Trajectories and transitions in the cognitive and educational development of disabled children and young people

该项目汇集了来自教育研究所的学者、来自国家儿童局的研究人员以及来自国家儿童局残疾儿童理事会的活动家和政策导向的从业人员，以增进我们对英格兰残疾儿童认知和教育发展的理解，从而为有关残疾儿童的政策提供信息。它通过两项针对儿童和青年的主要研究来做到这一点，这些研究跟踪了他们在幼儿期和青春期的经历。千禧世代研究追踪了2000-2001年出生的儿童，从他们9个月大开始，在他们还是婴儿时调查了他们的家庭，并在他们3岁、5岁和7岁时再次访问他们。英国年轻人纵向研究首先在9年级（当时他们年龄为13-14岁）对一群儿童进行了调查，并每年重新访问他们，直到20/21岁。这项分析侧重于义务教育结束前后的调查，即14/15岁和16/17岁。这项研究有四个主要目的。首先，它涉及什么构成儿童残疾的问题，审视不同的定义和衡量标准，包括被定义为有特殊教育需要的儿童。它着眼于不同措施之间的重叠以及被归类为残疾的儿童之间有多大的差异。它使用这些信息按残疾状况对儿童进行分组，这在研究的其余部分中使用。它还将调查残疾儿童在全国代表性纵向队列研究中的代表性程度。这一要素将使我们更好地了解不同年龄段和不同衡量标准下的残疾发生率，这对制定政策具有参考价值。它还将揭示现有研究对残疾研究的适用性以及如何改进。第二，研究探讨了残疾儿童的家庭背景，这些儿童与非残疾儿童在生活在失业家庭、生活贫困等风险因素方面有何不同，以及在两项研究中和研究之间，这些因素在不同年龄段有何不同。这有助于我们了解残疾儿童更有可能生活在弱势家庭的程度，以及随着年龄的增长，这种情况会增加（或减少）的程度。第三，考虑到残疾儿童和非残疾儿童通常有不同的起点，它着眼于认知能力的轨迹。它调查残疾儿童的发展模式是否与非残疾儿童的发展模式相似，或者他们的困难是否随着时间的推移而增加，以及鉴于残疾青年群体的不同性质，是否存在典型的轨迹。这有助于确定支持和干预残疾儿童的政策和做法在多大程度上促进了他们的发展，或者他们在上学期间是否有可能落后于他们的起点。它审查了残疾儿童与非残疾儿童相比，在义务教育结束后，在教育成果和继续接受教育的愿望方面存在的差异程度，考虑到残疾儿童在10年级时达到的年龄点以及他们在关键阶段3的表现，它着眼于那些对他们的义务教育后的结果产生影响的因素，这些因素可能有助于更多的参与或更好的义务教育后的学校结果。该项目将在设计和解释研究时参考残疾青年本身的观点，并将在政策简报会和公开会议上以及通过更多的学术途径传播。

This project brings together academics from the Institute of Education (IOE) researchers from the National Children's Bureau (NCB) and campaigners and policy-oriented practitioners from NCB's Council for Disabled Children (CDC) to develop our understanding of disabled children's cognitive and educational development in England in order to inform policy in relation to disabled children. It does this using two major studies of children and young people, which have followed their experience through early childhood and adolescence. The Millennium Cohort Study has traced children born in 2000-2001 since they were nine months old, surveying their families when they were babies and visiting them again when they were aged 3, 5 and 7. The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England first surveyed a cohort of children in year 9, when they are were aged 13-14 and revisited them annually up till the age of 20/21. This analysis focuses on the surveys either side of the end of compulsory schooling, i.e. at age 14/15 and at age 16/17. The research has four main aims. First it engages with the question of what constitutes child disability looking at different definitions and measures, including children defined as having special educational needs (SEN). It looks at the overlap between different measures as well as at how much variation there is between children classified as disabled. It uses this information to group children by disability status, which is used in the rest of the study. It will also investigate the extent to which disabled children are adequantley represented in nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies. This element will enhance our understand the prevalence of disability at different ages, and according to different measures, which is informative for policy. It will also reveal the suitability of existing studies for disability research and how that might be improved. Second, the study explores the family backgrounds of disabled children, how these differ from non-disabled children in terms of risk factors such as living in a workless family, living in poverty and so on, and how this varies at different ages, both within and between the two studies. This helps us to understand the extent to which disabled children are more likely to be in disadvantaged families and the extent to which that increases (or decreases) as they grow older. This can inform identification of the circumstances of disabled children and hence potentially their support needs.Third, it looks at trajectories of cognitive ability, given that disabled children and non-disabled children typically have different starting points. It investigates whether disabled children experience patterns of development that are comparable to those of non-disabled children, or whether their difficulties increase over time, and, indeed whether there are typical trajectories, given the varied nature of the disabled group of young people. This helps to identify the extent to which policy for and practice in support and intervention for disabled children facilitates their development or whether they are at risk of falling behind during the school years relative to how they start off.Finally, it examines the extent to which disabled children have different educational outcomes and aspirations for continued participation in education following the end of compulsory schooling compared to non-disabled children, given the point they have reached by year 10 and their performance at key stage 3. It looks at factors which make a difference to their post-compulsory outcomes and that may be supportive of greater participation or better post-compulsory school outcomes. The project will be informed by the perspectives of disabled young people themselves, both in the design and interpretation of research and will be disseminated in policy briefings and an open meeting as well as through more academic routes.