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This article outlines the research design of a large-scale, longitudinal research study in England intended to describe and explore variations in teachers' work, lives and their effects on pupils' educational outcomes. The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and incorporated into the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) as an 'Associate Project', used an innovative mixed-methods research design to create case studies of 300 teachers in Years 2, 6 and 9. The research was conducted over three consecutive academic years and collected a wide range of data through interviews, questionnaire surveys of teachers' and pupils' views and assessment data on pupils' attainments in English and mathematics. The text summarises the main findings from the research in relation to four interconnected themes of the study: Professional Life Phases; Professional Identity; Relative Effectiveness; and Resilience and Commitment. The influence of school context, in terms of level of social disadvantage of pupil intake, is also investigated. Key findings and their implications for policy and practice are highlighted.The schools were selected to be representative of those in England in terms of levels of social disadvantage and attainment. The research sought to describe and analyse influences on teachers' professional and personal lives, their identities and effectiveness, and explore their interconnections. It also investigated connections between the school contexts in which they worked and these features. VITAE was recognised as an Associate Project by the TLRP in 2003.This report provides a brief outline of the aims and methodology and focuses on selected key findings on four themes of the research (for further details see Day et al., 2006a;2007). An overview of the research design is provided by Day et al. (2006b), particularly focusing on the innovative use of mixed methods and methodological issues in the synthesis of qualitative and quantitative evidence and its interpretation. The VITAE designThe project was designed against a set of specifications in a competitive tender which defined its overarching aim as:to assess variations over time in teacher effectiveness, between different teachers and for particular teachers, and to identify factors that contribute to variations. The Department wants to understand how teachers become more effective over time.(DfES Tender no.: 4/RP/173/99) Key questions addressed were:

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This article reports the results of an Economic and Social ResearchCouncil (ESRC) funded study which focuses on the differential academic achievement of different groups of pupils. The paper describes the findings on the size and extent of school effects across 3 years (1990, 1991, 1992) for different groups of pupils (classified by gender, eligibility for free school means [FSM], ethnic group and by prior attainment). Pupils' overall General Certificate of Secondary Education performance and their performance in selected subjects (English, English literature, French, history, mathematics and science) have been analysed using multilevel modelling, employing a total sample of 94 inner London secondary schools. A 'value added' approach is adopted, controlling for selected student background measures of prior attainment (at secondary transfer), gender, age, ethnicity and low income to provide statistical controls for differences between schools in the characteristics of their intakes. Differential school and departmental effects were identified for all pupil groups examined. However, the strongest evidence of differential effects was found for groups classified by prior attainment and ethnicity. Overall, the findings indicate that schools that appear to be more or less effective for a particular group of pupils, such as non-FSM pupils, are likely to be more or less effective for all pupils. However, in some schools, substantial differences between groups were identified. The implications of these findings for the debate about the publication, presentation and interpretation of schools' examination results and the extent to which the overall concepts of 'effective' or 'ineffective' schools can be applied, are discussed.

Education in the early years is a key element in the Government's current strategy. Recently, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) funded a major study of Effective Provision of Pre‐School Education (EPPE). The Early Years Transition and Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) Project developed from the EPPE research and was also funded by the DfES. The authors of this article, Brenda Taggart, Pam Sammons, Rebecca Smees, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj‐Blatchford, Karen Elliott and Ingrid Lunt, all worked on the EYTSEN Project, based at the Institute of Education, University of London. In this article, they provide a summary of the findings from the EYTSEN Project, reviewing the impact of pre‐school provision on children said to be ‘at risk’ of developing special educational needs. They suggest that pre‐school experience has a positive impact on cognitive attainment and social or behavioural development and that integrated centres (where education and care are fully combined) and nursery schools have the most positive influence among the different f o rms of pre‐school provision. This paper also discusses the identification of special educational needs; quality in pre‐school centres; parents' perspectives; and future developments. The article closes with a call for improved training for practitioners working in early years settings.