Season of birth, sex and success in GCSE English, mathematics and science: some long‐lasting effects from the early years?

ABSTRACT

Local education authorities and/or schools in England and Wales operate various policies for the admission of children to school, so that annual, biannual and termly admission patterns may be found in different places, combined with different policies regarding the admission of ‘rising fives’ — children just below the statutory age. Previous research into the relationship between achievement and age has detected differences in achievement between children born at different stages in the school year, resulting from variations in length of schooling and/or readiness for school, which appear to persist beyond primary school. The research reported here attempts to confirm the persistence of birth‐date effects in nationwide General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations in English, science and mathematics taken by 16‐year‐old pupils reaching the end of compulsory schooling and to explore the possibility that such effects are especially strong in particular features of these assessments.

Data were available concerning performance on the various ‘papers’ and school‐assessed components in three GCSE examinations for 20 000+ pupils examined in science, 68000+ pupils examined in mathematics and 1679 pupils examined in English in June 1993. Additional data concerning performance on individual questions were extracted from examination scripts for all the pupils assessed in English and for samples of those examined in mathematics and science.

The analyses reported were restricted to the cohort in their final year of compulsory schooling by filtering out all those born outside September 1976 and August 1977. Season of birth is related to achievement in all three subjects and the size of the effects observed (autumn‐born pupils scoring about 2 to 3 per cent more marks than those born in summer) appears similar to those associated with gender. More complex effects are also identified which appear to relate to school terms and hence school entry policies. Sex differences are apparent within these cyclical patterns of achievement. Age is also related to variations in patterns of entry for vertically differentiated tiers of papers in the GCSE examinations, which govern eligibility for various ranges of grades; with autumn‐born pupils more likely to attempt more difficult options. Season‐of‐birth effects are stronger in coursework than in written examination papers. Within written papers effects appear strongest in questions which require extended writing. Some policy implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• season of birth
• sex
• GCSE examinations
• admission to school

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emma Ross

Alf Massey is Head of the Evaluation Service and Gill Elliott and Emma Ross are Research Officers in the Research and Evaluation Division of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.