Pupils who feel particularly joyful do not do any better in their
GCSEs than their peers who do not feel as happy, according to UCL
research led by Professor John Jerrim.
The peer-reviewed study, published in Assessment in
Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, analysed data
from 4,000 pupils aged 15 and 16 in England from PISA (Programme
of International Assessment) 2018. In the sample, Year 11 pupils
were asked how often they usually felt happy, lively, joyful,
cheerful, or proud using a four-point scale of never to always.
Their responses were divided into three groups: low levels of
wellbeing (the least happy 20%), high levels of wellbeing (the
happiest 20%) and those who were in-between. Professor Jerrim
then compared the GCSE results of these three groups to
investigate the link between wellbeing and exam performance.
Professor Jerrim (UCL Social Research Institute based at IOE,
UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society) said: “This academic year
we are due to see the return of GCSE examinations after a
Covid-enforced two-year hiatus. Before the pandemic hit, there
was much concern about how these high-stakes examinations may be
affecting young people’s mental health.
“At the same time, it was recognised that those Year 11s who were
struggling with their wellbeing may see their GCSE grades suffer
as a result. The paper finds that the link between the wellbeing
of Year 11 pupils and the GCSE grades they achieve is not
actually as strong as you might think.”
The results show that the probability of achieving at least a
grade 4 (grade C) in mathematics by level of wellbeing in Year 11
are 75% for the ‘low wellbeing’ group, 78% for the ‘average
wellbeing’ group, and 76% for the ‘high wellbeing’ group.
Professor Jerrim explained: “The findings show that differences
in GCSE grades when compared with wellbeing scores, are, on the
whole, pretty small. And having low levels of wellbeing in Year
11 is associated with only a modest decrease in the probability
of achieving at least a grade 4 in mathematics.
“The findings suggest that any claims of a link between negative
emotion, fear of failure and educational outcomes are somewhat
exaggerated and in reality, these emotions seem to be largely
unrelated to young people’s performance in high-stakes
examinations.
“Policy and practice should focus upon such emotions as being of
importance and concern in their own right, rather than due to any
potential link with future educational outcomes.”
Professor Jerrim highlights limitations to the findings including
the fact that data was only collected at one single point in time
and capturing variation in young people’s emotions throughout
their time at secondary school, would help facilitate a more
detailed analysis of the link between wellbeing and academic
achievement.
The study also points out that data used in this research was
collected prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has had profound
impact upon young people’s wellbeing and school experiences.
Notes to Editors
J Jerrim, The power of positive emotions? The link between
young people’s positive and negative affect and performance in
high-stakes examinations will be published on www.tandfonline.com and is
under strict embargo until Thursday 28 April, 00.01 UK time.
The DOI will be 10.1080/0969594X.2022.2054941.
