Briefings and impact

Podcast series: 50 Years of Life in Britain – Episode 3

In this third episode, we move into the 1990s to find out how the study and its staff survived the lean years of the 80s and early 90s, and managed to get back in contact with study participants after a 10 year gap. We learn about the study’s stark findings on adults’ numeracy and literacy, which led to the government’s Skills for Life adult learning programme. We also ask study participants what it was like to join the study again as adults and find out how they were getting on in the big wide world after the boom and bust years.

Podcast series: 50 Years of Life in Britain – Episode 2

In this second episode, we move into the 1980s to find out how Neville Butler kept the 1970 British Cohort Study going during a decade of austerity. We learn about the benefits of reading for pleasure for children’s English and maths skills. We also ask study participants about their teenage years and find out what it was like sharing their 19th birthday with 4,000 other people at Alton Towers.

Podcast series: 50 Years of Life in Britain – Episode 1

Join us as we celebrate 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) with a new podcast series. Over the course of six weeks, ‘50 Years of Life in Britain’ explores the contribution BCS70 participants have made to improving British science and society. The six-part series tells their story, and charts the first five decades of the study. In our first episode, we explore the first decade of BCS70 and the impact of its early years research on policy many years later.

The story of your lives – Celebrating the first 60 years of the National Child Development Study

The story of your lives – Celebrating the first 60 years of the National Child Development Study (black and white version)

Celebrating the first 60 years of the National Child Development Study

This short film takes a look back at the first 60 years of NCDS and highlights just some of the important discoveries that have been made.

Millennium Cohort Study: Children’s mental health: an “urgent” issue

The film highlights recent findings from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) that around one in seven 14-year-olds in the UK are suffering from depression. It features an interview with Professor Emla Fitzsimons, MCS Director.

Occupational aspirations of children from primary school to teenage years across ethnic groups

This briefing, based on data from Next Steps and the Millennium Cohort Study, explores how occupational aspirations of girls and boys differ across ethnic groups, and the extent to which these aspirations feed through into subsequent occupational outcomes.

Webinar: New data from the Millennium Cohort Study: Time Use Diaries and Accelerometry at Age 14

This webinar introduced the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to both first-time and more experienced users. As part of the MCS6 (age 14) survey, cohort members were asked to wear an activity monitor and to complete time use diaries. This webinar focused on the collection, content and structure of these newly-available data.

SEN, school life and future aspirations

This briefing, based on data from the Millennium Cohort Study, explores how children with persistent SEN felt about school, their academic ability and their future educational and occupational aspirations at age 14.

Webinar: Introduction to the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohorts

This webinar introduced the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to both first-time and more experienced users. It focused particularly on the wellbeing measures available in each study.

MCS Age 14 initial findings – Mental ill-health and wellbeing at age 14

This briefing paper examines the predictors of mental ill-health in young people taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study.