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Children with special educational needs ( SEN) are known to experience lower average educational attainment than other children during their school years. But we have less insight into how far their poorer educational outcomes stem from their original starting points or from failure to progress during school. The extent to which early identification with SEN delivers support that enables children who are struggling academically to make appropriate progress is subject to debate. This is complicated by the fact that children with SEN are more likely to be growing up in disadvantaged families and face greater levels of behavioural and peer problems, factors which themselves impact attainment and progress through school. In this paper, we evaluate the academic progress of children with SEN in England, drawing on a large-scale nationally representative longitudinal UK study, the Millennium Cohort Study, linked to administrative records of pupil attainment. Controlling for key child, family and environmental factors, and using the SEN categories employed at the time of data collection, we first establish that children identified with SEN in 2008, when they were age 7, had been assessed with lower academic competence when they started school. We evaluate their progress between ages 5-7 and 7-11. We found that children identified with SEN at age 7 tended to be those who had made less progress between ages 5 and 7 than their comparable peers. However, children with SEN continued to make less progress than their similarly able peers between ages 7 and 11. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research emerging from the USA suggests that holding an incremental theory of intelligence (growth mindset) has a positive impact on academic success. However, limited empirical work has explored this relationship in a UK sample, and there has been a lack of research into the antecedents which might influence the development of certain intelligence beliefs. This study aimed to explore these gaps in the existing literature. Data was collected from 710 9‐year‐old pupils (UK Year 5). Participants completed attainment tests in Maths and English, and a questionnaire to assess their implicit theories of intelligence (mindset). Socio‐demographic information—including gender, ethnicity, free school meal (FSM) status and special educational needs (SEN) status—was also collected. Results showed that pupils eligible for FSM or SEN endorsed more of an entity theory of intelligence than pupils not eligible for either. Analysis of the whole sample showed that attainment significantly correlated with implicit theories of intelligence, however, this relationship did not exist for children with FSM or SEN status. These findings help to elucidate the relationship between implicit theories of intelligence and attainment in the UK, but also suggest the importance of external support in potentially facilitating pupils' belief systems. Results are discussed in relation to avenues for targeted intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]