Post-18 opportunities and aspirations
Think tank: The Sutton Trust
Author(s): Various authors
November 23, 2023
This report from UK think tanks the Sutton Trust and CEPEO explores the post-18 education and career plans of young people and the opportunities available to them.
The second briefing from Wave 2 of the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) study explores the post-18 education and career plans of young people and the opportunities available to them.
As part of the Wave 1 findings of the study, we examined the education and career plans of the COSMO cohort when they were in Year 12 (aged 16-17). A key finding from this analysis was that over three in five young people changed their education or career plans due to the pandemic. Following this group into Wave 2, we are now in a position to say more about what the repercussions of this have been.
For some, the education and career pathways set upon last year will have remained on course; for others, instabilities in their lives precipitated by the pandemic may have resulted in further change – above and beyond what they reported in Year 12. Using data from a sample of over 11,000 young people across England who were in Year 13 in 2023, this briefing shows how opportunities available to young people to do the types of jobs and training that they want to are not equally spread across the country.
