Rewards for DS for GCSE grades

[Boggyjo]

I am a teacher and have heard about students getting £500 for each grade 9 they get and other amounts on a reducing sliding scale for other grades.
What is reasonable?
My son is taking his GCSEs in the summer. I want to reward hard work and incentivise his revision effort, but certainly don’t want to go over the top.

My first DS was no way near getting 9s. He needed 5 4s for his 6th form for A levels.
I rewarded him £50 for each 4. He got 4s and 5s so I also treated him to some new air force trainers.
He then got A A C in a levels last summer and that cost us a new golf club 🤣

I didn't do such a scheme.
However I did do extra treats during revision and exams for working hard, and then we went shopping for college clothes after results.

If you must do something I would do it as meeting or exceeding predictions, not pay per grade.

And think very hard if you have 2 DC of differing ability.

DS is very interested in shares and investing so we have promised an amount into his existing ISA if he gets the grades we have agreed on or higher. We have gone 1 grade above all his mock results (except where he got a 9 obvs)

Mine got to choose where we ate out on their last day of exams, no reward for GCSEs but got a trip to Asda for university supplies for a levels

I had this discussion with DS earlier this week, having discovered his mate is getting £150 for every GCSE passed. I made sure he knew nothing like that was coming his way. The grades to move onto the next stage are the reward. I'm sure he'll get some new clothes, as he won't be wearing school uniform next year whatever he does next. And we'll go out for dinner if he's not out with his mates that evening.

I didn’t do £ per grade but I bought him something I knew he really coveted but didn’t think he’d ever own as a surprise.

I’m not saying how much it cost because I think it’s all relative to what you can afford/os within your budget. I think it should be something that’s definitely enough to be seen as a proper treat but not so outlandish that you’re skint for a month because of it.

Depends on your financial situation and your child’s ability/effort. Do you have more than one child ? You don’t want a system where one child ends up with loads of money and the other with much less despite more effort applied

What is your child predicted ? I couldn’t afford £500x9 and wouldn’t want to “punish” my child for getting an 8 rather than 9 when 8 is an excellent grade.

I went for a surprise fixed amount after exams and it wasn’t in the 1000s like the people you know.

The reward for getting good enough grades, was to be able to join a 6th form and study the subjects they wished.

DS who got all A* last year didn’t get any financial reward. He didn’t even want a celebratory meal out!

we’re not offering anything for his AS levels this year either, nor his A levels next year.

I rewarded the effort and bought new headphones after the last exam. The grades were the award for doing well.

I think a better idea is to pay him to revise. That way you are rewarding the effort and in my experience more likely to have positive results.

I think something to celebrate the end of the exams and the effort they have put in (something like they get to choose the restaurant we go out to for dinner) it's the effort they put in that counts not the grade they get awarded.

I don't agree with paying them only encouraging them. Developing an attitude that makes them want to do well for themselves and their future not to please mummy and daddy.

A small gift or surprise as a congratulations if they achieve their own goals, sure, but not as an incentive to do well.

I don't do this kind of extrinsic reward for my kids. They put in the effort or not and get the results or not, that's it's own natural consequence. We go out as a family to acknowledge their exam results and they get to choose the venue.

Edited to add : this has been really important in my family as my 3 kids have very different attainments. #1 got high grades for maths and sciences and failed English and geography. #2 got 10 passes at grades 5 and 6. #3 got 11 passes at grades 8 and 9. Each had their own journeys and each did well in their own way. Rewarding #3 much more financially when he had the smoothest, easiest ride and really didn't have to work that hard would have been very unfair.

I find giving money per 9 or whatever just depressing. The reward is the gcse. I think rewarding effort is a good idea.

we gave DS1 £50 for a 6 rising to £200 for a 9 to try and incentivise him. It didn't work as he wasn't bothered about the money, although did get good enough grades to go on to A level.

We are now doing the same for DS2 which will cost us a lot more money as he is very self motivated and likely to get a mix of 7, 8 and 9's

We don't need to do it for DS2 but it didn't seem fair not to!

I rewarded effort for revising and took him to Spain for a week so he would be away from his friends. He got up early and worked from 7-1pm then we had fun going to new places or he spent time relaxing around the pool. After his exams we went out for a celebratory meal and gave him money to go on cheap holiday with his friends but he didn't know about this in advance. We were mindful not all of his friends had parents who could afford to financially reward exam grades.

I wouldn't do this as you are teaching them that intrinsic motivation isn't enough, only extrinsic where you are rewarded. Treat them certainly if you think they deserve it but hard work brings it's own reward and they should know that.

I think you have to look to your personal values, rather than comparing yourself to what other parents do.

Do you want to use money to motivate or do you want your kids to be motivated by the results themselves?

I made it clear to mine that there wasn’t going to be any financial reward for their gcse grades. The reward comes in doing the hard work, trying your best and then being able to move onto the next step in their lives.

Each to their own but I think it’s sad how most people seem to attach money to everything.

I do lots to encourage and support revision/effort whether that's by providing favourite foods, paying for a trip to the cinema or for frivolous purchases of yet more highlighters. I could probably be persuaded to pay out per past paper completed but I don't do money for grades because as others have said, grades are their own reward but also because sometimes grades don't reflect a child's knowledge and understanding. Children whose nerves get the better of them are already likely to be disappointed by how an exam went, will have to deal with the consequences of that on results day but in the mean time, need to prepare for the next exam. It's a relentless process as it is and knowing a stressful exam may reduce their 'winnings' is unlikely to improve things for them.

DC1 was given a Jellycat on the morning of GCSE results day (before they knew the results) and I expect we'll do something similar for DC2.

Why not pay them? Almost all adults work because we pay them to.

I got my daughter a Lego set before exams for working hard. It was quite an expensive set that she had seen and loved. It worked well as a bit of downtime between revising.

Reward the effort, not the grades.

I also said she could have £10 for every 9 and £200 if she got all 9’s. She wasn’t meant to actually do that.

Ds got a new phone probably about £250 in value at the time and definitely what he wanted but never asked for. We rewarded his effort so he actually got it just before his GCSEs because in all honesty he had decided that no one was going to predict his grades 2 years out from GCSEs and he was going to show that working a bit extra over year 10 and 11 would pay off and he absolutely nailed it.

We rewarded his commitment, his attitude to learning and his dedication to his work which meant him voluntarily coming off games early, leaving his mates still gaming so he could do an hour of homework/revision. He was predicted basically 6s across the board and got mostly 9s with some 8s.

Personally I don't have a problem with paying a child to do well in their GCSEs because we all get paid to do work. It can however add extra pressure to what is an already intense time so it would depend on the child. We didn't want to add to it so didn't mention the phone or any reward in that manner.