Offering money for each GCSE pass or points?

We took ds to the Toby Carvery. He was motivated by roast potatoes.

Depends on the child.
Mine is very motivated by bribery so I use it a lot.
It's also an easy win for me - less arguing. Here's the deal, your choice.
I see it like being offered a bonus at work.

I would never reward based on grades. For some children all 9s is much easier than 3 4s is for another. If there are siblings that makes the based on grades particularly unfair.

for DS I did it based on attending each exam! He gets his results in August and we will go for a celebration meal no matter what

We did, not loads. It really depends on the child.

I think if you knew it would motivate them to revise then I would offer money for the effort not the grade specifically. Your child can work hard, do as well as they can and still get lower grades than you think because in their cohort other children did better.

Others may do better because their school provides a better educational environment, that might be because it is an incredible state school or it might be one that charges tens of thousands a year with smaller classes and far less disruption.

Anecdotally, Ds got a mark that one year would have been a grade 8 and a year later, a 7. Same mark, different cohort where more children got a higher mark due to performing better on a subjective paper with regard to marking it. Not maths where it is more definite.

The grade curve applies and does mean some children do not get above a grade 4.

I'm not really making a case one way or another, I am merely highlighting that the way you frame these things (and how you motivate people) can impact their attitudes to things longer term.

He can say No all he wants.
But GCSE grades don't come with a caveat of these were obtained only with financial rewards. The grades are the grades and stay with someone for life. They open doors to next steps, can be viewed for uni applications, for non uni kids may be relevant for first jobs.
If a parent has tried other methods and feels this is the way to get the teen to work then let them.

I think I would do it double-edged: if you exceed your predicted grade in a subject by 1 grade, I will pay you £10. If you get a grade below your predicted grade, you will pay me £10. £100 for two grades above or below.

That could really stress them out though. 😂

Michael Sandel says No;

The corruption argument (Sandel)
The idea is that some goods have a value that is intrinsic to the activity itself — learning, curiosity, the satisfaction of understanding something — and that introducing a market incentive doesn't just add an extra reason to do the thing, it actively corrupts or degrades the original value. A child who reads because they love stories is engaged in something qualitatively different from a child who reads to earn £5. The money doesn't enhance the reading — it changes what the activity is.

I totally would/did if it encouraged them to work harder.
I wasn't blessed with intrinsically motivated children, both would have been happy with 5s - enough to move on to their next stages.
A few years later and one is very happy with the 6s he got, and now needs to apply for a slight career change.
Not everyone is mature enough at 15/16 to see the big picture, especially if they are young in their year (and surrounded by others also lacking in motivation). But they quite often look forward to buying something new!

My parents did this.

£75 per A*, £50 per A, £25 per B.

1 A*, 9 A’s and a B later, they were £550 worse off and pretty fuming. I, however, had a great summer 🤣

No

My DD nedds to work harder to get her 5s in English than her 7/8s in Maths &Science.

If anything we will reward effort.

No - because they knew that they needed to study to get the grades they needed for the next stage of their education. That was enough to motivate them - they knew we were proud of them.

I think that it can depend on the child. My parents did this with my DB and I. It was £10 for an A, £5 for a B, nothing for a C. We had to pay them £5 for a D and pay them £10 for an E.
It helped my DB get his lazy butt in gear and get the good grades he was capable of.
I said I didn’t want to do the same as wanted to work for the results not money, and that was fine.

I wouldn’t choose to do it with my DC, but it did work for my bright DB who was slightly heading off rails. So you know your DC best. But think it’s important to set at realistic level - my DB was capable of the A’s, so this was ok.

I will definitely financially incentivice my eldest. It's the only language he currently understands (Although that mighy change as he gets older)

My dad offered me £50 for each one I passed.
He never did pay up for any of the 9 passes I got. I didn't tell him about the extra one I did.

No, I wouldn’t do a reward for grades.

I do a meal out and a present (money or a physical present) after the exams finish, to reward effort if I felt they’d worked hard.

Ask your child if it would make a difference. I would do a test run for mocks. Like 20% of the final reward. Then no more nagging.

We didn’t give financial rewards but DD 2 did ask if I would buy her a car if she got 3 A stars at A level. The fact that I said yes probably displayed my lack of confidence! She only got one AStar but got into her first choice uni.

During exams we did stuff like cooking them oily fish (doubt it made a difference but made them think we were on their side.

If all else was failing and I thought it might help, then yes I would. (I didn't, but that's not the question).

Some kids just aren't mature enough at gcse age.

I do think that rewarding effort might be better though as it is more tangible. Eg you can reward every school revision session attended, every hour spent revising at home (provided there is a tangible outcome of notes made, or you test them, or past paper done)

if Theyve done better than or as expected surely parents will tell their kids well done

Choosing a suitable grade you think is the minimum isn’t OK

I wouldn’t be bribing with money at all or in increments per grade point increase either

Didn't mention it beforehand ( no pressure) but rewarded financially afterwards.
I don't think that succeeding and getting a reward is a bad lesson. Guess the type of reward you give depends on your own circumstances

We rewarded effort (studying) not grades, gave him money one year and a new tracksuit the next year after his last exams.