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Warke, Claire

Full time student

Year of Entry: 2011

Email: cwarke02@qub.ac.uk

Thesis Title: The Effects of Economic Disadvantage on Younger Children's Educational Attainment, Attitudes and Aspirations

Personal Statement: After originally completing a Bsc(Hons) in Behavioural Science and pursuing research involving adults with severe and profound learning disabilities, I took a break from education to have a family. In 2011 I completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Early Childhood Studies at Stranmillis which reignited my interest in research. More specifically, I took a module on Inclusive Education, where I looked into the outcomes of children entitled to free school meals and the many barriers they face. This sparked a desire to explore the area in considerably more detail, and led to my application for a PhD studentship.

Summary of Research: My research centres around the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationwide survey of children born around the turn of the Millennium. The vast amount of data available through the Millennium Cohort Study provides an invaluable opportunity to fully examine the links between the various aspects of economic disadvantage and a child's educational experiences at a young age. The longitudinal nature of the data allows for an analysis of the varying effects at different stages in a child's early life, and the inclusion of information regarding parental education and their own attitudes and aspirations also enables an examination of the inter-generational aspects of the effects of disadvantage.

The level of detail available will make it possible to check for neighbourhood effects in the data, as well as school-level effects. Finally, the data offers the potential to explore any differences between findings for the four home nations.

Supervisors: Dr Andy Biggart, Prof Paul Connolly