Aibu to offer my daughter money incentives for good gcse grades?

[Whatsmyname26]

My daughter is just starting to do some GCSEs with her first exam later this year. She is sitting them early and achieving well (looking at a level 5/6 atm) but I would like to encourage her to reach for the higher grades and remember children being given money incentives for different grades when I did my exams. Has anyone done this? Did it help encourage them to work harder to achieve higher marks? If so how much per top grade? She is only sitting one gcse this year and currently looking to sit another either November this year or next June.

Does a reward help incentivise them or should they just work because they should? I should point out she is autistic too.

I wouldn’t let her sit early

In dds school grade 4/5 is typical year 8 in top sets

Many colleges want first grades not resit

Why so early for an average pass?

Dh used to give our grown boys a gift of their choosing for excellent school years, They did well just about every year and had a range of odd choices. A cat, a trampoline, a camera, a day out with the family to a theme park. Stuff like that.
I'm pretty sure he'll do the same for Dd, shes now year 10, so we'll see what she comes up with.

I’ve heard of it working. A neighbor offered there daughter £1000 per A and £1250 for a A+. That cost them a lot of money as she got a. A and A+. But going towards uni...

Bubble comparison dd is year 9 and will sit eng lit next year in year 10 as that’s school policy

She’s on a 6/7 not so cud get an 8 but imo I’d rather she do in year 11 and aim for a 9 given the choice. I don’t get why you’d do earlier and then redo when resits are looked down on

@Theroigne I’ve seen it all in the past 20 years. Paying for results in this way does children absolutely no favours in the long term. It is quite literally buying into the exam factory mentality!

@Member869894 no it really isn’t time for a change! I’m bloody good at what I do. What IS depressing is parents bringing up teenagers to be motivated only by money rather than educational (and later professional) development. No wonder so many early entrants to the workplace are so entitled and think they’re ‘owed’

I offered ds a financial incentive for every A he got in his prelims (Scottish exams before finals in may).

It was said in jest and I didn't think he would remember, but he asked for it as he'd earned it. He got 7 As. Cost me £3.50 💷. Think it was more of a principle thing 🤣

People have different motivations. While it would be wonderful if all my students were motivated by their love of knowledge and firm belief in academic success being its own reward and likely to improve their career outlook... frankly some of them would benefit by being paid to work. Just like I am.

OP she was pretty motivated and was due to do fairly well. Perhaps not quite that well though. For example a few weeks before the Spanish exam the teacher was trying to persuade her to take the lower paper. She insisted on taking the upper and got an 8. Thank god she did as otherwise the best she could have got was a 4.

I think it did help. I pissed myself laughing at DH doing the bank transfer

Surely there reward for good grades it’s getting good grades?

The money thing seems crazy to me. I guess if you had a lazy but bright child who was very money minded abs refuses to put any work in, it could be a last resort.

I remember a boy I was at school with being offered a new bike by his Dad if he could beat me in an end of year maths exam. I am not sure it motivated him to work harder because his approach was to try to bribe me to "throw" the exam.

When she then gave me every penny I'd given her back the day before I left for university I cried

That's lovely.

Sunshine she’s sitting it because the opportunity came up this year and it’s not a core subject. It’s a good practise run because she is autistic so it’s good for her to get a feel for how everything works before we do a set of core subjects if that makes sense. Also her knowledge of the subject is very good as it’s a current special interest. This could change so worth doing while she is keen.

Sounds like a bad idea.

Also I'm with pp, I'd not let her take exams early if she's not going to get particularly good grades. Better to wait. You said it's to help with exam technique but better to just do practice exams before taking the actual thing when she's ready!

My friend had monetary incentives for the different grades and ended up studying at Cambridge. I think it does depend though on the child if they are motivated by money etc. Other rewards could be used instead too I guess. I always found having a reward for my hard work really helped me. It’s gave me a purpose and the motivation to work my socks off for my exams!

Worked for me!

It’s really interesting seeing different peoples views and experiences.

I’m not worried about the possibility of resitting being seen as a negative. She is 13 so I can’t imagine they will hold it against her if she resists at 15/16 tbh. It’s also not a subject she’s likely to study further but if she chooses to a 6 should be enough to access the subject at a higher level and she’s on track for that already.

I'm not sure. I was given a cash incentive but mainly because my older dB was a slacker and they did the same with him. I'm not sure it made me work any harder as I don't think I really understood the value of money at that age. It didn't push me more than my natural abilities. It didn't really work with dB either as he still didn't do well. It was nice afterwards but is there something physical and large to bribe with instead? Like driving lessons or new computer? Something that is not just a number as money can be.

What about rewarding her for revision/exam preparation rather than exam results? E.g. ill give you a pound or whatever for every hour you spend revising? Or something similar? Less pressure on her for final outcomes but still rewarding her (ultimately for doing the right thing?)

Notajogger she needs to see the whole process really to reduce the stress so the revision and mocks but also the exam centre and the physically sitting exams too. She’s done a mock already and has another Thursday so she’s getting practise on that aspect too.

Smurfy yes I think that’s probably a better approach!

We are against this for two reasons. Firstly what if you have more than one child who have different abilities, would one earn lots of money for less effort than the other one?

But mostly because we think it is fairer to reward effort rather than results. The effort is controllable but the results less so. Full effort should in itself lead to good results.

So no rewards on results here apart from maybe a meal out but both DC taken abroad for a few days just them and a parent straight after the exams finish.

What next? Pay her for A levels? Higher Ed? Financial rewards for professional exams? Passing an apprenticeship?

What next? Persuading someone else to pay you for work, that’s what.

It would have worked for me!

I think it’s fine, my son is sitting his GCSE’s this summer too and his dad is offering him x amount for certain grades. He’s going to get top marks anyway so it’s not about motivating with him but more rewarding as he’s working so hard. I see nothing wrong with doing it for motivation though.

Blimey @mumtomaxwell you would think teachers would be glad of parents doing everything they can to help get the ol’ progress 8 scores up

Or maybe some teachers have some integrity and still put the wellbeing of the kids they teach first.

Blimey, you'd think that parents would be glad of teachers doing everything they can to teach kids more than just jumping through hoops.

And let's all be honest here, how hard you work has shit all to do with financial reward.

Hardest working person I know is paid very little for the heartache and backache she puts into her work as a support worker after years of training, while another friend is a school dropout who became a receptionist at a luxury ski resort and takes home 6 times what my support worker friend earns.

But I can tell you which one's eyes shine when she talks about her job.

None of which is relevant to your question, OP, so apologies for that. I just do want to stick a spoon in my eye when people mock teachers like @mumtomaxwell for giving a flying fart about the children in their care.

My parents did this when I sat my A levels 10+ years ago £50 for each A.

My dad said he would buy me a car if I got all As. Unfortunately I only got AAAB didn't get a car, then never bothered learning to drive. But I did have a nice £170 to spend in the summer before going to uni.