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Longitudinal Research on Education using the British Cohort Studies

Longitudinal Research on Education using the British Cohort Studies. Alice Sullivan, Director British Cohort Study Centre for Longitudinal Studies. CLS is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institute of Education. Structure of presentation. The British Cohort Studies Examples of Research

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Longitudinal Research on Education using the British Cohort Studies

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  1. Longitudinal Research on Education using the British Cohort Studies Alice Sullivan, Director British Cohort Study Centre for Longitudinal Studies CLS is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institute of Education

  2. Structure of presentation • The British Cohort Studies • Examples of Research • Future plans

  3. www.cls.ioe.ac.uk Register online for email alerts about CLS news, events and publications.

  4. Birth Cohort Studies National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) Those living in GB born in one week in 1946 National Child Development Study (NCDS) All those living in GB born in one week in 1958 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) All those living in GB born in one week in 1970 Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) All those born in selected areas of UK over 12 months beginning September 2000 in England and Wales, and December 2000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland

  5. 1946 Birth Cohort Study • National Maternity Survey to investigate costs of childbirth and quality of associated health care (16,500 births) after WW2 • A sample of 5,362 of this original survey have been followed over time • 21 contacts most recently at age 53 • Continuously funded by MRC since 1962 • Approximately 3,500 remain in the study

  6. 1958 Birth Cohort Study • Representative sample of over 17,000 infants born in March 1958 • Not initially planned as a longitudinal study • Sample followed at ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42, 46, 50 (prospective study) • Retrospective life history data collected at age 23, 33, 42, 46, 50 • Rich data collected from parents, schools, and the respondents themselves. • For example • work history • partnership history • fertility history • housing history • Approximately 12,000 individuals are still participating • Information on individuals can be linked from birth and childhood through into adult life • Now funded by ESRC with data collected every four years

  7. NCDS Follow-ups & information sources

  8. Exam results Voting behaviour Training and skills Savings Born 1958 x 1965 1969 1974 1981 1991 2000 2004 2008 Psychological well being Domestic division of labour Working hours preferences Union membership Hypothetical life history: for a member of the 1958 cohort Parental divorce Gets married 1st child 1984 2nd child 1987 Age 7 Age 11 Age 16 Age 23 Age 33 Age 42 Age 46 Age 50 Job 3 (part time) Job 1 Job 2 Mother’s smoking behaviour Parental interest in school work Maths and reading tests Free school meals

  9. Cohort members’ views of the future… Imagine that you are now 60 years old...please write a few lines about the life you are leading (your interests, your home life, your health and well-being and any work you may be doing).

  10. BCS70: 1970 Birth Cohort Study • Representative sample of over 16,000 infants born in 1970 • Sample followed at ages 5, 10, 16, 26, 30, 34, 38 • Approximately 12,000 individuals are still participating • Now funded by ESRC with data collected every four years • Co-ordination with NCDS facilitates cross cohort comparisons

  11. BCS70 Follow-ups & information sources

  12. Millennium Cohort Study • 18, 818 babies. So far followed up at ages 3 and 5. • Cohort born over 12 month period • Season of birth effects • Spread workload of professional interviewers • Geographically clustered by electoral ward • Over-sampling of ethnic minorities. • Better approach to issue of community & local services • Content multi-purpose & multidisciplinary but with greater emphasis on social rather than medical

  13. MCS Follow-ups & information sources

  14. Objectives of MCS • To chart the initial conditions of the social, economic and health advantages and disadvantages facing new children in the new century and their consequences • To capture information for the future • To compare patterns of development with other cohorts • To collect information on previously neglected topics, such as father’s involvement and child care • To investigate the wider social ecology of the family, including community and services, splicing in geo-coded data

  15. Questions Addressed by Birth Cohort Data • How have trends over time changed? E.g. In educational attainment/ inequalities between groups. • How do life-course trajectories develop? E.g. Educational trajectories. • How do earlier events affect later outcomes? E.g. Returns to education. • What happens at key transition points? E.g. Transition to higher education, family formation. • What is the impact of changes in social and education policies? E.g. Change in school systems.

  16. Longitudinal Research Questions in Education 1 • Assessing social trends over time • Have educational inequalities increased or decreased over time? • Bynner, J. and Joshi, H. (2002) ‘Equality and opportunity in education: evidence from the 1958 and 1970 birth cohort studies’, Oxford Review of Education, 28 (4): 405-425. • Comparison of two birth cohorts.

  17. Longitudinal Research Questions in Education 2 • Assessing lifecourse trajectories • How do educational inequalities emerge and develop during the early years? • Feinstein, L. (2003) ‘Inequality in early cognitive development of British children in the 1970 cohort’, Economica, 70: 73-97. • Tracks development from 22 months to age 10.

  18. The SEG gap in early years Source: Feinstein (2003)

  19. Longitudinal Research Questions in Education 3 • Assessing the effects of education on later outcomes in the labour market • How do qualifications effect womens’ later labour market experiences? • Elliott, J., Dale, A. and Egerton, M. (2001) ‘The influence of qualifications on women’s work histories, employment status and earnings at age 33’, European Sociological Review, 17 (2): 145-168. • Examines the impact of women’s qualifications and work histories on wages.

  20. Longitudinal Research Questions in Education 4 • Assessing the impact of life events on later outcomes • Do the negative ‘effects’ of teenage motherhood are real or spurious • Hobcraft, J. and Kiernan, K.E. (2001) Childhood poverty, early motherhood and adult social exclusion. British Journal of Sociology 52 (3): 495-517. • Examines whether the negative effects of early childbearing can be explained by childhood precursors such as child poverty.

  21. Longitudinal Research Questions in Education 5 • Assessing the impacts of poverty during the early years using MCS • http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/text.asp?section=00010001000500150021 Causes and consequences of disadvantage for young children in Britain and Northern Ireland (Sullivan, Joshi, Ketende, Obelenskaya, Cara). • Tracks inequalities at age 5 and then 7.

  22. Analytical strategy • Descriptive analysis • Regression (linear or logistic as appropriate) analyses for both UK and NI separately. 4 Nested models • NI, Poverty and child-specific controls • Social background controls • Neighbourhood characteristics • Other potential mediating and moderating factors

  23. BAS mean scores MCS3

  24. Education assessment score

  25. Behavioural (SDQ)

  26. Less than ‘excellent’ health

  27. Overweight

  28. Example of a research project using NCDS: The debate over single-sex schools • Is there a real impact on academic attainment for girls or boys? • Success in later life? • Are there effects on social outcomes – relationships with the opposite sex, etc?

  29. Exam attainment at 16+: competing hypotheses • Traditional view – boys and girls distract one another in co-ed. • ‘Progressive view’ (Dale) girls have a civilising influence on boys in co-ed, and girls are not harmed. • Some feminists have argued that girls are disadvantaged in co-ed. • Proponents of ‘different learning styles’ say boys and girls need to be taught differently. • Recent arguments that boys are disadvantaged by ‘feminised’ co-ed schools.

  30. Frequencies – 5+ O levels

  31. Broken down by school sector

  32. Divorce: Men

  33. Hourly Wages age 42: Women

  34. Project findings • Sullivan, A., Joshi, H. and Leonard, D. (forthcoming) ‘Single-sex schooling and labour market outcomes’. Oxford Review of Education. • Sullivan, A., Joshi, H. and Leonard, D. 2010 ‘Single-sex Schooling and Academic Attainment at School and through the Lifecourse’. American Educational Research Journal 47(1) 6-36. • Sullivan, A. 2009. ‘Academic self-concept, gender and single-sex schooling’ British Educational Research Journal 35(2) 259-288.

  35. Future Plans • MCS and BCS70 will be in the field in 2012 • NCDS will be in the field in 2013 • We welcome external input into our consultative processes • Consultative conference: http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/events.asp?section=000100010004&page=2&item=1042

  36. Website www.cls.ioe.ac.uk Please register for regular updates

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