Leadership

Factors Influencing Secondary School Pupils’ Educational Outcomes

This review provides evidence on the factors influencing secondary-age young people’s attainment in relation to four key themes.

This DfE report presents the findings of children and young people tracked through critical phases of learning, from early years to higher education, through a series of staggered, longitudinal studies. It focuses on academic attainment in English and maths GCSEs (or national equivalents), as well as academic progress measured by the difference between assessments at different points in time.

The review provides evidence on the factors influencing secondary-age young people’s attainment in relation to 4 themes: young people’s capabilities and health, the experiences of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those who use social services, and young people’s experiences of the home and school environments.

The review provides evidence of a strong positive association between attainment and pupil’s cognitive capabilities, including Intelligence Quotient (IQ) (understanding of language and reasoning ability), executive functioning (particularly working memory and attention) and use of metacognitive strategies (including both self-regulation and cognitive strategies, which support deep information processing).

There is also growing evidence of a strong positive association between attainment and pupils’ non-cognitive capabilities, especially conscientiousness, motivation, self-perception of abilities and social-emotional skills.

There was also strong negative association between attainment outcomes and indicators of vulnerability, such as having a special educational need, being looked after, or identified as children in need (CiN).

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