Page 2 - MergedFile

Children in Wales Annual Conference 2018.

The Whole Child: The importance of getting it right

Factors Affecting Educational Attainment at Key Stage 2

Background

Previous research shows that socioeconomic factors

such as free school meal eligibility, family background

and neighbourhood have a significant effect on children’s
educational attainment at their key stage 2 (KS2) exams.

This study aims to examine data from a multitude of

domains (socioeconomic, school, health) to determine

what effects a child’s educational attainment at KS2 in
Wales.

What we did

A sample of 254,049 Welsh children who sat KS2 exams

between 2009 and 2016 were used for analysis in this
study. Data was accessed from the Secure Anonymised

Information Linkage (SAIL) databank. We collected

demographic data (gender, birth weight, household
members etc), family difficulty data (parents attending

hospital for alcohol or mental health conditions), school

data (attendance, special education needs, KS2 results)

and health data on a range of disorders (asthma, conduct
disorder, epilepsy, mental health conditions etc). We

measured this data against whether or not a child

met the standard achievement rates of pupils at KS2
(achieving at least a level 4 at both Maths and English).

What we found

Factors which had the most detrimental effect on

attainment were children flagged for special education

needs, conduct disorder, undetermined self-harm,
epilepsy and who had a parent previously hospitalised for

a mental health condition. Those factors that positively

impacted on educational attainment were a higher

birthweight and smaller family units.

How can our research help you

Our research shows those children which are most at risk of not achieving the required standard at KS2. This

is vital information for those developing evidence-based interventions aimed at improving attainment results at

primary school. Identifying children with the above health conditions, those from vulnerable families with the

right interventions early on can potentially have a great impact on a child’s educational attainment. For more

information on this research contact: r.e.griffiths@swansea.ac.uk

NCPHWR is funded by

The National Centre for Population Health & Wellbeing Research

www.ncphwr.org.uk