Education Outcomes Linkage - Northern Ireland
The Education Outcomes Linkage flagship dataset is newly available this year. An ADR Northern Ireland initiative launched in March 2023, it involves a collaboration between NISRA, the Department of Education and the Department for the Economy. The project has developed the foundation of a Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) database for Northern Ireland.
The Education Outcomes Linkage has been developed to advance research across a range of themes and to enable a number of research questions to be considered. These include the best predictors of educational attainment; the impact of free school meals; an exploration of special educational needs outcomes; and the impact of geographical comparisons, ethnicity, religion, and first language on exam performance.
One research project has already commenced using the Education Outcomes Linkage, and a further project is being progressed through the required approvals processes.
Education Outcomes Linkage phase 1
Phase one of the project concluded with the launch of the Education Outcomes Linkage 2018/19 in March 2023. It contains post primary schools’ data for pupils aged 14 and over in Northern Ireland. It links together a number of datasets held by Department of Education: the schools census (including attendance data), the school leavers’ survey and the exams database. It is a longitudinal, relational database – meaning that it contains information about people covering a period of time and which enables this related information to be linked.
Education Outcomes Linkage phase 2
Work has also commenced to update the Education Outcomes Linkage with data for the years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22. Phase two of the project will involve the inclusion of Department for the Economy data covering further education, apprenticeships, training and higher education. Initial planning for this phase has commenced and a project team and project board will be established in due course.
