Children & Young People
Childhood plays a pivotal role in who we become as adults: from our educational attainment and progression into work, to how we form relationships with others.
Children and young people are two of the most vulnerable groups in society, and forming a more complete understanding of their lives and of how early experiences affect later life is vital. Investing in research and policy around children and young people will allow us to not only safeguard and support the next generation, but enrich their lives and allow each child and young person the opportunity to excel.
Children and Young People is one of ADR UK’s flagship research themes. It is aimed at enabling a more comprehensive assessment of the experience of childhood in the UK to in turn develop a better understanding of what does and doesn’t work in public sector services for children and young people. This includes assessing trends in vulnerability, wellbeing and welfare in early life and their impact upon later life experiences.
There are several ambitious new data linkage projects – as well as research projects using existing linked data – being undertaken across the partnership within this theme. These include, for example, linking together 2011 Census data with attainment data from the Department for Education (DfE) to create an anonymised longitudinal dataset on children in England: the ‘Growing Up in England’ dataset.
ADR Scotland is leading on the ‘Understanding Children’s Outcomes’ project, which is linking pupil census data for Scotland with Scottish Government data on looked-after children, children’s health, births and deaths, and the 2001/2011 national census.
ADR Northern Ireland (ADR NI) and ADR Wales are conducting important work examining the lives of looked-after children. In Northern Ireland, 30 years’ worth of individual-level social services data from Social Services Care Administrative and Records Environment are being linked to prescribed medication data, hospital data, the registry of self-harm and death records and the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS), creating the UK’s first historical, population-wide cohort of those known to social services as children.
You can find out more about these projects and others underway within this theme by exploring the links below and visiting the ‘Projects’ page.
Children & Young People Projects
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Education Policy and Youth Crime in England
19 May 2021
The Education Policy and Youth Crime in England project is an initiative led by researchers at LSE, and funded by ADR UK, to use linked administrative data to improve understanding of the relationship between education policy and youth crime.
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Understanding the Impact of Educational Interventions Beyond Test Scores
16 March 2021
This project, being conducted by the Behavioural Insights Team and funded by ADR UK, will use linked data to establish whether programmes intended to boost children’s educational attainment also have a positive impact on other related outcomes.
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Cost bersonol cyflyrau iechyd yn ystod plentyndod
17 February 2021
Fframwaith llywodraethu gwybodaeth ar gyfer cysylltu setiau data iechyd plant â data addysg yng Nghymru a Lloegr.
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Children & Young People News
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Pathways of Covid-19 infection in school settings: What does the data tell us?
11 May 2021
As part of their One Wales Covid-19 response, ADR Wales researchers have used linked data to undertake the first population-level study of Covid-19 transmission in Welsh schools.
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Early and multiple GCSE entry: Patterns over time and grade improvement
19 April 2021
Dr Jennifer May Hampton, a researcher in the WISERD Education Data Lab at Cardiff University, discusses two new Data Insights concerning early and multiple GCSE entry: patterns over time and grade improvement.
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ADR Wales looks at school absence for children living in homeless households
24 March 2021
ADR Wales has released its latest publication analysing the effect that living in a homeless household has on school attendance.
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Find out more
If you are a researcher interested in working with admistrative data within this theme, or a policymaker interested in how ADR UK work can improve your insights and support your decision making in this area, please get in touch.