Did the distraction of the 2010 World Cup Final in Soccer City, Johannesburg affect pupils’ GCSE results?
School students who take their GCSEs during a major international football tournament, such as the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship, get worse exam results than they would in a football-free summer, according to an Oxford researcher. The study was led by Robert Metcalfe of the University of Oxford, in collaboration with Professor Simon Burgess and Steven Proud of the Centre for Market and Public Organisation CMPO. They analysed the GCSE records of around three and a half million school students over seven years and found that: - School students who sat their exams in even-numbered years when there was a big summer football event tended to put in less effort and get worse results on average than those who took their exams in years without major tournaments. The size of the effect on students' educational outcomes varies a great deal depending on the degree to which students reduce effort, which in turn depends on their interest in football. Obviously not everyone is. The average effect on specific exams taken during the tournament is about a quarter of a grade per subject. This is equivalent to half of the effect of having an ineffective teacher as opposed to an effective teacher.
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