Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of the survey is to identify factors influencing flows from school to tertiary education. The Scottish School Leavers Survey has been carried out biennially since 1977, while Qualified School Leavers surveys stretch back to 1962. Since 1984, when a school-year group was first surveyed in addition to the school-leaver group, the Scottish School Leavers Survey has been subsumed within the Scottish Young People's Survey (GN: 33227).

Main Topics:

Reasons for staying on/not staying on at school, reasons for dropping subjects, perceptions/opinions of occupations, ccupational intentions, applications (with reasons for application) to tertiary education. Details of academic achievements (exams passed, grades obtained), degree of parental interest in respondent's education, whether attitudes of respondent and parents coincide. Attitudes to occupations and careers, e.g. 'ideal job' description. Marriage and family-building intentions. Type of employment/education entered by respondent after leaving school (with reasons), subjects taken by university entrants. Background Variables Age, sex, marital status (married, engaged, 'going steady', single), number of siblings, type of school attended, place of work. Telephone ownership. Respondent's father: age finished full-time education; occupation; grade; occupational qualifications; employment status. Respondent's mother: age finished full-time education; occupation.

Simple random sample

one in five random by date of birth - subjects selected who were born on days of the month exactly

Postal survey