New research published today (20th July) suggests that GCSE students who are determined to do well are more likely to achieve higher levels of success. This may be stating the obvious but let’s not underestimate what it means…
If you are moving from Y10 to Y11 after three months of disrupted schooling then there is no avoiding the fact that you could be behind with your learning – but by how much?
John Jerrim, writing about his research on the FFT Education Datalab website, suggests: “All other things being equal, those who are motivated, driven to succeed and ambitious are likely to have continued to work hard in their studies even while their school was closed. On the other hand, those pupils who are less motivated and have no clear post-school targets or plans, may well have taken their foot off the pedal.”
But this is not where the story ends as you still have all of Y11 ahead of you. Jerrim’s research, undertaken with Nikki Shure and Gill Wyness at University College London, shows that driven and ambitious students (as determined by interviews conducted in November of their Y11 course) went on to outperform their peers by about half a GCSE grade. The point being, of course, that if you want to do well you must be determined to do well – and act on that now.
This means going over last year’s learning during the summer holidays, reminding yourself that you are doing so because you are determined (not just “want”) to do well in your final exams.
If you are interested in the research, you can read about it at the link below. But don’t get bogged down by the detail: just make a determined decision to do well and act on that by recapping last year’s learning over the summer.
Mr Tarrant's physbang 'blog 