Don’t give your kids cash as incentives to pass exams – ‘it doesn’t work’

Offering teenagers cash to do well in their GCSEs is likely to have little impact on their results, according to research.

While parents may use financial incentives to motivate their children to get good grades, a new study suggests doing so may well be pointless.

But the promise of a trip or outing in return for doing well in their school work could encourage pupils struggling with maths to do better in the subject.

More than 10,000 teenagers in 63 schools studying for GCSEs in English, maths and science took part in the research project run by Bristol University and the University of Chicago, which covered two different trials.

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Dr Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, which published the research, said: “The use of incentives in schools is not a new idea and can appear attractive to schools and parents who are trying to motivate their children.

“The study suggests that while incentives can increase effort in the classroom, their direct impact on learning is low. “

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