Further education participation
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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toNumber of people in further education by ethnicity over time section
- 3. Navigate toPercentage of people in further education by ethnicity over time section
- 4. Navigate toFurther education participation by ethnicity, compared with the overall population by ethnicity section
- 5. Navigate to Methodology section
- 6. Navigate to Data sources section
- 7. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- between 2002/03 and 2016/17, the percentage of people in further education who were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined increased from 13.3% to 20.5%; the number of people in further education from the same groups went up by 3%, from 627,000 to 646,000
- during the same period, the total number of people in further education fell by 33%, from 4.7 million in 2002/03 to 3.2 million in 2016/17, and the number of White students fell by 35% from 3.8 million to 2.4 million
- in 2016/17, people from White ethnic groups made up 77.7% of those in further education, and 84.8% of the overall population of England
Things you need to know
The way data was collected changed in 2011. As a result, data for the period 2002/03 to 2010/11 is not directly comparable to that for 2011/12 to 2016/17.
Between 2002/03 and 2006/07, ethnicity data for people on employer training pilots was not collected. This means there is a difference between the data reported here and the total further education numbers reported by the Department for Education for this period.
What the data measures
This data measures the number of people taking part in further education, broken down by ethnicity.
Each reporting period covers an academic year, which runs from 1 August to 31 July.
Further education includes:
- classroom and work-based learning
- apprenticeships
- community learning
- learning by offenders
It is offered by a range of providers, including further education colleges and external institutions. The data only includes people funded by the government.
A person studying on more than one course with a single provider is counted once. A person who studies with more than one provider in an academic year will be counted separately at each. In that case they will be counted as 2 or more participants.
To provide additional context, the percentage of people participating in further education by ethnic group has been compared to population estimates for 2016 published by the Office for National Statistics.
The ethnic categories used in this data
Data has been classified using the 5 standardised ethnic groups based on the 2011 Census.
The 5 categories used are:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other ethnic group
2. Number of people in further education by ethnicity over time
| Time | All | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participants | Participants | Participants | Participants | Participants | Participants | Participants | |
| 2002/03 | 4,703,310 | 288,230 | 198,310 | 50,220 | 3,754,600 | 90,410 | 321,540 |
| 2003/04 | 5,437,420 | 328,880 | 228,550 | 66,730 | 4,433,090 | 99,110 | 281,060 |
| 2004/05 | 5,563,150 | 349,790 | 257,440 | 78,290 | 4,529,830 | 107,760 | 240,040 |
| 2005/06 | 4,893,920 | 331,740 | 250,040 | 78,360 | 3,968,180 | 95,650 | 169,950 |
| 2006/07 | 4,202,780 | 297,530 | 230,010 | 77,000 | 3,382,000 | 84,790 | 131,450 |
| 2007/08 | 4,360,750 | 318,370 | 246,680 | 83,390 | 3,496,730 | 82,010 | 133,570 |
| 2008/09 | 4,837,100 | 373,890 | 274,370 | 93,630 | 3,873,920 | 89,640 | 131,650 |
| 2009/10 | 4,635,510 | 359,290 | 266,330 | 95,980 | 3,716,760 | 90,010 | 107,140 |
| 2010/11 | 4,264,860 | 349,980 | 258,100 | 95,430 | 3,393,000 | 81,280 | 87,070 |
| 2011/12 | 4,216,610 | 346,860 | 267,800 | 103,840 | 3,342,040 | 78,230 | 77,840 |
| 2012/13 | 4,320,270 | 340,210 | 272,870 | 111,700 | 3,420,430 | 80,140 | 94,920 |
| 2013/14 | 3,913,520 | 306,900 | 242,300 | 106,660 | 3,095,990 | 74,580 | 87,090 |
| 2014/15 | 3,576,860 | 289,230 | 228,440 | 102,010 | 2,821,900 | 71,980 | 63,300 |
| 2015/16 | 3,274,900 | 271,500 | 206,750 | 95,240 | 2,559,790 | 68,330 | 73,290 |
| 2016/17 | 3,152,110 | 271,760 | 206,600 | 94,650 | 2,448,260 | 72,720 | 58,120 |
Download table data for ‘Number of people in further education by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Number of people in further education by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Further education participation Number of people in further education by ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
- overall, the number of people in further education peaked in 2004/05, at 5.6 million
- the number of people in further education from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined reached its highest point in 2008/09 (at 832,000), while the number of White participants peaked in 2004/05 (at 4.5 million)
- since 2004/05, overall the number of people in further education has fallen by 43%, while participation among ethnic minority groups (excluding White minorities) has fallen by 19% – against this trend, participation among people with Mixed ethnicity increased by 21%
3. Percentage of people in further education by ethnicity over time
| Time | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| 2002/03 | 6.1 | 4.2 | 1.1 | 79.8 | 1.9 | 6.8 |
| 2003/04 | 6.0 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 81.5 | 1.8 | 5.2 |
| 2004/05 | 6.3 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 81.4 | 1.9 | 4.3 |
| 2005/06 | 6.8 | 5.1 | 1.6 | 81.1 | 2.0 | 3.5 |
| 2006/07 | 7.1 | 5.5 | 1.8 | 80.5 | 2.0 | 3.1 |
| 2007/08 | 7.3 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 80.2 | 1.9 | 3.1 |
| 2008/09 | 7.7 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 80.1 | 1.9 | 2.7 |
| 2009/10 | 7.8 | 5.7 | 2.1 | 80.2 | 1.9 | 2.3 |
| 2010/11 | 8.2 | 6.1 | 2.2 | 79.6 | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| 2011/12 | 8.2 | 6.4 | 2.5 | 79.3 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| 2012/13 | 7.9 | 6.3 | 2.6 | 79.2 | 1.9 | 2.2 |
| 2013/14 | 7.8 | 6.2 | 2.7 | 79.1 | 1.9 | 2.2 |
| 2014/15 | 8.1 | 6.4 | 2.9 | 78.9 | 2.0 | 1.8 |
| 2015/16 | 8.3 | 6.3 | 2.9 | 78.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| 2016/17 | 8.6 | 6.6 | 3.0 | 77.7 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
Download table data for ‘Percentage of people in further education by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Percentage of people in further education by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Further education participation Percentage of people in further education by ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
- between 2002/03 and 2016/17, the percentage of people in further education who were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined increased from 13.3% to 20.5%
- in 2016/17, 77.7% of people in further education were White, 8.6% were Asian, 6.6% were Black, 3.0% had Mixed ethnicity, and 2.3% were from the Other ethnic group
4. Further education participation by ethnicity, compared with the overall population by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Ethnicity | FE learners | Population (2016 estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | Asian | 8.6 | 8.0 |
| Black | Black | 6.6 | 3.6 |
| Mixed | Mixed | 3.0 | 2.6 |
| White | White | 77.7 | 84.8 |
| Other | Other | 2.3 | 1.1 |
Download table data for ‘Further education participation by ethnicity, compared with the overall population by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Further education participation by ethnicity, compared with the overall population by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Further education participation Further education participation by ethnicity, compared with the overall population by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2016/17, people from White ethnic groups made up 77.7% of those in further education, and 84.8% of the overall population of England
- Black people made up 6.6% of all further education participants, and 3.6% of the overall population
- people from the Other ethnic group made up 2.3% of all further education participants, and 1.1% of the overall population
5. Methodology
This data is based on the ‘individualised learner record’ (ILR) of people in further education, which collected by further education providers and submitted to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Ethnicity data is completed by the learner, and no adjustments are made by the learning provider.
Data on learners that forms part of the employer ownership pilot (EOP) is gathered from employers in the same format as the ILR and included in the ILR dataset.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Participant numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10 to avoid identification of individuals.
Numbers less than 5 have been suppressed.
Rounding
Participant numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.
Quality and methodology information
6. Data sources
Source
FE data library: further education and skills
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Data about people in further education and their type of learning is used by Education and Skills Funding Agency to allocate funding for further education.