Importance of Management

Information Systems
 Performance to Date
• Since the start of the Essential Skills strategy there has
been nearly a five fold increase in enrolments (from
4,018 to 19,678).

• Essential Skills in Literacy is the most common (56%)

course enrolled on.

• 60% of all Essential Skills students gain an award from

the course on which they are enrolled.

• Retention and Achievement rates are fairly high within

Essential Skills at 79% and 76% respectively.
 Performance to Date
• Those in the 16-25 age band have a 63% success rate
as opposed to a lowly 16% success for those aged over
75.

• Males (66%) have a slightly higher success rate than

females 54 (%).

• Success rates amongst providers of Essential Skills

differ greatly e.g. DEL Training Programmes have a
success rate of 76% while the FE College sector is 53%
over the same period.
 Performance to Date
• Comparing the success rates of the Regional Colleges
illustrates a large difference amongst this group of
providers. The spread of success rates ranges from 66% to
41%.

• NI success rate of 60% for Essential Skills compares

favourable against England’s Skills for Life, as published
data indicates a success rate of approximately 49% over a
similar period of time.

• The pilot Essential Skills in ICT has the highest success

rate (75%) amongst the subjects of study, while literacy
(58%) and numeracy (63%) success rates are fairly similar
to each other.
 Performance to Date
•
Notes:
• Figures are correct as at 5th March 2009.
• For the analysis by Regional College and Sector, enrolments
returned by providers and qualifications issued by awarding bodies
have been grouped into certain provider groups, based on the
centre name recorded.
• Retention Rate = Number of non-withdrawals
Number of Enrolment minus number of
transfers
• Achievement Rate = Number of achievements
Number of non-withdrawals
• Success Rate = Number of achievements
Number of Enrolment minus number of
transfers
Enrolments by Academic Year
Figure 1: Number of Essential Skills Enrolments by Academic Year

25,000

20,000
Number of Enrolments

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
Up to 31 July 1 August 2003 1 August 2004 1 August 2005 1 August 2006 1 August 2007 1 August 2008
2003 - 31 July 2004 - 31 July 2005 - 31 July 2006 - 31 July 2007 - 31 July 2008 - 31 July 2009
Academic Year

Number of enrolments
 Qualifications Achieved
Academic Year Qualifications

Up to 31 July 2003 316

1 August 2003 - 31 July 2004 3,445

1 August 2004 - 31 July 2005 5,463

1 August 2005 - 31 July 2006 9,697

1 August 2006 - 31 July 2007 12,428

1 August 2007 - 31 July 2008 15,013

Total 56,990