Kids born in summer perform poor: Research

London, Oct 25 (UNI) Children born in summer are likely to perform poor in comparison to their 'winter' counterparts.

''Pupils born over the summer are likely to fall behind those born at the beginning of the academic year,'' says a research conducted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), commissioned by the Government of Britain.

One of the authors of the research, Claire Crawford said, ''Some children face a penalty simply because they are unlucky enough to have been born late in the school year.'' ''This cannot be acceptable on either equity or efficiency grounds, and urgent steps must be taken to eliminate this inequity,'' she added calling for ''urgent'' action to tackle the problem of ''summertime schoolchildren''.

The researchers examined the factors that might be behind these differences, including the age at which children start school, the amount of schooling they receive before they take their GCSE tests, and whether they are among the oldest or the youngest in their class, the Daily Telegraph reported here.

To tackle the problem, schools are being encouraged to provide more tailored teaching so that students could receive support when they most need it.

UNI