Comparing marks could lead to better school performance

It’s not a good idea to compare your test results with those of your schoolmates. At least, that seems to be the current opinion. In actual fact, comparing marks at secondary school is not necessarily a bad thing. It can sometimes even have a positive effect on future performance. Pupils who compare their marks with those of schoolmates with better results tend to do better at school in the long run. However, they have to believe in themselves. These are the findings of research carried out by Maike Wehrens. She will be awarded her PhD on 28 April 2008 by the University of Groningen.

Wehrens's PhD research forms part of an umbrella project, Secondary Education Cohort Pupils 1999 (VOCL ’99). This project is following 20,000 pupils at all levels of secondary education who started in 1999. The pupils compared their test results with each other and were tracked during their entire school career. Based on the data collected, Wehrens concludes that the way that pupils compared their marks had an effect on their own performance. Pupils with a positive self-image who compared their results with those of schoolmates with higher marks performed better two years later than pupils who compared their results with those of schoolmates who performed less well.

Negative reaction

Comparing school marks led in the VOCL ’99 research to three possible reactions. Pupils who reacted negatively, i.e. 'destructively', to the results of others achieved poorer results. They were, for example, jealous of a schoolmate with better results. Previous research has revealed that boys react destructively more often than girls. When pupils combined this negative attitude with a constructive state of mind then they achieved higher marks than pupils who only reacted destructively.

Realistic or positive

A constructive reaction is not negative or positive, rather neutral or realistic. Pupils who reacted in this way treated the mark as something to take note of, for example, or determined to do the same or better the next time. A constructive reaction was not in itself connected with school results. In the third situation, pupils reacted empathetically to the results of classmates. For example, they empathized positively with the success or failure of their schoolfellows. Earlier research revealed that girls more often empathize with schoolfellows than boys.

Over or underestimation

Some pupils overestimated their own performance whereas others underestimated theirs. Pupils who tended to overestimate their performance with regard to their schoolfellows had an easier time at school and were less likely to leave early than pupils who were more realistic about their marks. Pupils who underestimated themselves had more difficulty getting through school and were more likely to stop school early than pupils who were more realistic. Pupils who were not originally Dutch, particularly Turks and Moroccans, were more often under the illusion that they performed better than their classmates.

Curriculum Vitae

Maike Wehrens (Schimmert, 1981) studied Social and Organizational Psychology at the University of Groningen. Her PhD research is part of an umbrella project, the Secondary Education Cohort Pupils 1999 (VOCL ’99), of the Groningen Institute for Educational Research (GION) of the University of Groningen. Wehren’s supervisors are Prof. A.P. Buunk and Prof. M.P.C. van der Werf. Dr H. Kuyper was co-supervisor . Since September 2007, Wehrens has been working as a coordinator of the Graduate School of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences and as a lecturer in Psychology. The title of her thesis is ‘How did YOU do? Social comparison in secondary education’. /JR

Note for the press

For further information: Maike Wehrens, tel. 050-3636531 (work), e-mail: m.j.p.w.wehrens@rug.nl