School effects that shape students' intentions to stay-on in education

Abstract

The British government wants 50% of people under the age of 30 to have experienced higher education by 2010. However, do students really want to stay on into post-compulsory education and what factors shape their intentions? This article presents an empirical investigation into the factors that influence the intentions of fulltime students to stay on in education at the age of 16. Focus is placed on the school-specific effects captured via fixed effects nominal logit regression analysis using data from the Bradford Youth Cohort. Results indicate that school-specific effects have a significant impact on intentions to stay on in education. This has implications for policy formation, and the achievement of government targets of student numbers in further and higher education. © 1998 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.