Principal researcher: Cathy Wylie
This longitudinal NZCER project, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, tracks the development of a group of children from near 5 through school. It analyses the impact of different experiences and resources on a range of competencies, and what can help narrow the gaps between children. Fieldwork is currently underway for the age 20 stage of the project (Competent Learners@20) asking participants about their work and study experiences since leaving school.
Main aims | Project timeline | Notable features | About competencies| Access to project data | Reports and Papers
Main aims of the Competent Children / Learners project
- To describe and analyse variations and changes over time in children's and young people's cognitive, social, communicative, and problem-solving competencies.
- To see what impact children's and young people's early childhood education experiences, family resources, home activities, relations with peers, and engagement in school and school resources have on these competencies.
- We hope that what we learn will extend and deepen our understanding of children's and young people's development, and the roles that different resources and experiences play.
- We also hope to identify some promising directions for improving children's competency levels, and for lessening the gaps between children and young people in different circumstances.
Project timeline
We have completed research for and reported on:
- Phase I - just before age 5 (New Zealand children start school at age 5)
- Phase II - age 6
- Phase III - age 8
- Phase IV - age 10
- Phase V - age 12. Report and summary released in August 2004.
- Phase VI - age 14. Reports released in 2006.
- Phase VII - age 16. Reports released in 2008-2009.
- Phase VIII - age 20. Fieldwork is currently underway for this stage of the project.
Notable features
The Competent Children/ Learners project:
- tracks the long-term development of around 500 children from the Wellington region, from just before they started school at age 5
- gathers data comprehensively from teachers, parents, and the young people
- has a very high rate of retention.
About competencies
What are competencies?
Competencies are combinations of knowledge, skill, and attitude, which can be observed in everyday activities, or measured by giving specific tasks.
What competencies are we exploring?
Competent Children/Learners explores a set of competencies linked with successful learning, and with satisfying economic and social participation. It covers:
- communication
- curiosity
- perseverance
- social skills
- individual responsibility
- literacy (reading and writing)
- mathematics
- logical problem-solving
Reports and papers:
Listed below are the many reports and papers from this study. The latest phase of the study looks at the children at age 16 and two reports using that data have now been released.
One explores competencies at age 16, how those competencies relate to social characteristics and how they’ve changed over time. The second looks at the continuing contribution of early childhood education to competency levels. Both are accompanied by technical reports by Edith Hodgen, which provide more detail on the findings and the analysis behind them
Further reports will be released in 2007 and early 2008. Read more about the Competent Learners reports
Project funded by the Ministry of Education and by the Purchase Agreement with the Ministry of Education
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