The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
analysis through comments from our team of experts. We’d love to hear from you, so post comments or get in touch with us.

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Posted on 10 September 2018 by Emily Tanner, Head of Children, Families & Work

Why do some children miss out on early education?

The expansion of free part-time early education is at the heart of the government’s childcare reforms, responding to strong evidence that early education promotes the cognitive, social and emotional development of young children.
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Tags: children and young people, education, schools
Posted on 28 February 2017 by Franziska Marcheselli, Senior Researcher

Mental Health – how are children and young people affected?

Franziska Marcheselli explores what existing research can tell us about young people's mental health, and looks ahead to the first comprehensive survey of children and young people's mental health since 2004.
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Tags: children and young people, health and wellbeing, mental health
Posted on 14 July 2015

Peer mentoring: how to best replicate ‘what works’?

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recently published a new batch of evaluation reports on peer tutoring, with some challenging findings: two separate peer tutoring programmes did not show a positive impact on academic attainment, even though previous studies have yielded positive effects. So how can we replicate ‘what works’ in order to maximise our chances of improving children’s learning and attainment?
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Tags: children and young people, Education Endowment Foundation, evaluations, randomised control trial, Triin Edovald
Posted on 27 August 2014

How sexual exploitation of men and boys is overlooked and dismissed – new research

Sexual abuse of children has been in the news in recent months; the coverage of a devastating report on the abuse of at least 1,400 children in Rotherham over a number of years, in the face of official ignorance and disbelief, is only the most recent example.
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Tags: abuse, child abuse, children and young people, sexual abuse, sex offences
Posted on 15 December 2011

A healthy view of a healthy weight?

The Health Survey for England 2010 published its findings today with chapters covering a wide range of health issues including well-being, sexual health and respiratory conditions. In particular, a chapter about children’s overweight and obesity highlighted some interesting findings around children’s perceptions of their own weight.
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Tags: children and young people, Health Survey for England, health and lifestyle, society, child obesity
Posted on 08 December 2011 by Sonia Exley, LSE

Is ‘choice’ in education what people care about most?

Anyone with an interest in the English education system can’t have failed to notice a marked stepping up of school choice policy since the UK Coalition Government came to power in May 2010. Last week Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement included a promise of £600 million for the setting up of 100 new ‘Free Schools' in England. But are choice and diversity in education really what people want?
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Tags: British Social Attitudes, children and young people, coalition government, schools, education
Posted on 08 December 2011 by Liz Clery, Research Director

Eradicating child poverty – a public priority but an unlikely reality?

On Universal Children’s Day last month, the UK Children's Commissioners warned the government that cuts to children’s services could result in the number of children living in poverty increasing. This will make it even more unlikely that the government will meet its 2020 deadline for the eradication of child poverty, first set out by Tony Blair in 1999.
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Tags: BSA, British Social Attitudes, child poverty, children and young people, society, poverty, social and political attitudes
Posted on 05 December 2011

The riots: what really happened

A few days after this summer’s riots, I blogged that various commentators were rushing to partisan judgement on the causes, and that social scientists had an important role to play in understanding and communicating the complexity of what had happened. Nick Clegg was to announce the following day that research would be commissioned to do exactly that, and NatCen felt privileged to be trusted with the subsequent commission.
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Tags: children and young people, London riots, society
Posted on 16 September 2011

Sex Education

This week is Sexual Health Week so it seems like an appropriate time for Andrew Phelps to discuss our latest National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, or Natsal. Natsal is the most comprehensive study of sexual behaviour in the world, and is a collaborative project involving ourselves, UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The study is a key resource and regularly informs policy making on sexual and reproductive health.
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Tags: children and young people, National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, Natsal, sexual health, sex education
Posted on 13 September 2011

Does ‘tough love’ for ‘troubled’ families work?

As Westminster debates whether the riots were the work of a ‘feral underclass’, new evidence is published of an intervention that is effective in helping ‘troubled’ families. Family Intervention Projects as they were originally known, were set up to work with challenging and anti-social families. Clarissa White manages the ongoing evaluation of Family Intervention Projects, and here she elaborates on the findings published today by the DfE.
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Tags: family intervention projects, children and young people, family, poverty