How can I motivate a bright child who may be coasting?

[Lemonthyme]

How to encourage your clever kid to really apply him or herself?

My son has sailed through his mocks and done really well. He's predicted to get 9s in his favourite subjects (Maths and Physics) but I'm slightly worried that his teachers love him because he's so much brighter and finds some of those subjects easy.

I might be overthinking but I do a lot of work on behaviour in my job and I very much doubt his teachers mark his papers blind. When it comes to GCSEs "for real" he will have someone unknown to him marking (who won't have a halo effect about him) and then he's going to go to another school, as long as he gets the grades, which will be far more academically led.

I think the new school will be great for him. An awakening that there will be other kids out there as bright as him. It's been his choice too which is great but we're not there yet.

But in the meantime, he's bloody stubborn so if I nag him into revising it would be counter intuitive. He tells me he's doing loads, but in all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if it's 10 minutes revision then 20 minutes of Family Guy or Top Gear (he's a bit old school).

I think he's kind of resting on being smart. And he is smart, that's not in doubt.

I'm torn though because I was a high achieving student whose parents withheld affection unless I got good (and I mean perfect) grades. So I'm stuck wondering "is this just me overthinking it all and recreating something which was fundamentally hurtful?" or "Is he genuinely slacking?"

Both could of course be true. But any suggestions to positively motivate a competent coaster would be helpful. AND I do realise the irony that I should be good at this considering what I work in, but I think because it's so personal, I end up in analysis paralysis.

I have a similar kid - I think that you just need to let them find their own way if I’m honest. He’ll either get a shock in some GCSEs and then actually do some work at A level - or he’ll do really well and can carry on as he is.

Equally maths and physics aren’t really subjective marking - the answer is generally right or it isn’t so I don’t think biased teachers could be affecting his marks.

Why do you feel he needs to be stressed and overworking if he can hit 9s as is? He doesn’t have performance anxiety because he genuinely isn’t anxious and knows he can do it with his level of input, and his teachers do too. You are not being logical at all. Of course his teachers aren’t giving him good grades because they like him. Why would that happen?

Ex teacher

I didn’t mark exam papers blind but honestly by the time you’ve done ten of them you don’t care what name is on the front you just know it’s another five until the mars bar.

TBH if he's really bright then what he's doing will probably be enough to get him through GCSE's with good grades. But it probably won't be nearly enough at A-level which are a whole other kettle of fish, especially in maths and physics. I doubt his teachers will be giving him good marks because they like him - how would that even work in maths and physics?
I'd encourage him to do a revision timetable and then encourage him to stick to it. But as you say, nagging him is counter productive.

I agree with the others, I think you need to take a step back here. He needs to learn for himself what is necessary to do. He'll probably make it through GCSE's based on being bright and having aptitude. He might need to work better at A Levels, maybe not. To be honest, I was that kid at GCSE's and A Levels, always terribly haphazard and disorganised, made it through on natural ability. University was a huge wake up call for me and I learned to be disciplined in my work for the first time in my life. But my parents' and teachers' nagging (and they did!) made absolutely zero difference - it had to come from me.
Just as another point, it's not necessarily a terrible thing for him to be satisfied with 'good enough', with minimum effort (ie maximum efficiency). It might stand him very well in the world of work.

Maybe I'm awful but I'd just let him coast into his A-Levels. I don't think there's any value in imposing artificial stress when the outcome is secure and it's just different shades of 7s, 8s and 9s regardless.

My kids were like this and still hit the ground running with 4 A-Levels at college. I think they relished the challenge when the demand was genuine.

If he knows he can do it without extra work, he won't. I was that kid, didn't pick up a single revision guide and came out with 11 As/A* at GCSE. Struggled immensely at A level, came out with ABC, then rest the B/C and ended up with AAB, but it was brutal, and not enough for what I wanted to do at uni, and was the first time I had ever 'failed' and it took me a long time to process. Have since ended with an ADHD diagnosis, which made a lot of sense.

I wouldn't waste your energy pushing him to revise now, but just keep an eye next year and support as needed as the workload increases. Everyone around me assumed I was fine as I always had been, and I had made being intelligent my whole personality so couldn't bring myself to explain to anyone that I was struggling.

This. I don't even look at the names. I mark question by question.

There's no point in making someone revise if they don't need to.

Yes, I find that a really strange claim! Who would engage in such foolish favouritism?

Maths and Physics GCSE could be a breeze for a bright child as once you have been shown it once it can be obvious.

May well come unstuck at A levels though.

I’d also like to add that I actually want my kid to fail at something pretty early so I’m around to support him in that. He’s really bad at coping when he can’t do something which isn’t good for him. So I will definitely let him coast in the hope that he’ll mess one of them up!!

Read "thinking fast and slow" it's a genuine trap that even psychology professors fall into and Kahneman, the Nobel Prize winning guy who wrote the book, admitted he realised he does it himself. It's not intentional but I do take the point that maths and physics are not subjective subjects. I think the halo effect does extend to other subjects though which are more so. He got some unexpected 8s and 9s in other areas.

Thanks for your comment.

I am well aware. It's very important not to use, even subconsciously , favouritism. In all our assessments, we use "standardisation". This means sampling from all grades and ensuring consistency and correct application of marks and levels.
For the GCSE mocks, we mark another teacher's class. This is also standardised.
So we're up to speed, thanks!

Aa others have said, Maths and Physics are some of the most objective subjects to mark. GCSEs are pretty straightforward for the brightest students. If he's going to a more academic school in September, that will be an opportunity to challenge himself more.

I think that's a fair point. However much he is loved by teachers.

Thanks for all your comments. Yes, agree, and take your point that maths and physics are less subjective but there are other areas where there's a risk, I think, he may have been leniently marked.

But I also take all your points that he probably needs to learn for himself. Next year will be a bit of a wake up call I think when he has serious competition to be the brightest kid in the class.

Strangely enough though for uni, if he goes, he's not dead set on it, I think he'll be pretty good at time management. As with all of you with kids in GCSEs now, they were in late primary when Covid hit. I'm in the food industry so could only wangle one day a week from home. That day he woke up at 7, did all his school work by 9, then joined the morning call. While he wasn't really doing the "school day", he was just nailing all the work he needed to do in no time at all. Ah, perhaps, he's just doing the same now?

I think as well that he's just not interested in some of the subjects. He wants to specialise in maths, physics and engineering and the rest bores him. So as he specialises more at A-level I think that will help motivation.

@Ohthatsabitshit no I don't want him to be stressed and I realise as I put in the post that my own anxiety around it all isn't necessarily from a healthy place.

@MagdaLenor no offence meant. Sorry if I did so. As I said, I'm probably overthinking it and I found Kahneman's admission that he fell foul of something his research found and that, while he was alive, he still had to consciously work at it, pretty enlightening that we're all fallible. Also even marking across classes he just sticks out a bit from the other kids.

Ok, thanks @Lemonthyme .
Be assured that schools do work very hard for fair outcomes and eliminating any kind of favouritism.