Foreword by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment

Our White Paper Excellence in Schools launched a national crusade to raise standards in education. This government is committed to raising standards in all institutions, to benefit all learners, and the principles behind Excellence in Schools apply equally to education post-16, be it in schools or colleges.

In the past there has been too much wasteful competition between schools and colleges. We want to see more partnership between institutions, more sharing of good practice. That way, all young people will have the opportunity to reach their potential.

At the end of compulsory schooling, young people can undertake a huge variety of courses, and can study for many different types of qualifications. These tables summarise the achievements of students in the main post-16 qualifications taken in schools and Further Education sector colleges. The tables celebrate the success of countless students, parents, teachers and lecturers.

In future years we intend to improve the tables and provide better information, so that they show the progress made by students. This will give a better picture of the 'value added'. We will be consulting early next year about ways in which we might do this, and other ways of improving the information in the tables.

I hope you will find these tables interesting in themselves, and that students and parents will find them helpful when they make decisions about what and where to study after compulsory education. Equally importantly, they can help schools and colleges think about ways of improving their own performance.

A separate set of tables covers the achievements of students in secondary schools. You can order further copies of any of the tables by ringing 0800 24 23 22

Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

Secretary of State for Education and Employment