How do school and college destination measures work?
DfE destination measures track what pupils and students go on to do after a stage of education. They use matched administrative records to identify sustained education, apprenticeship or employment.
What are the main destination measures?
Key Stage 4 destinations
Follow pupils after Year 11. The latest measure covers pupils completing Key Stage 4 in 2022/23, followed in 2023/24. Headline figures refer to state-funded mainstream schools.
16–18 destinations
Follow students after the end of 16–18 study. The latest measure covers students reaching the end of 16–18 study in 2022/23, followed in 2023/24. Headline figures cover state-funded mainstream schools and colleges.
Progression to higher education or training
Follows Level 3 students into sustained Level 4+ education or apprenticeships using a two-year window.
Where does the data come from?
DfE links administrative sources covering education, apprenticeships, higher education and employment. The exact methodology is documented by DfE alongside each release.
Why use administrative data?
It provides large-scale evidence of actual recorded activity rather than relying only on plans or surveys. But matching is not perfect and some activity remains unknown.
Why is the newest data not about this year’s leavers?
Because sustained outcomes cannot be known immediately. The time lag is essential to the measure, not a shortcoming of it.
The Explorer covers the separate DfE participation series for ages 16 to 21, with the population and age definition on every chart.