八月出生孩子學習成績較差 易成問題少年

Children born in August do significantly worse in exams than classmates born 11 months earlier at the beginning of the academic year, a landmark study shows.

August-born boys are 12 per cent less likely than September-born boys to get good GCSEs and girls are 9 per cent less likely.

In addition, August-born youngsters are 20 percent more likely to ditch academic study and learn a trade from the age of 16. They are 20 per cent less likely to go to an elite university.

And it is not just their education that suffers as they are more likely to be bullied at primary school and have lower confidence in their academic ability.

As a result as teenagers, they are also more inclined to smoke, binge drink and take cannabis and fewer are in control of their lives, according to a report published today.

Claire Crawford, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)， co-author of the report, said children face a penalty "simply because they are unlucky enough to have been born late in the school year".

To redress the balance, August-born children could spend a year longer at school under proposals put forward by the study's authors.

Or they could sit tests only when they are deemed ready, or have their test scores age-adjusted.

The shake-up would involve ending the arbitrary system which expects pupils to reach academic levels by the end of a "key stage" at school.

They would instead be expected to achieve those levels by a certain age, for example the crucial "level four" by eleven-and-a-half rather than by the time they leave primary school.

Another alternative, suggested by the authors, is to change the admissions process to ensure children only start school after a certain age.據英國《每日郵報》11月1日報道，一項具有里程碑意義的研究顯示，八月份出生的孩子比起那些年長11個月於九月份學年開始時出生的孩子，在考試中明顯表現得要糟糕一些。

八月出生的男生比九月出生的男生在獲得優秀的GCSE課程成績的概率上低了12%，而女生則低了9%。

此外，八月出生的青少年有20%以上的機率在16歲時選擇拋棄學術學習，轉而去學習職業技能。而他們進入名校就讀的機率也低了20%。

在教育狀況方面，這些孩子不僅僅是在上小學時更容易被欺負，也降低了他們在學術能力上的信心。

今日發表的一篇報道中說，對於十幾歲的青少年來說，這樣的情況也導致他們更容易吸菸、酗酒、吸食大麻，難以掌控自己的生活。

這篇報告的合著者，來自英國財政學會(IFS)的克萊爾•克勞德福說，孩子們面臨着一種懲罰，“僅僅只是因爲他們不幸地出生在學年末”。

該研究的作者提出建議，爲了匡正這種平衡，八月出生的孩子應該在學校多待一年。

或者是隻有當他們認爲準備好了以後再參加考試，要麼就讓考試成績根據他們的年齡加以調整。

政策的大調整應該包括終止這種任意的系統，這一系統期望學生在學校生活的“關鍵階段”結束時達到要求的學術水平。

取而代之的應該是期望學生在特定的年齡達到相應水平，比如說，要求學生在十一歲半時達到“四級”，而不是在他們從小學畢業的時候。

作者還提供了另一種選擇，就是改變學校的錄取進程，以保證只有適齡的兒童才能入學就讀。