Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Children of the 2020s (COT20s), also known as Education and Outcomes Panel Studies (EOPS) Early Years, is a Department for Education (DfE)-funded study focusing on early childhood. It follows a random probability sample of 8,500 children, starting from the age of 9 months in 2022, with plans to conduct annual data collection until the age of 5 years. Data are currently only available for Wave 1.The study gathers evidence via questionnaires about parents/carers and their children's background, behaviours and experiences. The study will build up rich statistical evidence of the highest standard to enable varied analyses and intends to improve our understanding of factors associated with variations in intermediate and longer-term learning and wellbeing outcomes for different groups of children.The sample for the COT20s study was selected from HMRC Child Benefit records for all registered births between September and November 2021. The sample was designed to boost the sample in the most deprived quintile of areas, in order to ensure a large enough sub-sample for analysis of families experiencing economic deprivation. The over-sampling was based on the aggregated Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index scores for lower super output areas.

Main Topics:

Key topics for data collection include:child developmental outcomesthe home environmentparental mental health, wellbeing, relationship quality, social support, demographics and contextual/community variablesprovision/use of servicesexperiences and life events.

One-stage cluster sample

One-stage stratified or systematic random sample

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)