In summer 2013, the Department for Education released 16-19 interim minimum standards for academic and vocational qualification, applying to schools and colleges [1]. A school sixth form or college was seen as underperforming if fewer than 40% of students achieve an average point score per entry in academic qualifications of 172 points or fewer than 40% of students achieve an average point score per entry in vocational qualifications of 194 points. The same thresholds apply for 2011/12 and 2012/13 academic years.

Across the country a majority of centres meet and surpass the threshold. We looked into the minimum standards data and examined the numbers of centres below the threshold measures across regions in England and how this changed between 2012 and 2013.

• 2% of centres (40 centres) were below the academic minimum standards in 2012 and 1.5% (31) in 2013.

• 2.4% of centres (33) were below the vocational minimum standards in 2012 and 1.9% (29) in 2013.

The percentage of centres below the academic minimum standards increased in two regions, East Midlands and North West, remained unchanged in North East and decreased in the other 6 regions. Similarly, only in South West and North West the percentage of centres below the vocational threshold increased, decreasing in the other 7 regions [2].

• West Midlands saw the highest percentage decrease of centres below the academic threshold from 4% (10) to 2.4% (6).

• North West saw the highest percentage increase of centres below the vocational threshold from 2.5% (4) to 5.2% (9).

What impact has the introduction of the 16-19 interim minimum standards had in your centre or local authority? Has it triggered an Ofsted inspection? We are eager to hear from you. Explore our Big Numbers and join us on Twitter (@learningplusuk), on our Post-16 Learning Forum or LinkedIn group to share your views!

 

[1] Department for Education, 16-19 accountability

[2] Please note that the number of centres eligible for the minimum standards changed between the two years, with a small decrease in the number of centres eligible for the academic minimum standards and a larger increase in the number of centres eligible for the vocational minimum standards. The reference table shows the raw numbers for each region.