Kathryn Duckworth

Fellowship duration: March 2011 - February 2013

Kathryn Duckworth joined PATHWAYS in January 2009 as a Postdoctoral Fellow after studying for a PhD in Education in the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (WBL), Institute of Education.

Kathryn’s PhD examined the key features of academic development during pre-school and primary years and their implication for later outcomes using three longitudinal birth cohort studies, the National Child Development Study (1958), the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Her interest lay in exploring the manifestation of educational inequalities through the school years and assessing how contexts interact to create them in order to address the question of whether school can be part of the reduction in inequalities or just a stage for further compounding the differences between those from more and less disadvantaged backgrounds.

Before joining the PATHWAYS team, Kathryn worked at the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning from December 2002. During this time her research has explored the intergenerational transmission of education in the family and its effects on children’s educational success, children’s school readiness, progress and attainment during primary school, as well as the role of self-regulation in learning and the amenability of low attainment to policy leverage. She has published in peer reviewed journals, co-authored a book, written numerous reports for the Department for Education and Skills (now DCSF), undertaken consultancy work for the No 10 Strategy Unit and contributed to the Youth Matters green paper and the Williams’ Review of Primary Mathematics.

At the beginning of 2005, Kathryn was based at the University of Michigan working as Visiting Scholar in the Centre for the Analysis of Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood, Institute of Social Research and remains a Research Associate of this group. At Pathways, she is developing her interest in cross-cohort comparisons and exploring the mechanisms through which social adversity affects children’s development.

In October 2009 Kathryn was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit aspoloicy advisor for five months.

Publications

Papers

Sabates, R., Duckworth, K. and Feinstein, L. (2011). The impact of mothers’ learning on their children academic performance at Key Stage 3: Evidence from ALSPAC Oxford Review of Education, 37(4), 485-504. FULL TEXT

Schoon, I. & Duckworth, K. (2010). Leaving school early – and making it! Evidence from two British Birth Cohorts  European Psychologist, 15(4), 283-292. FULL TEXT

Duckworth, K. & Schoon, I. (2010). Progress and attainment during primary school: The roles of literacy, numeracy and self-regulation  Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 1(3), 223 - 240. FULL TEXT

Schoon, I., Hope, S., Ross, A. & Duckworth, K. (2010).  Family hardship and children's development: the early yearsLongitudinal and Life Course Studies, 1(3), 209-222

Sabates, R. and Duckworth, K. (2010). Maternal schooling and children’s relative inequalities in developmental outcomes: Evidence from the 1947 School Leaving Age Reform in Britain. Oxford Review of Education, 36(4), 1-17. FULL TEXT

Siegler, R. S., Duncan, G.J., Davis-Kean, P.E., Duckworth, K. et al. (in press). Precursors of High School Mathematics Achievement. Psychological Science.

Schoon, I & Duckworth, K. (revise and resubmit). Who becomes an entrepreneur? Early life experiences as predictors of entrepreneurship. Developmental Psychology.

Books and book chapters

Duncan, G.J., Bergman, L., Duckworth, K., Kokko, K., Lyyra, A-L., Metzger, M., Pulkkinen, L. & Simonton, S. (forthcoming). The Role of Child Skills and Behaviors in the Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality: A Cross-National Study. In M. Jonsson, T. Smeeding & J. Ermisch (Eds.), Cross-national research on the intergenerational transmission of advantage. Russell Sage Foundation: New York

Reports

Crawford, C., Duckworth, K., Vignoles, A. & Wyness, G. (2011). Young people’s education and labour market choices aged 16 to 19. Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions: London.

Ross, A., Duckworth, K., Smith, D.J., Wyness, G. & Schoon, I. (2011). Prevention and Reduction: A review of strategies for intervening early to prevent or reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour. Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions: London.

Vignoles, A., Duckworth, K., McIntosh, S. & Jin, W. (in press). Employer Engagement with Apprenticeship. Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions: London.

 

Contact