Effective Pre-school, Primary & Secondary Education
The Project
This project is a large study of the developmental trajectories of more than 3,000 children in England followed up to the end of their school life-cycle.
Different stages of the project have focussed on the pre-school, primary and secondary education stages of the children’s lives. Many children have prospered, with confidence and armed with all the skills they need to tackle learning in secondary school. A number have struggled to keep up while others have been more successful. Children differed in their acquisition of cognitive educational and social skills. The project set out to understand the reasons behind these different developmental trajectories.
External team members include: Brenda Taggart (IOE)
Project Reports
Research Team
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LangQuest-PK: Adapting a Teacher Self-Audit Tool to Support Language-Rich Early Years Practice in PakistanSeptember 2025 - August 2026There is growing evidence that high-quality teacher-child interactions are central to children’s early learning, and supporting these may be an effective and sustainable way of improving children’s outcomes in low-income or resource-constrained contexts.
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How child development shapes the building of social connections and communities onlineMarch 2026 - June 2026The digital world can cause much controversy when it comes to children and young people: when, how and what should they have access to, why do they seek connection online and who is responsible and accountable for their safety?
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Maximising the Benefits of Intervention Research for Children with and at risk of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)December 2023 - November 2027Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions, affecting around 8% of children aged 5–6 years.
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Pupil interactions and networks in special schoolsSeptember 2024 - August 2025This project will work with three secondary special schools to collect peer network data to better understand positive and negative interactions between special school pupils.
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Feasibility trial of an adapted anti-bullying programme for children in special schoolsOctober 2024 - September 2026This project will work with eight special schools to conduct a feasibility randomised controlled trial of anti-bullying programme KiVa-SEND.
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Effects of Education Endowment Foundation interventions on protection from COVID-19 learning lossOctober 2024 - March 2025This project investigates whether and to what extent Education Endowment Foundation interventions had protective effects against learning loss due to COVID-19 disruption.
More News
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NewsNew definition for bullying released to better support pupils and schoolsMay 8, 2025 -
NewsNew trial will evaluate Talking Time programme for Early Years practitionersJanuary 25, 2024 -
NewsReport published today provides evidence on what influences EAL learners to mitigate language learning lossMarch 17, 2021 -
MediaProfessor Edward Melhuish in a TRT World Roundtable discussion on the return to schoolAugust 31, 2020 -
NewsPutting children first: sharing research evidence to inform Indian education policy and practiceAugust 11, 2020
Project Details
Start date: October 1997
End date: October 2014
Funder: Department for Education
Theme: Child Development and Learning; Language, Cognition and Development
Research Team
More Projects
-
LangQuest-PK: Adapting a Teacher Self-Audit Tool to Support Language-Rich Early Years Practice in PakistanSeptember 2025 - August 2026There is growing evidence that high-quality teacher-child interactions are central to children’s early learning, and supporting these may be an effective and sustainable way of improving children’s outcomes in low-income or resource-constrained contexts.
-
How child development shapes the building of social connections and communities onlineMarch 2026 - June 2026The digital world can cause much controversy when it comes to children and young people: when, how and what should they have access to, why do they seek connection online and who is responsible and accountable for their safety?
-
Maximising the Benefits of Intervention Research for Children with and at risk of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)December 2023 - November 2027Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions, affecting around 8% of children aged 5–6 years.
-
Pupil interactions and networks in special schoolsSeptember 2024 - August 2025This project will work with three secondary special schools to collect peer network data to better understand positive and negative interactions between special school pupils.
-
Feasibility trial of an adapted anti-bullying programme for children in special schoolsOctober 2024 - September 2026This project will work with eight special schools to conduct a feasibility randomised controlled trial of anti-bullying programme KiVa-SEND.
-
Effects of Education Endowment Foundation interventions on protection from COVID-19 learning lossOctober 2024 - March 2025This project investigates whether and to what extent Education Endowment Foundation interventions had protective effects against learning loss due to COVID-19 disruption.
More News
-
NewsNew definition for bullying released to better support pupils and schoolsMay 8, 2025 -
NewsNew trial will evaluate Talking Time programme for Early Years practitionersJanuary 25, 2024 -
NewsReport published today provides evidence on what influences EAL learners to mitigate language learning lossMarch 17, 2021 -
MediaProfessor Edward Melhuish in a TRT World Roundtable discussion on the return to schoolAugust 31, 2020 -
NewsPutting children first: sharing research evidence to inform Indian education policy and practiceAugust 11, 2020