Can the month of birth impact academic success? To this surprising question, INSEE provides some answers in a survey published on September 2. According to them, “on average, being one year younger when starting school lowers performance by around 20 points at age 15 in mathematics, science and reading.”
In other words, being born at the beginning of the year would be an advantage in academic success compared to those born at the end of the year. These consequences would be long-lasting, impacting in particular the grades in adolescence. These results are the result of the analysis of data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted in 15 OECD countries, including France.
“Children do not all start school at the same age or with the same level of maturity,” explains INSEE. Indeed, “since the start date for CP is the same for all children born in the same calendar year, a student born in January is almost a year older than a student born in December, which can be an advantage for learning,” continue the authors of the study. Indeed, for a child born in December, there can be an age difference of 11 months compared to a child born in January, or, at that time, an age gap of 20%.
Among the consequences, we can note the impact on the quality of relationships at school. “The youngest students when they enter school report more often than their older peers that they feel they are treated as (…)
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