The ‘Year 3 Dip’ – Myth or reality?
The idea that students in Year 3 experience a ‘dip’ or a decline in learning has been around for some time. Research has been undertaken in the UK to determine if there is empirical evidence to support the hunch that students’ progress stalls in this year, while NAPLAN results consistently show that students who perform below the national minimum in Year 3, are rarely able to catch up.
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The impression that Year 3 is when students experience a decline in learning, comes from the fact that it is a year of significant transition. Children move from more play-based early learning to the structured curriculum that characterises the remainder of schooling.
Children are expected to have completed ‘learning to read’ and are now expected to ‘read to learn.’ As such, many remedial programs can fall away.
Expectations on students increase, and children are expected to transition from early concrete thinking to more abstract concepts, which can impact their enjoyment at school and motivation to stay involved.
But what does the evidence actually show?
A study by King’s College London researchers in 2007 found that while there was evidence of widespread plateaus in the sample of students, there was less evidence of actual ‘dips’ in learning. Those students who did experience a dip, tended to only have it in one subject, and were able to recover. However, certain students were more vulnerable than others, including those who were racially diverse, from a lower socio-economic status or had special educational needs.
In Australia, researchers from Curtin University and the University of Sydney, found that for students who were behind in Year 3 – based on their literacy and numeracy NAPLAN results – only one in five were able to catch up and stay caught up. Moreover, the pandemic did no one any favours in this regard.
The ‘Year 9 Attitude’ – Hormones or hype?
Even more pervasive is the belief that Year 9 students are detached, hormonal and generally difficult to teach. Every teacher (and parent) who has ever had a year 9 student, is likely to have a portfolio of stories, each more disturbing than the last.
Federation University researcher, Dr Josh Ambrosy released an article called The essence of being a year nine teacher in 2023 with the opening statement being: “Year nine students present a perpetual problem to schools and teachers alike.” He reports that teachers variously refer to year 9s as lost, disengaged and in never-never land.
Like year 3, year 9 is a year of transition, preparing students for the vital final years. Any lack of engagement will likely have a knock-on effect in the following years. Yet data shows that year 9 attendance rates have dropped, with near half of year 9 students are missing at least one day of school each fortnight.
Some possible causes of this disengagement include the major physical, emotional and social changes that occur to adolescents at this age, combined with a significant change in school structure.
As Ambrosy says: “Typically aged 14 or 15 years old, year nine simultaneously experience puberty and adolescence.”
Year 9s can commonly feel misplaced or stuck between the junior and senior years of high school, and a feeling of not belonging often leads to acting out or disengagement.
It is perhaps for this reason that some schools create specialised, community-building programs for their Year 9s including an eight-week residential term for year 9 students of Methodist Ladies College, Victoria, the year-long Howqua program for Lauriston students, and a purpose-built hub for year 9s at Shenton College in Perth.
Perception versus Reality
In reality, both the ‘Year 3 dip’ and ‘Year 9 attitude’ are likely more nuanced than the myths suggest. While transitions in these years can pose challenges, the evidence indicates that not all students experience setbacks or disengagement, and those who do can recover, given the right support.
But the right support is crucial, as is recognising these transitional years as critical moments for targeted intervention.
Rather than accepting these dips as inevitable, the focus should be on proactive and explicit strategies that ensure students in these crucial, yet sometimes overlooked, years remain engaged, motivated, and supported.
