Primary Submission Category: Causal Inference Education
The Influence of Nudging on Summer School Attendance Intentions: A RCT in Flanders
Authors: Diogo Vieira Nunes da Conceição, Kristof De Witte,
Presenting Author: Diogo Vieira Nunes da Conceição*
This study explores how behavioural nudges and anchoring biases affect primary school students’ decisions regarding summer school participation in the Flemish region of Belgium. Our randomized controlled trials implemented on the last two weeks of the 2023/24 academic year revealed that students shown a low irrelevant anchor reported to be able to remember, on average, two words less out of a list of 15 words than their peers (N = 492). Respondents in the fourth grade or above with a low socioeconomic status exposed to a high anchor reported to be able to remember 1.7 words more than their control counterparts. Nudges emphasizing the trade-off inherent to attending a summer school reduced willingness to participate by 0.52 standard deviations for lower SES students (N = 567). While some nudges decreased participation intentions, they improved students’ perceptions of friendships and of their school, highlighting the need for tailored interventions in educational policymaking.