21 June 2017 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
One of the biggest sector stories for a while, the Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset (LEO) was published for the first time by the Department for Education last week. With the election and Brexit stealing the major headlines, the importance of the data has slipped under the radar somewhat, but it is likely that the growing dataset and its analysis will play a significant role in shaping HE and wider economic policy in the coming years.
When the idea of linking educational outcomes directly with HMRC earnings data was first mooted back in the early days of the coalition government, the fear was that it would be used to challenge the ‘universal’ nature of Higher Education, reinforcing the new market model by measuring success in purely economic terms – placing greater value on the courses and institutions that facilitate students on their way into higher-paid jobs. It is likely this will still happen to some degree, and Andrew McGettigan’s article in Wonkhe about the implications for the Creative Arts is important reading.
However it is also now apparent that some trends revealed in the LEO data – the decade-long squeeze on graduate pay in particular – serve as strong evidence in support of the recent push, led by the Labour party, to eliminate tuition fees or otherwise remodel sector funding. There’s more on the political implications of the data on the Wonkhe website, but this is where the impact of the data goes beyond just HE, and taps into continued pessimism about social mobility, as outlined in a new government study.
One of the other big fears about LEO data is the potential to use it to create (yet another) league table. This hasn’t yet materialised, due to the data not being released by institution. This is a relief for now, but it’s probably only a matter of time…
