The authors are (or were) members of the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University. John Gray is Professor of Education and a Fellow of the British Academy; he is well known internationally for his research into factors affecting school improvement. Maurice Galton is an Emeritus Professor and one of the UK”s leading researchers on primary education and the transition from primary to secondary school. Dr Colleen McLaughlin is Deputy Head of the Faculty of Education and a widely respected authority on issues affecting young people”s social and emotional development. Both Dr Barbie Clarke and Dr Jennifer Symonds worked as Research Associates on the research, which was funded by the Nuffield Foundation as part of its Changing Adolescence Research Programme.