Doing well in school has become increasingly important in shaping the pathways children can take through further and higher education, onto outcomes linked to employment and earnings. At the mid-point of the 20th century, only a relatively small proportion of children progressed from compulsory education onto higher education, and these were predominantly from more advantaged families (Smith, 2000). Many young people finished compulsory schooling with few or no qualifications and joined the labour force, with limited opportunities to pursue further education and training. The economic shocks of the early 1970s led to high rates of youth unemployment, and eventually to a major restructuring of the economy away from manufacturing towards a service-dominated, knowledge-based economy. In response to these shifts, successive governments have sought to extend participation in further and higher education, and increase educational attainment at all levels (Machin and Vignoles, 2006).

As Smith (2000) remarks, by the turn of the 20th century examinations at age 16 no longer marked the end of education, but a ticket for admission into the next stage. And, as continuing in education beyond age 16 has become the norm, more children in secondary school have been taking final exams in more subjects, obtaining ever higher levels of educational attainment. The proportion leaving school with no qualifications steadily declined over the decades leading up to 2000 (Smith, 2000). In England, 44.5 per cent of pupils obtained A*-C grades in five or more GCSEs in 1995/6. This increased to 50 per cent in 2000/01, 70 per cent in 2008/09, and reached 82 per cent in 2012/13. There are similar trends in other parts of the UK. In Northern Ireland, for example, 61 per cent of pupils achieved A*-C grades five or more GSCEs in 2004/05, rising to 83 per cent in 2014/2015.

The increasingly intense focus on success in education in recent years has affected children in primary schools too. Children in primary schools throughout the UK must now take national tests for numeracy and literacy, and the teaching and learning in primary schools are increasingly oriented towards attaining high scores on these tests.