The use cash incentives to encourage their children to do well in the GCSE exams make little or no impact on overall performance, according to new research.

Led by a team from Bristol University and the University of Chicago – and independently evaluated by the Institute for Fiscal Studies – the study showed that financial inducements are, in effect, a waste of money.

Two experiments were carried out on Year 11 pupils studying for English, maths and science GCSEs. One group were informed that at the start of term they would have in the bank £80.

If however, they didn’t demonstrate a positive attitude – in terms of behaviour and attendance - £10 would be docked. Furthermore, if they fell behind in class and with homework, £30 would be taken away.

A different tact was used to incentivise the second group. Students here were promised a trip or an outing to an event of sorts. Again, at the start of term, each had eight tickets ready to be snapped up.

Similarly, if they displayed a poor attitude and did not achieve the desired standard of attainment, they would lose these privileges.

Researchers found that, as a whole, both types of incentives did not lead to a notable improvement in GCSE results for English, maths and science.

However, the second group, which was encouraged to do well with the offer of trips, appeared to do the trick with pupils with low prior attainment. In particular, maths scores improved.

The paper showed that statistically speaking, the transformation was significant, with pupils gaining, on average, two months extra progress in their learning.

“The use of incentives in schools is not a new idea and can appear attractive to schools and parents who are trying to motivate their children,” commented Dr Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation.

“The study suggests that while incentives can increase effort in the classroom, their direct impact on learning is low. It is vital that we rigorously evaluate ideas like this, so that we know what does and does not make a difference, especially for poorer pupils.”