Understanding the harmonisation of LPS highest educational qualification variables

Understanding the harmonisation of LPS highest educational qualification variables#

Last modified: 02 Oct 2025

UK LLC has harmonised data on education for LPS participants and their parents (where available).

Introduction#

Qualifications have been standardised to the closest equivalent in the current education system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These summarised as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) levels. Qualifications awarded in Scotland have been harmonised to their equivalents in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Where LPS asked participants a single question about their highest qualification, UK LLC uses this answer as the basis of the harmonised variable(s). Some LPS asked a multiple response question about all the qualifications participants had. In these case, UK LLC extracted the highest qualification from the list.

N.B. As qualifications have been asked about in different ways, and have changed over time, there is some overlap in the categories used to generate the harmonised variables.

The qualifications included in each category used by UK LLC are summarised in below.

Highest educational qualification categories:

None

None
None attempted

Low or none

None
None attempted
Primary (or equivalent)
Some primary (not complete)
NVQ1 level
NVQ1/CSE other grade equivalent
Vocational course, proficiency only
Sub GCE or sub Burnham C
CSES or equivalent

NVQ1 equivalent

NVQ1 level
NVQ1/CSE other grade equivalent
Vocational course, proficiency only
Sub GCE or sub Burnham C

NVQ2 equivalent

NVQ2 level
NVQ2/GCE O’ level equivalent
O’ level
GCE O’ level or Burnham C
GCE O’ levels/CSE or equivalent
Apprenticeship
GCSE etc
CSES or equivalent
O’ levels, GCSES or equivalent

GCSE

NVQ2 level
NVQ2/GCE O’ level equivalent
O’ level
GCSE/O’ level/Intermediate/Junior/Group certificate or equivalent
GCE O’ level or Burnham C
GCE O’ Levels/CSE or equivalent
Apprenticeship
GCSE etc
O’ levels, GCSES or equivalent

NVQ3 equivalent (A' level)

NVQ3 level
NVQ3/GCE A’ level equivalent
ONC/OND/BTEC, NVQ level 3, City and Guilds advanced craft or equivalent
A’ level
A’ level/Leaving certificate or equivalent
AS levels or equivalent
GCE A’ Level or Burnham B
Burnham A2

NVQ4 equivalent

NVQ4 level
Diploma/certificate
Undergraduate Primary degree
1st Degree or graduate equivalent
Higher education below degree

NVQ5 equivalent

NVQ5 level
Postgraduate/higher degree
Masters
Doctorate

Other

Foreign/overseas qualifications
Other academic qualifications
Other qualifications

UK LLC has harmonised data about education into four categories for LPS participants and two categories for participants' parents. These are summarised in Tables 1 and 2. Harmonised education information is provided for each LPS at the most granular level available.

Table 1: summary of LPS participants’ harmonised education variables

llc_educ_1 8 categories	llc_educ_2 6 categories	llc_educ_3 6 categories	llc_educ_4 4 categories
None	None	Low or none	A’ level or lower (inc. none)
NVQ1 equivalent	NVQ1/2 equivalent	GCSE	A’ level or lower (inc. none)
NVQ2 equivalent	NVQ1/2 equivalent	GCSE	A’ level or lower (inc. none)
NVQ3 equivalent (A’ level)	NVQ3 equivalent (A’ level)	NVQ3 equivalent (A’ level)	A’ level or lower (inc. none)
NVQ4 equivalent	NVQ4/5 equivalent	NVQ4/5 equivalent	NVQ4/5 equivalent
NVQ5 equivalent	NVQ4/5 equivalent	NVQ4/5 equivalent	NVQ4/5 equivalent
Other	Other	Other	Other
NA¹	NA	NA	NA

Table 2: summary of harmonised education variables for LPS participants parent(s)

llc_educ_M1² 3 categories	llc_educ_M2 3 categories
	A’ level or lower (inc. none)
Below degree or equivalent (inc. none)
	NVQ4/5 equivalent
Degree or higher
NA¹	NA

Notes
¹ ‘NA’ refers to participants who returned the questionnaire but did not answe the relevant question(s). Participants not included in the data collection sweep are not included in the harmonised education dataset.
² The ‘M’ in the variable name refers to ‘mother’ and is used where LPS have specifically asked participants about their mother’s qualifications. Fathers’ qualifications are recorded in the variables suffixed F1 and F2. Where educational information is recorded about either an unspecified parent, or a mother’s partner, these are have the suffixes P1 and P2.

This downloadable spreadsheet summarises the categories of qualifications used by each LPS and how these have been harmonised by UK LLC.

Understanding the harmonisation of LPS highest educational qualification variables

Contents

Understanding the harmonisation of LPS highest educational qualification variables#

Introduction#