Young people in Coventry and Warwickshire are getting the message about the importance of getting qualifications – and one in five getting a job which guarantees training.

The local ‘Success Index’, which tracks what pupils do when their compulsory education ends at 16, shows that last year over 88 per cent listened to the advice.

This compares with 86.9 per cent the previous year, and a low of 85.6 per cent in 1995. Around five per cent of pupils were untraceable, through perhaps having moved.

A job with training is increasingly popular as a viable alternative to higher education – and is largely the reason for the improved success, said Chamber analysts.

"The information is vital for informing the planning and economic development of our area," said a spokesman for The Chamber, which produces the result from information collected by Warwickshire Careers and Quality Careers Service, Coventry.

"We are steadily getting the message across, but it still means that around 1,000 of the 9,000 – plus 16 year olds are taking what we call ‘negative’ decisions – going into a job without training or joining the ranks of the unemployed.

"We set ourselves a target of 88 per cent going into ‘positive’ choices, and have just managed to beat that."

Over a fifth of 16 year olds are now taking up training under the Modern Apprenticeships, Work-based Training or the new National Traineeships offered by the Chamber of Commerce, Training and Enterprise.

This is an increase of 1.1 per cent on last year, at 20.6 per cent, and compares with a 1995 low of 17.5 per cent.

"The popularity of Modern Apprenticeships, helped by the new National Traineeships, was largely responsible for our being able to achieve this," The Chamber spokesman said.

"This was slightly more true in Coventry than in Warwickshire."

But within the county there was a wide variation. In Stratford 7.5 per cent took up ‘negative’ options, rising to 8.5 per cent Warwick, 11.9 in Nuneaton and Bedworth, to 14.2 per cent in Rugby , and with North Warwickshire the worst at 17.1 per cent.

For those taking up jobs with training the figures were: Stratford 13.3 per cent, Rugby 14.3, Warwick 16.7, and North Warwickshire 21.7 per cent – wit this option most popular in Nuneaton and Bedworth where it was the choice of 31.6 per cent.

The Chamber spokesman added:

"Equally encouraging was the fact that more Asian and black pupils are seeing the sense of higher education or a job with training than their white counterparts.

"Over 94 per cent of those with Asian origins chose ‘positive’ routes, as did over 91 per cent of black youngsters – both higher than white pupils.

"Asian pupils favoured further education, at 86.4 per cent, with white pupils three more times likely to prefer work training or a job with training.

"More black young people chose further education, at 74.4 per cent, than white."