ABSTRACT

The 1980s brought a series of new education and training initiatives. These were led by employers, not a left-leaning intelligentsia. During the 1980s, economists joined sociologists in investigating young people's new routes towards employment. The economists' interest was in returns on investments in human capital measured in chances of avoiding unemployment and earnings when in jobs. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s comprehensive secondary schools were steadily increasing the proportions of young people passing General Certificate of Education (GCE) O levels then progressing to A levels. The numbers leapt from 1988 onwards, when GCE O levels were merged with Certificates of Secondary Education (CSEs). Then, at the beginning of the 1990s, there was a rapid expansion in the number of students progressing into higher education. This was followed by a steady rise throughout the rest of the 1990s and into the 2000s, so that today roughly half of each cohort has enrolled on a 'tertiary' course by age 30.