Traditional thinking around the education of children with specific language impairment (SLI) generally considered specialised educational provision to be a short-term requirement. However, the emergence of studies indicating that many children with SLI continue to experience linguistic, social and academic difficulties throughout school life, even following periods of intensive provision and therapy, has meant that the issues concerning the education of children with SLI are now a longer-term concern. Most outcome studies of children with SLI examine academic abilities using measures that limit the direct relevance and applicability of their findings in the present educational system serving the English SLI population. In addressing the existing dearth of research concerning educational attainments as measured through formal educational assessments, the present study examined the performance of children with SLI in National Curriculum Key Stage 2 (KS2) assessments of key curricular subjects. Furthermore, in exploring the educational achievements of children with SLI, the present study also acknowledged the importance of the educational context as a forum for social learning and development and therefore established as its second aim, an examination of the social profiles of children with SLI at 11 years. One hundred children (86 boys and 14 girls), who previously had all been in fulltime attendance at specialist provision in the form of language units, participated in the study. The sample of participants were recruited in their final year of primary school education (Year 6) and were divided into two groups defined by the nature of their current educational placement. The Mainstream Education group (mean age: 130 months) comprised 50 children attending mainstream education with or without some level of additional support. The Special Education group (mean age: 131 months) consisted of 50 children attending special education in the form of either a language unit, a language school, or a special school. The two groups were matched for ability on a series of cognitive and linguistic measures. Both groups presented with expressive and receptive language difficulties (below 1sd from the population mean) and non-verbal IQ scores and short-term memory abilities within the normal range. Participants' performance in the National Curriculum KS2 assessments was measured, together with an examination of assessment procedures, such as test entry and the application of special testing arrangements. It was found that participants performed poorly relative to national levels of expectation and achievement across the curricular subjects of English, mathematics and science in both KS2 tests and teacher assessments. The Mainstream Education group of participants was found to perform significantly better than the Special Education group in the mathematics and science tests. It was also revealed that a considerable proportion of children from both educational placement groups were not entered to take the tests. Furthermore, special arrangements were made for a large number of participants who did take the tests. The assessment outcomes and procedures are discussed in terms of the testing demands placed on the skills of children with SLI, the impact of educational failure on the SLI population, the implications concerning the accessibility of National Curriculum studies and assessments to children with SLI and the differences observed between educational placement groups. The social-behavioural profiles of the participants were measured using teacher- and participant-response questionnaires. Various domains of social competence and social relationships were measured in the participants, as were the levels of emotional and behavioural difficulties that are commonly experienced by children with SLI and which may be considered to impact upon their social and educational performance. The risk encountered by children with SLI of experiencing bullying behaviour in school was also measured and compared with that of normally developing peers. Although the majority of participants were not found to experience significant social-behavioural difficulties in the school setting, the findings of the present study indicate that children with SLI are more susceptible to such problems than their normally developing peers. An alarming proportion of participants considered themselves to be at risk of being bullied. Implications of the incidence rate of particular social-behavioural problems and victimisation are discussed in relation to the social and educational development and performance of children with SLI in the school setting, and in terms of the differences and similarities observed between the profiles of the two educational placement groups. With regard to the overall findings of the present study, recommendations are made for improving the educational experience of children with SLI.