Anna Vignoles from the Institute of Education speaks to Saskia Walcott about her paper 'Parents' skills and children's cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes', presented at the CMPO conference 'Early life interventions and intergenerational mobility' in October 2011. Previous research has suggested a positive intergenerational relationship between a parent's childhood cognitive skill level and their own children's skill levels. Yet we also know that individuals' skill levels change during childhood and into adulthood, not least as a result of their education, training and work experience. This paper provides clear support for the notion that identifying parents with poor literacy and numeracy skills can help us predict which children are most at risk of having poor skills themselves.