Boys who do after-school activities do better in exams

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Villagedad
Posts: 526
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:22 pm
Location: Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells

Boys who do after-school activities do better in exams

Post by Villagedad »

Hi
Two interesting articles about the role of after school activities, especially sport, which appear to help boys (in particular) do better in exams and school work.

The research suggested that taking part in voluntary activities helped children build higher self-esteem, reduce levels of depression, get greater public recognition throughout the school, make more friends, and reduce drop-out rates.

Would be interested to hear from primary school parents in terms of:

a) which activities they believe work best?
b) the number of after school actvities their DC do, and are too many activites counter-productive ie lead to tiredness and burn-out?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... 418634.ece

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 95477.html

Best
Villagedad
jimmymack
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:48 am

Post by jimmymack »

I'm not saying that the effect does not exist but the implied causation (after school activities -> better exam performance) is flawed. There may be a correlation between after school activities and exam performance for a number of reasons including:

1. Middle class parents are more willing to go through the hastle of shipping children to and fro from after school activities. They are the same parents willing to invest time and money in helping their children do well in exams.

2. There is a big age factor in sporting performance. Older children do better in sports than younger children in the same year group. Children who are labelled as good at a sport are more likely to want to participate in those sports after school than children who aren't. This age factor also plays out in exams - hence age-based standardisation in the 11 plus.
SSM
Posts: 646
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:09 pm

Post by SSM »

I would agree with you jimmyjack, especially on your first point.
kentmum1
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:58 pm

Post by kentmum1 »

When son no.1 joined a swim club in Y5, where he swam twice weekly, I did notice a marked improvement in his concentration and school work. Whether this was just a coincidence in maturity and attitude I don't know but it was very noticeable at the time. It could have simply boosted his overall confidence. However, this has had no impact on son no.2, who has done all the same activities.
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