The correlation between student participation in extracurricular activities and examination results
Extracurricular ActivitiesContents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930816” Extracurricular Activities PAGEREF _Toc376930816 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930817” Abstract PAGEREF _Toc376930817 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930818” Rationale of the research PAGEREF _Toc376930818 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930819” What are extracurricular activities? PAGEREF _Toc376930819 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930820” The Benefits of Extracurricular activities PAGEREF _Toc376930820 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930821” Character building PAGEREF _Toc376930821 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930822” Skills PAGEREF _Toc376930822 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930823” Social PAGEREF _Toc376930823 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930824” Disadvantages of extracurricular activities PAGEREF _Toc376930824 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930825” Homework PAGEREF _Toc376930825 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930826” Inclusivity PAGEREF _Toc376930826 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930827” Study PAGEREF _Toc376930827 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930828” Pupil Questionnaire Results PAGEREF _Toc376930828 h 9
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930829” Appendix 2: Staff Responses PAGEREF _Toc376930829 h 11
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930830” Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc376930830 h 13
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376930831” The Reference List PAGEREF _Toc376930831 h 14
AbstractThere has been considerable research into the correlation between student participation in extracurricular activities and examination results. It has been shown that such participation leads to improved examination results. It is my aim in this paper to look at a different facet of participants’ outcomes who are engaged in extracurricular activities and to look at the wider research that has been undertaken. Research was undertaken at a secondary school to examine how extracurricular activities might also contribute to a wider well being of the participant. The sample population and the benefits of their perceptions of extracurricular activities indicate that participation increases confidence and self esteem. The staff involved in the activities indicates that they perceive increase in self esteem and participants develop skills beyond those they would learn in a classroom. They promote independence and team working and staff also indicate that participation develops coping mechanisms and enables the student to participate better in school life. The wider research and mine indicate in the main only positive advantages of extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities provide participant added value and it could be short sighted of schools to remove the activities purely from a financial view rather than looking at the balance between cost and the overall benefits achieved from them.
In conducting the study a sample size of equal number of both teachers and pupils was selected from different age groups and research questionnaires were used in collecting information from them. The research involved pupil and teacher questionnaires together with a focus group on the success or otherwise of the 3 school clubs.
Nomenclature
ISC…………………………………………………………………………….Independent Schools Council
GCSE……………………………………………………..General Certificate in Secondary Education
ADHD………………………………………………………………. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Rationale of the researchI have been involved in the running of extracurricular activities at ………………….for short spells over a period of 2 years. This has included running an after school cooking club and an after school textiles club and more recently during my synoptic placement at …………., I have been involved in the running of an after school club (club B) and a lunch time club (Club A).
My interest in extracurricular activity clubs is influenced by my desire to set up a new textiles club at the school within which I am employed. It is important that this club is successful from both the pupil and departmental perspective in order to help both players achieve their full potential. The view of my colleagues is that after school clubs benefit participants but I wish to undertake research to see if evidence supports or otherwise this view. Exploring what, and if, the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to such clubs provide.
What are extracurricular activities?
At the basic level extracurricular activities could be described as activities which take place outside of school hours which could include the lunch period. Some might participate in sport such as football, learning to play a musical instrument, drama clubs, radio production clubs, science clubs or cooking clubs. The activities are organised by school and take place on the school premises. This enables school to ensure that the clubs are organised by responsible members of staff. A disadvantage of organising clubs in this way can be that pupils who are not able to afford to pay for resources may miss out, this could therefore exclude pupils from families on a low income; or they may be a member of a family who do not encourage them to participate in out of school activities. Extracurricular activities are mostly activities that we engage in that do not count as a course or employment. In most cases family and community activities are “extracurricular.” Commonly in colleges, community service, class activities, volunteer work are most practiced in all cases. The following are other common extracurricular activities: Sports, social media, clubs, church activity and theatre.
The Benefits of Extracurricular activitiesResearch undertaken by the Independent Schools Council-ISC (The Guardian, 3rd June 2009) found that participation in extracurricular activities raised pupils self esteem (Guardian, 2009). It also showed that schools offering more activities outside of the classroom get better GCSE results that those who do not provide out of school activities. Furthermore schools who strictly adhere to the extra curriculum calendar have proven to excel, as engaging in such activities develop a student`s commitment to an activity and a passion for it outride an academic view. It enhances on depth but not breadth. Most schools don’t have a list or requisites for participating in extracurricular activities, what they want to see is individuality-and a student`s consistent commitment.
Other various researches conducted concur with the ISC research: that student participation in any extracurricular activity will influence his /her identity: with no exception in participation in arts. Numerous articles and organisations claim that engaging in arts will boost academic achievement for the student.
The study indicated that there was a correlation between the number of extracurricular activities schools offer and the proportion of pupils getting top grades at GCSE. Other studies argue that the number of activities in which pupils participate influence success at examinations. They do, however. Indicate that there is a ‘break- even point’ at which extracurricular activities move from having a positive to a negative impact on grades in examinations.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) research found that those schools offering 30 or more activities are more likely to have around 100% pupils getting grade B or above at GCSE compared with around 30% pupils at schools offering 20 activities (The Guardian, 2009).
The research argued that the correlation between activities and exam results remained the same irrespective of the type of school or admission policy.
The research suggests that the more activities a school offers the greater the likelihood the pupils will find something which they are good at, which has the effect of increasing the number of participants in the activity and therefore increasing the number of pupils who achieve higher grades in examinations.
The ISC research also showed that pupils attending schools which offered 20 activities or less were less successful in examinations. It showed that only 30% pupils achieved the same results as pupils attending schools which offered 30 activities.
In 2009 a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said ministers agreed with the findings of the ISC research (The Guardian, 2009). The minister is quoted as saying ‘we are investing 1 billion pounds for extended schools over 2008 – 2011 to ensure that extracurricular activities, including sports, are available to all pupils in the state sector’ With the change of governments in May 2010 and the recent cuts in public expenditure it remains to be seen if funding continues.
Clubs can contribute to character building, the attributes that determine a person’s moral and ethical actions and reactions ‘education has for its object the formation of character’ (Spencer, 2010).Pupils can learn and develop this attribute through extracurricular activities and can develop the moral and ethical skills to their study as well as their lives. Rombokas (1995) stated that activities such as athletics, music, theatre and organisations teach students how to discipline themselves through drill, rehearsals and practice. Students will gain respect and greater self worth through participation and the opportunity to succeed outside the classroom. A teacher may not always be able to motivate from within the classroom whereas along with other benefits extracurricular activities provide motivation as well, motivation is a key factor in the success of life and we must be motivated to do our jobs well and we must be motivated to complete our course work. Deci & Ryan (1985) stated that afterschool programmes enhance the academic lifestyle by providing non threatening remediation, support and most importantly enrichment. Quinn 2004 further noted that all three of these attributes can be incorporated in after-school activities.
Extracurricular activities tie classroom curricula to the real-world. The difference between success and failure has been simply identified as how a student spends their after-school time (Quinn, 2004).
Theory and research on positive youth development emphasizes the transition of human development, and suggest that cultivating positive, supportive relationships with people and social institutions encourages healthy development (Gardner et al., 2008, pg 814). Considering this perspective, organised activities, such as extra-curricular activities, can encourage healthy development because of the support and opportunities that are present compared to less positive after school options for teens.
Activity participation can be linked to positive academic outcomes, including improved grades and test scores (Fredericks, 2005,). There is an established link between extracurricular activities of adolescents and educational attainment as adults in occupational choice and income (Morrisey, 2000). Morrissey (2000) also noted a reduction in delinquency and less engagement in risky behaviours. These factors explain why students should balance their lives with academics and activities, as participating in these well-rounded activities may impact their success in the future.
Character buildingI have explored the reasons why extracurricular activities contribute to academic success but they also provide benefit to pupils by learning character building skills which they can apply in study and also in their lives outside of school. Many activities teach pupils how to discipline themselves by offering pupils the opportunity to participate in activities which provide time planning, communication and socialising skills, timetables and within specific parameters. As a result of participating in the activity pupils feel a responsibility to the club and it can assist in developing perseverance and they can gain a sense of self respect, self esteem and self confidence (Rombokas, 1995).
SkillsThere are a number of skills learned by participation including life skills, which are necessary for them to learn to participate in life outside school whilst young, and also to learn how to develop their skills to enable them to cope with issues in later life. The skills include time management because they have to work within time constraints whether this is the length of the session or within the running time of which the course will run. The learning of time management can also interact with their academic studies where time constraints are placed upon such studies especially examinations which are time related and which need careful management for them to achieve their full potential. They can also obtain skills in creative activities such as art, media, textiles and food clubs by developing known criteria further to create something new. This could be as simple as adapting a simple recipe by inputting creative skills and thinking to develop a better outcome (Marni, J. 2009).
SocialNot all education can be learned by reading text books, education is a process and is inclusive of all school activities and pupils can learn a great deal from organisers and other pupils. They can learn how to compromise and how to work as a team or within a group and it gives pupils the opportunity to interact with their friends in a less formal atmosphere than that provided in the classroom. It provides the opportunity for participants to interact with other pupils who are not within their daily class groupings and obtain benefit from this contact and interaction.
Extracurricular activities can contribute to stress relief and can lead to less anti-social behaviour because pupils are off the street. They also widen the opportunity to do new things and can increase career prospects.
Disadvantages of extracurricular activitiesA study found that the performance of children taking part in more than 17 hours of extracurricular activities suffered in their academic performance (Fredericks, 2005). The study also showed that there were positive effects in their exam performance when pupils participated in 1-13 hours of weekly extracurricular activities but the grades and overall well being decreased for those pupils taking part in more than 17 hours of lessons. Jennifer Fredrick’s Associate Director of Human Development at the college told the Sunday times ‘above a certain level, you see a decline in grades and a decline in achievement’. The study closely monitored the activities of 10,000 15 and 16 year old students across US. Pupils taking part in 5 activities a week scored a 56% in mathematics examinations, higher than their fellow class mates who took part in fewer extracurricular activities. It also showed that pupils who participated in more than 10 extracurricular activities scored a 4% lower grade average than normal and also achieved poorer results than peers who did not participate in any organised activity outside of school (Fredericks, 2005).
Staying after school means that pupils are away from home more than usual and also increases the risk of safety issues especially during the darker winter months when it can be more hazardous to travel. Pupils may also feel tired at the end of the school day due to lower energy levels. Not all activities will suit all pupils. Some parents especially the ‘pushy’ type could enrol their child in more activities than is beneficial to the child because of the length of time involved may be more than the optimum for benefiting from the activities.
Their may be some possible negative consequences of some types of extracurricular activities, dependant on staff running the club, club participants etc (Eccles, 2003). Participation in the organised activities when in high school is positively associated with educational, civic, and to some extent, occupational success in young adulthood, (Gardner et al., 2008).
HomeworkResearch on homework shows a wide variation in the amount of time spent on homework and any benefits which may flow from undertaking the activity. As explained above the number of hours per day spent on homework can be positively related to academic achievement but also reaches a point where too much would also appear to provide a negative impact on academic achievements (Cooper and Valentine, 2001). Research both in the UK and in the US suggests that there should be no more than 10 minutes of homework per school day in year 1, increasing by up to 10 minutes a day with each year level to a maximum of 2 hours per day in year 12. It would appear that the research shows that some homework is better than too much or none at all but the time spent on doing homework needs to consider the pupils age and development. The research evidences that a ‘more homework the better’ view is misguiding and should not be the benchmark for policy and practice (Sharp et al., 2001).
Whilst the above discusses the effects on performance of extracurricular activities it can also be said that there are other positive impacts and negative impacts. There is a possibility that a student could acquire a supportive relationship with a mentor or a role model with an adult providing a positive impact on their school and out of school life. It provides pupils with the opportunity to develop positive relationships with an adult outside their immediate families which could help to develop mutual trust, respect and commitments which could help with relationships in later life. Pupils can benefit from supportive and caring relationships with teachers and other adults. It is important to develop other adult relationships as it is recognised as an asset which is linked to assisting academic and life success. There are other negative impacts on pupils which extracurricular activities may have.
A study in 2008 indicated that both parents and teachers were cautious that pupils could lose their focus on everyday school study when they become too busy with out of school activities. Their concern was that pupils who attended a number of out of school clubs were spending time which could have been spent doing homework with the additional concern that too much time spent in clubs could lead to pupils spreading themselves too thinly, which could lead to less time studying and preparing themselves for lessons. The study also found that participation might provide a negative impact when parents push their children to be involved in as many out of school activities as is physically possible. This could be either because parents are using the out of school activities as a child minding service or because parents believe that the more their child is involved in such activities the more benefit they will obtain from them, not realising that (or not knowing) above a certain involvement level each week will negatively impact not only on the out of school activity because the pupil may become disinterested but also on the pupils academic performance. If the child is, in effect, forced to participate in the activity rather than having a desire to want to do so, their dedication to the activity will suffer and therefore the outcome will be not as great as expected, which could lead to a feeling of failure and a low self esteem.
If it can be shown that extracurricular activities have a beneficial effect both on the moral and ethical makeup of a pupil and they also can have a positive impact on academic achievement, consideration needs to be given to why pupils do not recognise this and why involvement in the activities is not as great as it might be. Teachers have a responsibility in promoting and developing their pupils’ motivation. It is possible that those pupils who have a low self esteem are not able to provide their own motivation to participate in extracurricular activities. In such cases the teacher has a responsibility to ‘plant a seed’ to enable that seed to grow and encourage the pupils to join an out of school activity. School is also faced with the problem of a lack of parental involvement. This means that teachers also have a responsibility not only to promote the activity within school, but must also seek the opportunity to promote the activity with parents to encourage them to assist in the motivation of their child to participate in the out of school activity. As mentioned elsewhere in my research parents who have a low income may not be able to afford a high cost activity. It is therefore incumbent upon teachers to ensure that the activity is provided at minimum cost.
InclusivityDisabled children and young people have limited opportunities to access activities in their local area (Marni, J. 2009).
Disabled children and their families want more and different things to do so they can choose where and how they spend their free time. Participating in activities is associated with positive outcomes in terms of their health and achievement.
Disabled children say that bullying or fear of bullying spoils their experiences of or stops them accessing inclusive activities. Disabled children value participation in activities and interaction between disabled and non-disabled children and also value activities provided for disabled children or young people only.
Evidence also suggests that there have been increases in the numbers of disabled children using out of school clubs and play schemes.
Inclusive activities tend to indicate staff who are skilled within a number of areas including communication and how to facilitate inclusive activities, disability equality and have knowledge of individual children’s needs and abilities.
The most important data set comes from a national survey of over 2000 disabled children and young people about their sporting activities, which also looked more widely at participation in non-school clubs and activities (Finch, 2001). This showed, for disabled children membership of a sports club outside of school of 12%, participation in girl guides or boy scouts of 11%, membership of a youth club of 8%, membership of a church or religious club 4% whereas the take-up percentage of non disabled children were 46%, 25%, 20% and 7% respectively. The inclusive provision for disabled children needs to be at the forefront when planning any extracurricular activities.
StudyI have undertaken a snap shot study with questions designed to show how pupils see their club and what benefits they perceive that they get from them being part of or participating in them.
I acknowledge that the study group is statistically small but it does provide an indication of pupils’ perceptions.
The clubs which I have looked at for the purposes of my research have been set up since the start of the school year September 2011. Both the Club C and the Club B have both been run before in the previous school year with high numbers of pupils wanting to attend the clubs. Both Club A and the Club B have been set up and run to meet certain needs. Club A enables the more vulnerable (these include pupils who may be subject to aspects of bullying either because of their appearance or behaviour) pupils in year 7 the opportunity to socialise and at the same time develop new craft skills that they have not had the opportunity to explore before in the normal school day. The club includes a pupil with Down’s syndrome, a selective mute pupil and a pupil with ADHD; this encourages mixed abilities to work together and follows the schools policy on inclusiveness. The club is attended by two visiting teachers from …….. who teach the children how to create traditional ……….. crafts thus enabling them to show proudly what they have produced.
My research involved pupil and teacher questionnaires together with a focus group on the success or otherwise of the 3 school clubs.
The pupil questionnaire used in the survey is attached at appendix 1
The teacher questionnaire used in the survey is attached at appendix 2
Results from research undertaken
Appendix 1
Analysis of results
Club A Club B Club C
Q1 – Year Group
7 8 4
9 6 4
Q2 – Set
Lower 8 5
Middle 2 Upper 4 3
Agree Disagree Agree Disagree Agree Disagree
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Q3 – When I get involved in the club I enjoy lessons more.
8 100 – 6 100 – 7 87.5 1 12.5
Q4 – Being part of the club helps me to make friends.
7 87.5 1 12.5 6 100 – 6 75 2 25
Q5 – Being part of the club makes me feel better about myself.
8 100 0 – 6 100 – 5 62.5 3 37.5
Q6 – Being part of the club makes me want to join other clubs.
6 75 2 25 5 83.3 1 16.7 7 87.5 1 12.5
Q7 – Being part of the Chinese craft club helps me to talk to grownups.
7 87.5 1 12.5 5 83.3 1 16.7 5 62.5 3 37.5
Q8 – Homework helps me to get better levels.
8 100 0 – 3; 50 3 50 6 75 2 25
Q9 – Doing other activities each day I spend up to:
0-5 hours 8 3 7 6-10 hours 2 1 11-15 hours 1 16-20 hours 21+ hours Q10 – I watch television for about:
0-5 hours 1 4 6-10 hours 3 2 2 11-15 hours 3 4 16-20 hours 1 1 21+ hours 1 Q11 – My favourite television programme is
11. Victorious, Carly, Avatar, Simpsons, Tracey Beaker, Waterloo Road, Coronation Street I’m a Celebrity, XFactor, Big Brother, The Only Way is Essex Simpsons, Waterloo Road, I’m a Celebrity, Disney, Victorious, Carly
Pupil Questionnaire ResultsThe ‘agree’ column would indicate positive a feeling towards membership and participation in the clubs. The ‘disagree’ column would indicate a negative feeling towards membership and participation in the clubs.
Question 1 – I am in year 7, 8, 9
The responses have been completed by Year 7 and year 9.
Question 2 – Which set are you in?
I asked respondents to include the ability band in which they are allocated to provide an opportunity to see if there was any differentiation in response between the ability bands.
Question 3 – When I get involved in the club I enjoy lessons more
From the above it can be seen that of those taking part in all 3 clubs 95.5% have indicated that they enjoy their lessons more by participating in the club, whereas only 5% of the total have said that they enjoy their lessons less as a results of participating in the clubs.
Question 4 – Being part of the club helps me to make friends
With regard to the sociability benefit aspect of the questionnaire 86.4% have indicated that participating in the club helps them to make friends both in school and at home, whereas only 13.6% said that participation does not necessarily help them to make friends.
Question 5 – Being part of the club makes me feel better about myself
Respondents indicated that 86.4% felt that participating in the club made them feel better about themselves, whereas 13.6% responded that participating in the club made no difference (it is possible that participating in the club makes them feel the same or possibly worse about themselves). Because of the age of the pupil participants I considered it more appropriate to keep the questions general in order to provide a question that the age range included could understand. It was left to each individual to interpret what was meant by ‘feeling better about myself’.
Question 6 – Being part of the club makes me want to join other clubs
91% of pupils indicated that being part of the club in which they currently participate makes them want to be part of other clubs whereas only 9% indicated that this had no effect on them.
Question 7 – Being part of the club helps me talk to adults
86.4% of respondents agreed that their participation in the club helped them to talk to adults whereas 13.6% indicated either that this remained the same or made matters worse. Again this question was left in a general term in order for the age group concerned to understand the question.
Question 8 – Homework helps me to get better levels
77.3% of respondents indicate that homework helps them to improve their academic performance to obtain better levels when undertaking assessed pieces of work, whereas 22.7% suggest that homework does not help them to get better levels.
Question 9 – Doing other activities each day I spend up to 1 hour, between 1 and 2 hours, between 3 and 4 hours, more than this
82% spend up to 5 hours each week at either other clubs or doing other activities, 13.6% spend between 6-10 hours on other activities and 4.4% spent between 11-15 hours a week on other activities.
Question 10 – I watch television for about 1 hour, between 1 and 2 hours, between 3 and 4 hours, more than this
22.7% spend up to 5 hours each week watching television, 31.8% spend between 6-10 hours each week watching television, 31.8% spend between 11-15 hours per week watching television, 4.5% watch between 16-20 hours and 4.5% watch more than 21 hours television each week.
Question 11 – My favourite television programme is
I included this question just as a matter of interest to see what type of programme that age group currently watches. The programmes watched are;
Victorious x 2, I am a celebrity x 3 , Carly x 3 , Avatar 1, Simpsons x 2, Tracey Beaker 1, Waterloo Road x 3 , Coronation Street 1, X factor 1, Big Brother x 2 , The only way is Essex 1, Disney Channel 1 and one did not respond.
This indicates one third of the pupils favourite television shows are reality programmes.
Two of the clubs are attended by the same age groups but one of the clubs – ………. Club contains an equal number of year 7 and year 9 age groups. In looking at each year group and the maximum total of positive responses available, year 9 respond positively on 67% of the time and 34% negatively. In year 7 there is an increase in positive responses with 83% of the time and only 17% negatively. The only major difference between the two relates to question 7 – communication (club helps me to talk to adults), year 7 all participants agree that participation helps whereas with year 9 only 1 person out of 4 agrees with the statement. It is possible that the year 9 participants who disagree with the statement may already have developed their communication skills to an extent where they feel able to communicate confidently with adults and that participating in the clubs does not assist this process. Without further analysis it is not possible to determine whether year 9 consider that they have developed their communication skills to the maximum or if the way the club working is designed is not helping them to communicate in a more effective manner.
Appendix 2: Staff ResponsesIn addition to the questionnaire issued to club participants I also issued a questionnaire to staff who run or assist in the running of the clubs to try to obtain some information of how they perceive the benefits of running the clubs outside of the normal school day.
There are 10 pupils attending each club.
Q5 – Do you find the number of participants is increasing/ decreasing/ same?
All three clubs indicate an increasing number of participants.
Q6 – Why is the club beneficial to the pupils involved?
‘It encourages friendship, self esteem building’, ‘it provides fun activities and it is free’, ‘helps to develop skills beyond what they would learn in a classroom’, ‘the current scheme of work does not allow for a project w
