A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) this week found that August-born children in England and Wales are educationally disadvantaged throughout their education and are far less likely to attend a Russell-group University. 

Does an August birthday disadvantage your child?

IFS researchers examined whether there was a link between the month in which a child is born and their post-school future.  Worryingly, the report’s authors state that August-born children “end up doing less well throughout their working lives.”

What is even worse is that August-born children are more likely to report being unhappy in school and having lower confidence in their academic abilities, when compared to September-born children, who appear to have a huge advantage.

Parents can help August-borns overcome their disadvantaged position in the early years by reading to them (from birth) and spending time interacting over fun tasks such as colouring and leaf-counting, but it seems clear that they may need extra support throughout their schooling.

In some countries, national test scores are standardised, to avoid disadvantaging younger children (in Trafford we do this with test scores for entry to local grammar schools).  It would be perfectly plausible to do this with SATs and GCSEs and it would be interesting to monitor the effects.

Before we can find a solution, however, we have to identify the cause of the problem.  The IFS research project is ongoing and in 2012 a report will be published which intends to pinpoint the driving forces behind birth-month academic performance.

In any case, there is a dilemma: should we intervene to level the playing field for August-borns or should we accept that one’s birth month is just a fact of life, like the colour of our eyes? 

Every cloud, as the saying goes, has a silver lining and at least an August born will never have to go to school on their birthday!

 Further reading in yesterday’s Guardian.

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net