A high level of school absence has persisted across many countries since the COVID-19 pandemic. We use English data to investigate whether a student's absence during the pandemic had a causal impact on school attendance and academic progress in future years, using variation in local regulations during the pandemic (not aimed at schools). We find…

This study considered the influences of socioeconomic status (SES), home learning environment, and age of enrollment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) on early literacy and numeracy development of 5-year-olds in England (N = 2,577), Estonia (N = 2,110), and the United States (N = 2,234) by leveraging data from the International Early…

Objective: There is recent evidence that exercise referral schemes (ERSs) are beginning to permit self-referral access. Notwithstanding this, to date it is unknown whether key referral characteristics, such as age, gender and socioeconomic status are associated with a greater likelihood of self-referring to an ERS, and whether self-referral…

The pandemic has led to considerable disruption to the learning of all pupils in England. This report analyses the general trends in the data across several studies investigating the impact of COVID-19 on educational attainment in England, from March 2020 onwards, and identifies where particular attention is needed. It is broken down into four…

Research has shown that book ownership has a significant impact on life outcomes. In 2019, we found that that children who reported that they had a book of their own were not only more engaged with reading but also six times more likely to read above the level expected for their age than children who did not own a book (22% vs. 3.6%). We included…

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate Archer's reflexive modalities in relation to Further Education (FE) students' higher education (HE) decision-making and choices. To do this, it draws on data from a qualitative, longitudinal narrative inquiry that explored how socioeconomically under-represented FE students made their HE…

This study investigated the effect of children's first formal school years on mathematical skill profiles, measured by a variety of arithmetical skills and Spontaneous Focusing On Numerosity (SFON) tasks. By using person-centered approach the aim was to investigate whether the amount of formal schooling is associated with mathematical skills in…

International studies have documented large effects of SES on oral language competence and researchers have suggested that differences in oral language competence at school entry may be one factor contributing to educational disadvantage. The current study made use of data provided by the Growing Up in Ireland survey in order to quantify the…

The conversation around reluctant readers continues to focus on boys, with research, practice and policy exploring what could be done to (re)engage boys in reading (see National Literacy Trust, 2012; Department for Education, 2019; OECD, 2021). Girls who don't enjoy reading or who don't read in their free time are seldom the focus of interest,…

In 2018, the Great School Libraries Campaign was launched with the aim of bringing school libraries and librarians to every school in the UK, and to gather data on the quality and quantity of school libraries that already exist. Previous research has clearly highlighted the importance of school libraries, not just for children and young people's…

Children's engagement in physical activity of a vigorous intensity or higher is more effective at promoting cardiorespiratory fitness than moderate physical activity. It remains unclear how higher intensity physical activity varies between days when schoolchildren participate in physical education (PE) and non-PE days. The purpose of this study…

UK Sure Start Children's Centres (SSCCs) aim to lessen behavioural disorders yet we lack evidence concerning how this is achieved. This study evaluates one possible mechanism: improved home learning environments (HLEs). Data come from a longitudinal study of 2568 families and children recruited at a mean age of 14 months from 117 SSCCs in England…

This report uses data from the National Literacy Trust's 2019 Annual Literacy Survey and the Great School Library Campaign to determine how many schools in the UK have had a writer visit in the last year, their reasons for organising the visit, and the relationship the visit had with children and young people's engagement with reading and writing.…

This study tested the association between multiple prenatal and postnatal early life factors and adolescent sexual orientation in a longitudinal birth cohort. Factors included birth weight, gestational age, parental age at birth, number of older brothers and sisters, breastfeeding, maternal anxiety/depression, family socioeconomic position,…

To celebrate Blue Peter turning 60, we took a closer look at children and young people's letter writing in 2017/18, exploring how many children write letters in their free time, how often children write letters, and why children decide to write, or not write, letters. Our report is based on the responses of 42,363 pupils aged 8 to 18 who answered…