Impact Research objective This dissertation aims to expand the knowledge on early literacy and numeracy skills, referred to as ’basic skills’ in this dissertation. This knowledge is needed, as a significant proportion of fifteen-years-olds are at risk of being illiterate and innumerate (e.g., Meelissen et al., 2023). This dissertation offers insights in three notable angles that enhance the scientific and policy debate on how to address this matter. First, this dissertation contributes to the knowledge on the longitudinal importance of basic skills, by analyzing whether these skills in childhood predict individuals’ satisfaction in adulthood. Second, this dissertation aims to enhance the understanding of how basic skills develop, specifically focusing on Dutch primary education. Last, this dissertation explores whether an environmental factor, more specifically temperature, affect student performance. Main conclusions This dissertation contains four stand-alone empirical chapters. The first chapter shows that early literacy and numeracy skills predict how satisfied individuals are with how their life has turned out so far in adulthood. The extent to which these skills predict life satisfaction 153
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