UK Data Archive under SN 4478, though the respondents were not explicitly identified by cohort number then). The names and addresses of all eligible pupils were supplied to SEEID by schools as an additional part of the school-leavers censuses. This information was then passed on to NatCen and a sample of 10% of all eligible pupils was drawn from the list by identifying all those whose birthday fell on three randomly selected dates in the month. Selected respondents were sent a questionnaire in the post to complete. It is those who returned questionnaires in 1997 that formed the population of interest for this survey. As was the case with the other 1999 surveys, students identified as having Special Educational Needs (SENs) were not included in the sample. Sweep Three In spring 2004, Cohort Two members were surveyed for the third and final time, via self-completion postal questionnaire, when they were aged 23-24. Questionnaires were only mailed to the 2,491 sample members who had returned their questionnaire at Sweep Two in 1999; those who had not responded were removed from the sample list for Sweep Three. For the second edition of the UK Data Archive study, data and documentation from Sweep Three were added.
Main Topics:
Sweep Two Topics covered include: educational and employment activities of young people after they left school; respondents' views and experiences of school itself; key decisions made as to whether to stay on at school or leave. In addition, information was gathered on background characteristics such as parents' level of education and social class, family circumstances and housing tenure. Sweep Three The questionnaire for Sweep Three was based largely on versions used for previous cohorts in the series, but some additions were made. For example, additional questions on starting individual business ventures and levels of student debt were included. Standard Measures Standard Occupational Classification 1990/2000 (SOC90/2000) depending on the sweep; Standard Industrial Classification 1992 (SIC92); National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC).
One-stage stratified or systematic random sample
Postal survey
