Incentivising Learning

Tomappleton

Hi all

I was wondering how other parents felt about giving cash or rewards to encourage children to learn and do well in school tests. And if you do, how you do it and does it work?

Thanks!

Tom

Andypandyboy

Absolutely not. Never considered it, never would.

Our approach was always, you are not doing this for us, you are doing it for you. We showed them, by example, a work ethic and what it can produce both in terms of opportunity and material reward and then said it was up to them to make it work. We took them out for meals after good exam results or even slipped them some cash to go out with, but it was never expected or a given.

We know some people who paid per GCSE result.....

It worked for us, all of them have post grad qualifications and are in professional careers.

Their results have to matter as much, if not more, to them than they do to you. Otherwise, when the bank of mum and dad closes the motivation ceases.

onlyroz

Yep, no problems with bribery in our house.


The kids get given "house points" and "gold book awards" at school. I translate each of these into £1 cash in hand. They can also get extra money by helping around the house.


I think it helps to show that hard work pays off.

pinkshoes

If you have a bright but lazy child it might be worth it.

I don't really mind how well they do, so long as they put the effort in and do their best.

Effort should be rewarded, not results.

onlyroz

pinkshoes wrote: »

If you have a bright but lazy child it might be worth it.

I don't really mind how well they do, so long as they put the effort in and do their best.

Effort should be rewarded, not results.

Surely you reward effort and results?

Andypandyboy

onlyroz wrote: »

Surely you reward effort and results?

Rewarding is different from incentivising though. We bought graduation presents but they weren't told upfront if you get a 1st you will get x or if lower it will be y. They worked hard for their own ends not because we bribed them to. I genuinely don't see the point of that.

All you can ask is that anyone does their best, works hard and tries. Sometimes outcomes do not reflect that and they fail.

Dill

How old are the children? At some stage they have to learn to do things off their own bat. Many children get to university, discover their newly-found freedom and then go off the rails, simply because there's no parent there holding their hand (or bribing them!) any more.

Person_one

Dill wrote: »

How old are the children? At some stage they have to learn to do things off their own bat. Many children get to university, discover their newly-found freedom and then go off the rails, simply because there's no parent there holding their hand (or bribing them!) any more.

And that's what the first year is for!

theoretica

A different possibility is if you are studying you are excused from housework at that moment.

Mojisola

Andypandyboy wrote: »

All you can ask is that anyone does their best, works hard and tries. Sometimes outcomes do not reflect that and they fail.

This was the line my parents took with us.

One of my siblings achieved a lot without having to work very hard.

I'd have been disincentivised if one of us had been rewarded for results easily won while the others worked really hard but were given less.

pinkshoes

onlyroz wrote: »

Surely you reward effort and results?

My brother and I both got straight A grades for GCSE.

I worked incredibly hard for mine, putting in hours and hours of revision.

My brother was a lazy toad, and even went out to a party the night before one exam, much to my parent's annoyance.

I would have been really p*ssed off if we had been given the same financial reward.

He met his target grades (although could have easily got a few more A*s with more effort), and I exceeded mine.

When you have siblings of different abilities and varying skills, it is not very wise to give financial incentives based on result.