Work

Assigned vs. observed relative age: the association of early entry to school on cognitive abilities and its implications for educational practice

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Previous studies showed that children who are born at the start of the academic or sporting year achieve better examination results, on average, than children who are born at the end of the academic year. However, it is still unclear, whether the influence is related to relative age or to the age at school entry. While some findings report evidence for lower levels of language competence and academic progress for younger pre-school children in the first year of school, other results showed, that children who are born later in the academic year obtained lower educational attainment than their peers born at the beginning of the academic year. Methods: = 0.67) was conducted. Results: A set of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed no associations between relative age and cognitive measures. However, results showed that children who are enrolled by their parents early in school obtained higher achievements for all cognitive variables than children of the same age, who were enrolled normally in school one year later. Discussion: These findings will be discussed under different aspects of schooling effects and the parents' motivations for early or late schooling as well as the implications for educational practice.

Source: Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1708843

Authors: Ingo Roden, Nick Wattie, Stephan Bongard, Jörg Schorer

Institutions: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Ontario Tech University, Goethe University Frankfurt

Language: English

Topic: Early Childhood Education and Development

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801