Performing against the odds: developmental trajectories of children in the EPPSE 3 to 16 study: brief

The Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16) project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-method research study that has followed the progress of 3000+ children since 1997 from the age of 3 to 16 years. The EPPSE project uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate how child, family, pre-school and school characteristics interact and contribute to children's development up to early secondary age. This research uses case studies to explore why and when certain children 'succeed against the odds' while others fall further behind, and also when and why some 'privileged' children fall behind despite their positive circumstances.