Competent children at 12 Authors Cathy Wylie, Jean Thompson, Hilary Ferral, Cathy Lythe, and Tineke Fijn DOWNLOADS File 13248.pdf Project Competent Learners Image The Competent Children project, funded by the Ministry of Education and NZCER, follows a group of about 500 New Zealand children from near age 5, when they were in early childhood education, through until they leave school. Publication type Research report Publication year 2004 Keywords Children Competence Primary education Schools Performance factors Research Ethnicity Mothers Family income Early childhood education Literacy Mathematics Communication skills Family Reading Writing skills Music Computers Family financial resources Television viewing Sex differences Tags Longitudinal projects Families and communities Primary education