What is being done with the information we have collected so far?
What is being done with the information and what has been found?
Information gathered from the study so far is already being used to help improve services to young people. This section describes some of the things that have been done with the information and some of the findings so far.
We would like to remind you that all your answers are treated as strictly confidential by the Next Steps research team. This means, for example, that no-one at your college, university or workplace, no-one who lives with you and no other Government Department will be able to identify you through what you tell Next Steps. When the results of the study are written up in published reports, it will be impossible to identify you or your family.
Your personal details (such as your name and address) are kept separately from the information you give us and in secure conditions (including encryption) which ensure they cannot be accessed by anyone outside the research team. When we need to transfer data between the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) and the research team we use an extremely secure on-line method not copying data to media such as disks.
Your personal details will never be passed on to outside organisations, apart from research organisations doing more work for the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) or BIS on the Next Steps study who will be legally obliged to keep them confidential.
The Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) who manage Next Steps are working hard using the data you have supplied us with so far and several of the reports are now published and available online. To access the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) publications which have used data from Next Steps, please see links below.
All the projects the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) undertake using data from Next Steps feed into the development of policies for young people. Over the past year, data from Next Steps has been used in the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) to better understand who are the victims of bullying when they are at school, which sorts of bullying they experience and what happens to them after they leave school. For further information on this work please go to:
We’ve also used it to examine the risky behaviours (such as drinking alcohol, smoking and taking drugs) which young people can become involved in, so we know how to tackle such issues better in the future. For further information on this project please go to:
Currently the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) are using the data to: better understand how young people become involved in crime and how this changes as they get older; to better understand young people drinking alcohol, looking at how often they report drinking alcohol and what other things (such as exam results and social activities) it is linked to; and, to explore how sources of Information, Advice and Guidance have been used by young people and how this affected their decisions after compulsory education.
But it’s not just the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) who are using the data within Government; other Departments are using it too. The Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS) recently used it to look at those who wanted to go into Higher Education and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) examined the effects of living in rural areas on educational choices, experiences and outcomes.
Addition of examination results
If you were ever at a state school, information about your examination results will be added to your answers from something called the National Pupil Database (NPD). The NPD is made up mainly of information the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) collect from state schools every year. We do this so we don’t have to ask you so many questions about exams you have done in the past, which helps to make the interview shorter for you.
If you were at an independent (‘private’) school (or were attending one when you took your GCSEs), and have never attended a maintained secondary school, then the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) will link your answers to a database which contains only examination results such as GCSEs and A-Levels. This is so we don’t have to ask you about your results.
Even though you have now left school, most of you will not have left learning. Where the Department for Education (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families) or and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has information on any courses you may be doing, these may also be added to your answers so we don’t have to ask as many questions.
To learn more about some of the findings from the study please click the headings below
Here you can find a selection of findings from the study so far. We will update this section in future to reflect the findings from the study and the ways in which we are using the information you gave us.
Findings from the 5th wave of the study (2008)
In your fifth interview, amongst other things you were asked lots of question about living in Britain in the 21st century, how you identify yourself within society, how fair you think Britain is and how engaged you are in the political process. Below is a selection of findings from these questions:
Your feelings about Britain appear to be linked with your ethnic background. Being British appears most important to Pakistani and Indian young people and least important to Black Caribbean young people. Asian (including Pakistani, Indian and other Asian) young people were also more likely to think that Britain is a fair society.
Chart A. Agreement with “Being British is important to me”
Chart B. Agreement with “Britain today is a place where people are usually treated fairly no matter what background they come from”
The next general election is looming in 2010, and back in wave 5 we asked about your engagement with the political system. When you were aged 17/18 approximately a quarter of you (23%) were certain you would vote in the next general election and one in ten (11%) said you said there was no chance of you voting.
By looking at your responses about how fairly you felt you were treated by Government and your likelihood of voting in the next general election (rated on a scale 0-10 with 0 being no chance and 10 being certain), you can see that those who felt they were treated fairly were much more likely say you would vote compared with those who felt unfairly treated.
Chart C. Likelihood of voting in the General Election (0-10) by how fairly the young person feels people like themselves are treated by Government
Findings from the 4th wave of the study (2007)
What you ended up doing after Year 11 (Click to show/hide)
Findings from the 3rd wave of the study (2006)
Favourite subjects for those hoping to go to university (Click to show/hide)
Your Health (Click to show/hide)
Caring responsibilities (Click to show/hide)
Findings from the 1st wave of the study (2004)
Using Computers (Click to show/hide)
Relationships with parents (Click to show/hide)
Ways in which young people spend their free time (Click to show/hide)
