This article reports on the 12 to 18 Educational Research Project, a longitudinal study that is following a number of young people at four different schools through each year of their secondary schooling. The aim of the study is to chart the thinking of these young people, and their pathways, as they go through school, and then enter life beyond this. In this article, the authors discuss some findings from this work in progress, looking particularly at how young people in the early and middle years of secondary school are thinking about self, work and the future. The authors also consider in what ways gender is an issue in their approach.