Summary

We have calculated the highest level of academic attainment for all residents that are sixteen or older in a given postcode.

Why the metric matters from a commercial inhabitant’s perspective

Historical information for the United Kingdom shows that as income per capita increases over time there is a disproportional rise in expenditure on progressive commodity groups such as education, health services, recreation and entertainment. Of such expenditure, spending on education related activity has been found to be highest in areas where the adult population has already attained high levels of education.

In London, expenditure on education related goods and services congregates around the range of 2 to 15 percent of before, where an area has an adult population that has done well academically, it is more than likely that spending on education related goods and services in such an area are likely to markedly higher than in the rest of general population.

Why the metric matters from a residential inhabitant’s perspective

Relatively high educational attainment levels often precede human capital externalities (“HCE”). HCE is the umbrella term for all the interactions between people who have high educational attainment levels. HCE can create a relative advantage for residents of locale, as the minimised physical and social distance allows for more interactions with highly educated neighbours. This consequentially permits knowledge flows and opportunities for happenstance collaboration.

In addition, those studying full time can also be a drain on local resources as they are often exempt from paying council tax so they do not contribute to local authorities’ coffers and yet they use local public services so they are net beneficiaries of local services, to the detriment of the non-student population.

However, this is not such an issue if an area has a history of large student populations, as the council will factor this exemption for the student population into their future service delivery projections. In areas which have only recently seen student numbers swell, due to overspill from neighbouring postcodes or because of the establishment of a new tertiary education institution, then the fact that students are exempt from payment of council tax whilst using local services can mean that the perceived strain on local resources may become a very real strain.

However, the presence of students in an area has a number of positive impacts on residential inhabitants. Studies show that university students return a “creativity dividend” to residents – that is they tend to bring innovative business ideas to the local area and often set up initiatives which benefit the public too, like proposals for the creation of public spaces.

Beyond the student count, residents will be interested to know the higher the proportion of people in your neighbourhood who have no qualifications or only level 1 qualifications, as higher levels of unemployment tend to be found in such enclaves.

Further, neighbourhoods, where a high proportion of the residents have no or only level 1 qualifications, have poorer health outcomes and mortality and so do their children. The issue is circular because not only do the poorly educated find it harder to access healthcare, but those already in poor health or with disabilities then find it harder to gain higher level qualifications. You will also find that where there are the poorest GCSE pass rates you will have higher levels of child poverty. There are success stories in child attainment though, where they excel in GCSE education despite high levels of child poverty - for example Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of child poverty across all London boroughs at 52 per cent but with a proportion of children achieving 5 A* - C grade GCSEs the same as the London average, at 84 per cent.

General Commentary

As of 2014, of all the regions in the UK, London was the one with the inhabitants most likely to be degree qualified and above, at just under four in ten (38 per cent). Just under three in ten (28 per cent) held low or no qualifications, one quarter (24 per cent) intermediate and one in ten (10 per cent) Other qualifications.

In the same study, it was found that White British or Irish people in London were the ethnicity most likely to have low or no qualifications. People who identified as Other White were most likely, of the six main ethnic groups, to have high qualifications at 42 per cent. However, of all 18 ethnic sub-groups, Chinese were the most qualified with 52 per cent holding a degree or higher.

The correlation between health and education referred above was apparent in these results as it was clear that the more limiting a health problem or disability was, the smaller the proportion with high qualifications. Only 14 per cent of those whose physicality was severely impaired held a degree level or higher, and six in ten had low or no qualifications; over double the London average share. 40 per cent of economically inactive Londoners and a third of those that were unemployed held no or low qualifications; much higher than average. There also appeared to be a relationship between family composition and likely education levels as Londoners living in a couple of household with dependent children were twice as likely to hold a degree-level qualification or higher than lone parents.

Younger people were much more likely to hold high level qualifications, at over half of Londoners aged 25 to 34 compared with just one fifth of those aged 65 and over, whereas male residents were much more likely to hold apprenticeships than their female counterparts. For those whom an apprenticeship was their highest qualification, eight in ten were male and less than two in ten females, demonstrating that trades such as construction and electricity are still overwhelmingly male.

It is also apparent that London is very varied from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in the education levels of its inhabitants. Wandsworth was the most educated borough in London at the time.

Trivia

Statistics from 2016 showed that London was the most educated city in Europe. In parts of London, more than two in three adults of working age, have a degree or higher education equivalent.

History

The education level of the average Londoner has grown over the centuries and particularly in the last 30 years. Of course, London has been a seat of learning since its establishment and has been home to some of the finest minds in the world, but despite existing disparities which sadly still exist from postcode to postcode, there has still been a very positive trend in the education levels of Londoners.

In 1992, only 15 per cent of people had degrees, by 2013 this had more than doubled to reach 38 per cent. Debates abound as to whether this has lowered the status and desirability of blue collar jobs and apprenticeships, diluted the prestige of holding a degree and whether there are more graduates coming out of university than there are graduate level jobs available. In terms of earning potential, it is clear that attendance of the higher-ranking universities ensures better earning outcomes and that it will also depend on the subject you study. For example, those studying astrophysics, geophysics and actuarial mathematics are some of the highest earners post graduation.

There has also been a positive change over time in the educational disparities between inner and outer London. Previously there was a much larger divide in GCSE attainment levels between inner and outer London, however, in recent years this gap has been greatly lessened. This is predominantly due to the significant improvement seen in GCSE attainment in inner London. In 2002, inner London had by far the smallest proportion of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C grade GCSEs of all regions in England. However, by 2012, inner London had the second-highest GCSE results across all regions in England after outer London.