Educational attainment is a complex outcome influenced by numerous factors including cognitive ability, teacher quality, school resources, parental support, socioeconomic background, and peer influence. Surprisingly, the role of school enjoyment, despite its intuitive link to achievement, has received limited research attention. Educators and policymakers acknowledge the importance of enjoyment in learning for improving pupil experience and outcomes, and it's arguably more modifiable than factors like socioeconomic status. Therefore, understanding its impact and potential as an intervention target is crucial. Existing research shows a positive association between school enjoyment and achievement, although inconsistencies exist. Some studies demonstrate that enjoyment strongly predicts performance in projects and exams. A meta-analysis highlighted a negative correlation between academic boredom and outcomes. Other research found links between enjoyment of specific subjects and higher performance. One study using the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England revealed a strong association between school enjoyment at age 14 and achievement at age 16. However, some studies focusing on primary school years found no strong evidence of an association between contemporaneous enjoyment and achievement, although later achievement wasn't analyzed. School enjoyment is hypothesized to increase academic inspiration and motivation, leading to better achievement. It's a positive emotion that promotes learning, and school-based interventions can promote such positive emotions. Much of the literature, however, focuses on mid-to-late childhood. School enjoyment at later ages might reflect earlier achievement, as children with low perceived ability are less likely to enjoy school. This raises concerns about feedback effects from earlier success or rewards influencing later enjoyment. Earlier measures of enjoyment, more robust to such effects, may offer stronger evidence and better identify points for early interventions. Additionally, earlier measures offer a longer period for potential intervention. Previous research often combines school enjoyment with other wellbeing measures or positive emotions, hindering the isolation of its unique effects. Furthermore, few studies adequately control for parental or family factors. The extent to which a pupil's enjoyment reflects their family background is largely unknown. Other determinants of school enjoyment include relationships with teachers and peers, pupil temperament, attitude to learning, confidence, perceived work quality, classroom activities, teacher attitudes, and school facilities. These are linked in complex ways to family background through social structures within the UK education system. Surprisingly, a pupil's enjoyment often appears unrelated to the school they attend, suggesting it might reflect inherent child characteristics or upbringing rather than school-specific factors. Girls tend to report higher levels of school enjoyment than boys, although this may vary across aspects of schooling. School enjoyment might mediate sex differences in achievement, suggesting a role in educational inequalities. Socioeconomic inequalities could also confound associations, as a child's enjoyment might reflect parental involvement, which is socially patterned. Existing studies often focus on enjoyment near examinations, but enjoyment likely varies throughout schooling. Longitudinal evidence examining the early childhood-later achievement link is limited, making further research essential.

Prior research on the relationship between school enjoyment and educational achievement presents a mixed picture. While many studies show a positive correlation, inconsistencies exist in the timing of measurement and the control for confounding variables. Some research focuses on the enjoyment of specific subjects or projects, while others examine overall school enjoyment. The methodologies employed vary widely, making comparisons difficult. Several studies have shown that enjoyment of the learning environment is positively associated with achievement, but often these studies are cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, which can lead to issues with causality. Additionally, there is a lack of clarity regarding how school enjoyment relates to other important factors such as family socioeconomic background and cognitive ability. The present study addresses these gaps by utilizing longitudinal data and controlling for a variety of relevant covariates.

This study uses data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a UK cohort study. The sample initially included 14,541 pregnancies, with 13,988 children alive at age 1. The study expanded to include 15,247 pregnancies, resulting in 14,899 children alive at 1 year. The initial ALSPAC sample was broadly representative of the UK population in 1991, but some underrepresentation of single-parent families, those in rented accommodation, and some ethnic minorities existed. School enjoyment was measured using two questionnaires completed by participants at age 6, yielding a three-category variable: no enjoyment, mixed enjoyment, and enjoyed school. Educational achievement at age 16 was measured using fine-graded point scores from GCSE exams, obtained through data linkage to the UK National Pupil Database. The study used multiple imputation (MICE) to handle missing data, resulting in an imputed sample size of 12,135. This addressed missingness in school enjoyment, academic achievement, and covariates. The descriptive statistics from the imputed sample were highly similar to those of the complete case sample. The analysis adjusted for various covariates: sex, month of birth, ethnicity, cohort school year, age at which children completed the enjoyment questionnaire, cognitive ability at age 8, highest maternal education, and parental socioeconomic position (based on occupational social class). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the odds of mixed enjoyment or enjoying school compared to no enjoyment. Linear regression assessed the association of school enjoyment with fine-graded GCSE point scores, while logistic regression examined the association with attaining 5+ A*-C GCSEs. Three models were used for each approach: unadjusted, adjusted for family socioeconomic position, and adjusted for all covariates, including cognitive ability. The analysis involved three models for both linear and logistic regression analyses: unadjusted; adjusted for family socioeconomic position (parental occupational social class and mother's education); and fully adjusted for all covariates (including cognitive ability, home learning environment, opinion of teacher, temperament, confidence in work and intelligence, and quality of friendship group). Interaction effects between school enjoyment and social class, maternal education, cognitive ability, and sex were also explored.

The study found a strong positive association between school enjoyment at age 6 and educational achievement at age 16. Children who enjoyed school at age 6 scored, on average, 29.34 more GCSE points at age 16 (equivalent to almost a 3-grade increase across all subjects) and were 64% more likely to obtain 5+ A*-C GCSEs (including Maths and English) than those who did not enjoy school. These associations remained significant even after controlling for socioeconomic background, cognitive ability, and other relevant factors. After adjusting for all covariates, the association between enjoying school at age 6 and educational achievement at age 16 was still substantial, representing a 14.41-point difference in GCSE scores (approximately a 2-grade increase) and a 29% higher likelihood of achieving 5+ A*-C grades. This effect was comparable in magnitude to the effects of sex and social class differences. School enjoyment was not strongly patterned by parental socioeconomic position; children from all socioeconomic backgrounds were equally likely to report enjoying school. However, girls were twice as likely to report enjoying school than boys. There was strong evidence of an association between school enjoyment and children's relationship with their teacher. Children who reported a strong relationship with their teacher were over nine times more likely to enjoy school than those who disliked their teacher. A positive temperament was also significantly associated with higher school enjoyment. Other factors like home learning environment and children's confidence in their intelligence were associated with achievement, but there was weak or no evidence for associations with teacher opinions, temperament, work confidence, or friendship group quality. There was little evidence of interaction effects between school enjoyment and other factors (social class, maternal education, cognitive ability, or sex) on GCSE achievement. While the relationship between enjoyment and achievement appeared slightly steeper for males than for females, there wasn't enough statistical power to draw definite conclusions.

The findings highlight the importance of school enjoyment for educational achievement. The substantial association between early school enjoyment and later academic success, even after controlling for other established predictors, suggests that school enjoyment captures something unique and potentially valuable for educational outcomes. The fact that the association isn't explained by socioeconomic background or cognitive ability suggests that fostering a positive learning environment is an important consideration for improving student outcomes. This underscores the potential for interventions targeting school enjoyment, especially in early childhood, to improve long-term educational trajectories. The relatively small attenuation in the association between school enjoyment and achievement after adjusting for various factors suggests that the effect is not simply due to these factors. The lack of strong socioeconomic patterning in enjoyment is surprising and suggests that it is not solely a reflection of social background. The finding that school enjoyment is not simply a reflection of cognitive ability or curiosity is noteworthy given the strong overlap between what these tests measure and what GCSEs are designed to assess. The results support the idea that general school enjoyment in early childhood plays a significant role in later academic performance, independent of other child-level factors. Because school enjoyment is potentially modifiable, it represents a promising target for interventions aiming to improve educational outcomes. School-based interventions focused on fostering positive emotions in the learning environment could yield substantial long-term benefits. However, it is important to note that this study is observational, and further research is needed to establish causality and explore potential interventions.

This study provides strong evidence for a significant and independent association between early school enjoyment (age 6) and later educational achievement (age 16 GCSEs) in a UK cohort. This association is robust to adjustments for socioeconomic status, cognitive ability, and other individual-level factors, highlighting the importance of fostering positive learning environments from a young age. The large magnitude of the association underscores the potential for interventions to enhance school enjoyment and subsequently improve educational outcomes. Future research should focus on replicating these findings in diverse populations, investigating the mechanisms underlying the enjoyment-achievement link, and developing and evaluating interventions targeting school enjoyment.

This study has several limitations. First, the ALSPAC cohort may not be fully representative of the UK school population, limiting the generalizability of findings. Second, multiple imputation, while improving sample size, relies on assumptions about the data generating process; biases could arise if crucial information wasn't included in the imputation model. Third, as an observational study, it cannot establish causality; further confounding factors could exist. Fourth, conditioning on covariates measured after school enjoyment might have induced collider bias. Finally, the lack of school-level data prevents an investigation of school-level effects on school enjoyment.