17th October 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A recent project was rolled out in selected schools in poorer areas to give incentives to GCSE students to improve their grades and homework. The incentives included cash payments of up to £160 a term in return for good results, behaviour and attendance, and free outings and day trips. In order to see whether these incentives helped to improve results, a control group was offered no incentives, and the results were compared at the end of the project. The approach was designed by senior academics in economics and education, who felt sure that the approach would be successful. They were wrong. At the end of the project, they were forced to conclude that the incentives had made no difference at all. The project designers were surprised by the results, but the outcome shows that they fundamentally misunderstood the nature of poverty, and how children learn.
Immediate objections to such a project might be along the lines that children should not be offered cash incentives to learn – they should be instilled with a love of learning for learning’s sake. Yet with a narrow, results-based curriculum and emphasis on outcomes and future courses and jobs, it is no wonder that the project organisers felt that cash incentives would make sense. It fits with the market approach to education that has become increasingly prevalent. So what was the problem here? The fact is that the disadvantages faced by these children are not going to be solved with the promise of an extra £160 a term.
The project approach assumes that all students need is a small incentive and they will suddenly be able to work harder, understand their subjects better and change their pattern of school behaviour. It is incredibly naïve to think that this is all it takes to solve problems that students have likely struggled with all their lives, and are deeply embedded in the poverty and inequality which characterises the society in which they live. Of course there could be another explanation: Perhaps the students in question were simply able to see through this cynical attempt to bribe them. If so, then this has been a good lesson for them.