Teens on the up

The proportion of 16 to 18-year olds participating in education rose to 67 per cent in 1992/93 -- a 3 percentage point rise on the previous year and 14 percentage points up on 1982/83, according to Department for Education statistics. Further education enrolments rose by 15 per cent during the same ten-year period to 3.8 million, while higher education enrolments increased by 65 per cent to 1.4 million. In 1993, 62 per cent of 19-year-olds were qualified to at least National Vocational Qualification level 2, and 37 per cent of 21-year-olds to NVQ level 3.