Industry News
Wealthier parents 'timing births'
Posted on 29th October 2007
Middle-class parents may be timing the births of their babies to ensure the child has the best chance of doing well at school, new research has revealed.
A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies discovered children born at the beginning of the academic year outperform those born in July or August.
The researchers expressed concern that this could cause the divide between rich and poor to increase as families with lower incomes do not appear to be planning their children's births in the same way.
When You Are Born Matters also found that middle-class children who are young for their year are more likely to be sent to a private school.
Researcher Professor Lorraine Dearden, from the University of London's Institute of Education said: "It could be that if a middle-class parent has an August-born child, they don't put them in the state sector, whereas if they have a September-born child, they do."
The Private Schools Directory and Guide reports that at primary level, most private schools which take part in national curriculum testing achieve levels "well above the national average".
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