Where do I go and what should I do? Routes through further education.

This paper investigates the educational attainment of young people between the ages of sixteen and eighteen after having entered full-time post-compulsory education. In particular we focus on the educational attainment and labour market trajectory of `underachievers´: young people who have chosen to remain in full-time education at age sixteen, despite not gaining the widely recognised U.K. academic benchmark of five GCSE grades A*-C. Our results suggest that the best route to educational success for young people considered as of lower ability at age 16 is through the FE college where they catch-up with their `more able´ counterparts by age 18.