Direct Action or Social Nudge: where are the effective policy
levers for helping families select secondary (high) schools?
ID: 2311
David Carter, Jonathan Moizer, Shaofeng Liu,
Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth University, Drake Circus,
Plymouth, Devon, UK +44(0) 1752 Plymouth, Devon, UK +44(0) 1752 Plymouth, Devon, UK +44(0) 1752
85858
Keywords: school choice; psychosocial system; child wellbeing; counselling referral;
Affiliations:
Support for research provided by local service providers including the city council, education and
child and adolescent mental health.
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Cross sectional studies suggest a prevalence of mental health problems from the
age that children change to secondary schools in England but there are fewer longitudinal appraisals
of these problems and which policies can help reduce early onset. Model-based multimethodology
offers potential insights for this single, intrinsic case study.
METHODS: Using group model building scripts to collect views from a multi-agency group of
expert practitioners, the impacts of a competitive urban education were induced to agree a System
Dynamics concept model. Parent decision making behaviour was deduced to understand drivers
behind school selection. Simulation was employed to abduce system sensitivities predicting long-term
socio-emotional impacts before comparing intervention policies suggested by expert practitioners
from different agencies.
RESULTS: Where families face similar competition pressures in Plymouth’s state education when
selecting secondary schools, some families may pick providers unable to meet needs of adolescent
students. Families at-risk have parents adopting autocratic styles of decision making jeopardising full
and regular conversations with their child. Under such circumstances, the simulation model shown in
Figure 1, predicts wellbeing-decline for the student and potential for breaching lower threshold
resulting in referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health services. Directly addressing competition
stressors from education or health offers little improvement but exploiting system timing sensitivities
illustrated by the System Dynamics model, a gamification policy succeeded in providing a social
nudge to families for sharing their requirements to obtain the best fit of school to need.
CONCLUSIONS: The modelling multi-methodology induces group views on the problem structures,
deduces parental decision bias and abduces policy improvements. Policy simulation suggests that
coordinated, multi-agency, social nudge using gamification improves wellbeing response the family
psychosocial system over alternative, unilateral, directed act initiatives aimed at increasing knowledge
of competition or eliminating the year 5 stress of tutoring for selective examinations.
Figure 1. Simulation model of family psychosocial system for deciding secondary (high) schools
available KNM 2
SERVICE PROVISION
CHANGE RATE 2
KNM Knowledge of Needs Met f (
for selecting between schools 2 9
ye max PWB 2
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pressure to is 5 CY =
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P1 parent e {y Wellbeing proportion P22 02 selection delay * ]
wellbeing influence on | & wisitng schools d2 2 . Litre’
knowledge proportion p12 ~~ \_ Pere oe TS se ig__ select schools 2
D1 period researching from rational act b)
school options dt 2. _—
A rs . ~
PWBout 2 PWBin 2
obligation to dtacuss family D3 interval between talks
needs around dinner table 2, that matter to child d3 2 4
ry P3 parent \, __bligation to talk on
Pé chile db V4 intuenceonenia _sq~<, things that matter to child 2
influence on parent or wellbeing proportion p32
wellbeing proportion p4 2 \
Well Being ceri
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TEST PREP whole family inners dé 2 canes -
BURNOUT ue = 4 fi a 7 a
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