Government figures show that the highest ever proportion of 16-18 year olds were participating in education or training at the end of 2010.
The annual data on young people’s participation in education, employment and training showed the proportion of 16-18 year olds in education and training was 84.4 per cent at the end of 2010 – an increase of 2.0 percentage points from 82.5 per cent at the end of 2009. The total number of 16-18 year olds in education and training increased by 1,600 to 1.64 million at the end of 2010.