According to a study published by INSEE on Monday, September 2, being one year older when starting CP “significantly increases performance in the school subjects measured” by the Pisa tests (reading, mathematics and science).
Depending on whether you are born at the beginning or end of the year, you will not have the same chances at school. This is what the INSEE says in a study published this Monday, September 2, the first day of the school year, which states that students born at the beginning of the year are “significantly” advantaged at school compared to those born at the end of the year. “Being older than peers at school entry significantly increases performance in the academic subjects measured (reading, mathematics and science),” The institute writes, based on three waves of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams conducted in 15 countries on 15-year-old students.
The results of the Pisa tests, between 2015 and 2022, were studied by INSEE based on the age of the students when they entered CP, and not according to the class they were in at the time of the test. Depending on their month of birth, students could be up to almost a year older in CP. And being a year older when entering CP increases the Pisa score by an average of 18.2 points in mathematics, 18.4 points in science and 20.6 points in reading for French students, a difference “of the same order as the progression observed during a year of study”.
Students born at the end of the year more frequently victims of harassment
According to INSEE, these differences are explained by “cumulative effects” : an older student when entering primary school will on average have more academic facilities at the beginning, and therefore more chances of being considered a good student and of benefiting from encouraging dynamics. This effect “questions the ability of the education system to manage the heterogeneity of students”, notes the study, which also observes a gap in repeats.
According to Pisa data, students born at the end of the year also more frequently report having been victims of bullying. While the study does not provide an explanation, it does hypothesize that they may more frequently have “physical or social characteristics, such as greater shyness or less self-confidence, which make them more exposed to harassment.”
While the impact of the month of birth on academic results can be observed in all countries, it is nevertheless variable. In France, it is on average less significant than in the others. It also remains much less significant than the effect of the social background of origin: in 2022, the 25% of the most advantaged French students have on average a score in mathematics 112.5 points higher than that of the 25% of the least advantaged students. Knowing that the average score of the French was 474 in mathematics that year.
