The progression of students achieving general national vocational qualifications (GNVQ) intermediate level in 1997

Abstract

The report presents the final outcomes from the three yearly project stages of monitoring the progression and destinations of the 364 graduates of the GNVQ Intermediate in 1997 who responded to the questionnaire sent via participating schools and colleges in Northern Ireland. The overall aim of the project was to inform future policy on the development of programmes for students achieving a GNVQ Intermediate qualification in order to prepare them for study at GNVQ Advanced and NVQ levels 2 or 3. The major objective of the project, in monitoring and identifying progression patterns, was to focus particularly on routes to vocational education or training over the three year period and to identify the characteristics, including additional studies, of Intermediate programmes which enabled students to achieve success in GNVQ Advanced and Jobskills mainstream programmes. The three-year period of monitoring enabled the project to examine destinations beyond GNVQ Advanced and Jobskills including employment, higher education and continuance in any form of education or training (lifelong learning) as measures of successful outcomes. The report provides a detailed account and analysis of these patterns at each of the three survey stages in December 1997, 1998 and 1999 including a total of 121 statistical tables. The sample was calculated to be 25% of the overall population of the total 1,453 GNVQ Intermediate graduates in Northern Ireland as identified in 1997 by DENI statistics. It was judged to be representative when characteristics were compared with both the National GNVQ Survey (FEDA 1997) and profiles identified in reports from the DENI Education and Training Inspectorate. In the second year of the survey 292 (80.2% of the sample) people responded while 286 (78.6% of the sample) did so in the third and final year.