Schools North East Logo

News

North East tops national average of 16 and 17 year-olds in education and training

New data released today by the Department for Education reveals a notable rate of improvement in the number of 16 – 17 year-olds that are in education and training in the North East.

Our region exceeds the national average (89.5%) and goes against the overall trend of a decrease in rates.

As of June 2015, in the North East 90.9% of young people were known to be in education and training, an increase of 1.5% since June 2014.

The region ranks second, after London, in proportions of young people in education and training (London 93.1%), closely followed by Yorkshire & the Humber with 90.7%.

The North East has seen one of the highest rates of improvement since 2014, the 1.5 percentage points just slightly lower than the 1.7% change in the West Midlands, the region that has improved most in the last year.

Local Authority areas:
County Durham – 90.7%
Darlington – 90.2%
Gateshead – 92.2% (highest regional increase since 2014 – 3.7%)
Hartlepool – 90.1%
Middlesbrough – 86.9%
Newcastle – 91.1%
North Tyneside – 91.8%
Northumberland – 92.3%
Redcar & Cleveland – 91.1%
South Tyneside – 89.6%
Stockton on Tees – 90.5%
Sunderland – 91.2%

None of the 12 Local Authority areas in our region showed a dip in numbers for the past year.

In the North East there are 78.0%  16/17 year-olds in full time education and training, 8.3% enrolled in apprenticeship programmes, 2.9% in work based learning, 0.1% in part-time education and 1.3% in employment combined with training. A breakdown per local authority area is available at the DfE Source .

Similar News

30
Jan

Steady hands, bold futures: What the Academies Conference 2026 asked of us

30/01/26 Yesterday (29 January), at the Schools North East Academies Conference 2026, the phrase…

Read story
30
Jan

Rethinking school partnerships: Lessons from RGS Newcastle

30/01/26 In the latest episode of The Schools North East Podcast, we dive into…

Read story
30
Jan

Turning blue into brilliant: Crooksbarn Primary pupils excel through art

30/01/26 At Schools North East, we see every day how schools across our region…

Read story