1996 CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING
FACT SHEET 18
AGE LEFT SCHOOL
'STILL AT SCHOOL' CATEGORY OF ALSP 'AGE LEFT SCHOOL'
There are approximately 10% of persons who are coded to the 'Age left School' (ALSP) category 'Still at school' whose responses to Full time/Part time Student (STUP) and Type of Educational Institution Attending (TYPP) indicate that they were not attending an educational institution. These data differ from those collected in the 1991 Census where only 0.4% of persons coded to ALSP 'still at school' had responses to STUP and TYPP indicating they were 'not attending' an educational institution.
For both Censuses, ALSP 'Age left School' was not cross edited with other fields which might indicate student status, such as STUP and TYPP. Application of such an edit requires careful judgement to ensure that individuals who are more probably still at school (eg. those whose Age (AGEP) is less than 15yrs) are not erroneously shown as not attending an institution.
In some 1996 Census cross classified tables, eg. 'Age left School' by 'Birthplace of Individual', some categories will show a considerably higher percentage of persons coded to 'still at school' whose responses to STUP or TYPP and AGEP indicate that these persons were probably not students. It is therefore recommended that either STUP or TYPP, in conjunction with AGEP, be used as a filter in 1996 Census tables which contain ALSP; and that
Where STUP or TYPP and AGEP indicate that a person/persons were 'not attending' an institution and ALSP was coded to 'still at school', the value for ALSP for these records should be considered to be 'undefined' or 'not stated'.
The Census program is currently assessing:
- the reasons underlying the misreporting in 1996 and the reasons for the growth in these errors since the 1991 Census;
- whether an ALSP to STUP/TYPP edit should be introduced for the 2001 Census; and
- the form of any edits which could be applied.
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