HOW DO SEASON OF BIRTH AND LENGTH OF SCHOOLING AFFECT CHILDRENS ATTAINMENT AT KEY STAGE-1

A review of previous studies identifies three main hypotheses to expla in the general finding that summer-born children perform less well tha n their autumn-born classmates. This article reports the findings of a n analysis of the 1991 National Curriculum Assessment data in relation to season of birth. Two hypotheses are explored in an analysis of the results obtained by a sample of around 4,000 six- and seven-year-olds in maths, science and English. The analysis revealed that there were significant differences between children of different age-related grou ps in all three subjects. Although this was partially the result of di fferences in the age of the children when tested, other factors were f ound to be related to the achievement of these groups. The findings in dicate that both age on starting school and length of schooling are im portant factors. Children who started school close to the age of four did less well than others. For older children, length of schooling app eared to relate positively to achievement at key stage 1. The implicat ions of these findings for school policy and practice are discussed.