EDUCATION BIRTHDATE EFFECT

Academics call for debate in the face of evidence that a child’s maturity at the start of the school year impacts on their academic

success. Annabel Heseltine

investigates the ‘birthdate eff ect’

P

arents go to great lengths to secure the best education for their children, taking out mortgages, moving house,

even involving a child in various brain- stimulating activities. However a report released last year indicates that the best advantage parents can give their child is rather closer to home: in the bedroom, in fact, with the date of conception.

A Cambridge Assessment review

released in 2009, and since incorporated as part of the Rose enquiry into the primary curriculum, reinforces a view which scientists and analysts claim has been staring us in the face for years. A child born in the months of September, October and November is likely to be physically, intellectually and emotionally more mature than his or her summer- born peers, giving them an advantage at school. Furthermore, this phenomenon can persist at all stages throughout an academic career and even into adulthood. T is so-called ‘birthdate eff ect’ is

most pronounced at primary school. T e magnitude of the eff ect gradually and continually decreases through Key Stages 3 and 4 (KS3 and KS4) and at A-level. Research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies found that the disadvantage for August- born children over September-born children in expected attainment dropped

30 FIRST ELEVEN SUMMER 2010

from an average of 25 per cent at KS1, to 12 per cent at KS2, to nine per cent at KS3, to six per cent at KS4 and to one per cent at A-level. Others claim the impact remains signifi cant at GCSE, A-level and in entry into higher education. September-born students are 20 per cent more likely to go to university than their August-born peers. “T e statistics are compelling

and shocking,” says Tim Oates, Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment. “When you look at qualifi cations, gender and date of birth eff ects, there is a very, very signifi cantly pronounced eff ect.” “Many parents believe that

Children

born in August are 20 per cent less likely to go to university than

those born in September

Higher Education Funding Council

the eff ect peters outs as children grow older but this isn’t true. It is a powerful and persistent eff ect. Summer-borns are screened out before the university stage. T ere are many individuals who do get to university and do very well but that is because they are brilliant anyhow.” Oates believes it is a developmental issue. “We think that there is a crucial

spurt at about [age] four and a half which enables children to monitor, plan and evaluate their work. Some rising fours just haven’t got there yet. T ey are just not ready for school. T ey are labelled ‘not as able’ which leads to a loss of confi dence and negative associations which will colour their educational background. T ere is evidence that these learned attitudes will persist for the rest of their life.” Teachers confuse maturity with

ability, he says, placing the older children in advanced streams where this prognosis soon becomes a self-fulfi lling prophecy as they receive more advanced teaching. Economists Dhuey and Bedard found that younger students were under represented in US four-year colleges by 11.6 per cent. T at initial diff erence in maturity doesn’t go away, argues Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, where he suggests that success is no accident but a product of parenting, preparation and chance circumstance including birthdates. “It persists,” he explains. “In America, for thousands of students, it is the diff erence between going to college... and not.”

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