The concept of “nudge politics” first came to my attention when reading Thaler and Sunstein’s influential book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Whilst their work focuses primarily on health and economic behaviors, I would like to suggest that the mechanisms they describe: subtle changes in how choices are presented to influence decisions, could readily be applied to education.
The Potential of Nudge Politics
A powerful example of the effectiveness of nudges was the UK’s public health campaign to reduce smoking rates. Various strategies were employed, many of them “sticks” rather than “carrots”, such as higher taxation, warning labels, and advertising bans. These measures were clearly successful in reducing smoking rates without an outright ban.
But nudges are not only about disincentivising bad behaviors. Consider the introduction of “opt-out” organ donation systems in Wales in 2015, later adopted across England. This policy reframes the default choice, capitalising on human inertia to increase organ donation rates without coercion. By steering people toward positive decisions, such policies have created meaningful change.
If nudges can reshape public health habits, why not use them to encourage learning behaviors? For example, fostering a culture of reading at home is one of the simplest and most impactful ways to boost a child’s educational prospects. Research consistently demonstrates the long-term benefits of early exposure to books. A 2013 OECD study found that children who were read to daily before the age of five performed significantly better in literacy and numeracy tests at age 15.
Whilst the UK does engage in some nudge politics, for instance national reading weeks to encourage reading, I argue that such campaigns are wholly insufficient in scale. The success of anti-smoking campaigns stemmed from their ubiquity, the message was inescapable. Similarly, to promote early reading, we need consistent, pervasive messaging. Schools can amplify this effort, but the message must also reach families persistently in their everyday lives.
Assuming Responsibility
The poster above is an example of an institution engaging with positive social messaging. However, such messaging is far more likely to succeed when it is reinforced consistently. Consider the enforcement of uniform policies in schools: if only one teacher addresses a student whose shoes violate the uniform policy, the issue is likely to persist. Conversely, if multiple teachers address the situation and the student’s parents are involved, the likelihood of compliance increases significantly. This underscores a crucial point: the impact of consistent messaging often grows not linearly, but exponentially, as repeated reinforcement across multiple touchpoints strengthens its legitimacy and effectiveness.
Chat GPT has directed me to the relevant academic literature on this matter, known as the “mere exposure effect,” it suggests that repeated messaging increases acceptance and impact over time (Zajonc, 1968). When a message is reinforced across different contexts, for example by teachers, posters, newsletters, etc., it gains legitimacy and becomes harder to ignore. A notable example of this is the 5-a-Day fruit and vegetable campaign in the UK, with studies reporting a measurable rise in fruit and vegetable consumption during its peak implementation (Capacci & Mazzocchi, 2011). Similarly, a campaign to encourage parents to read with their children might initially prompt occasional efforts, but with sustained messaging, it could establish a cultural norm where daily reading becomes a shared expectation. It is really a matter of political courage, vision, and the allocated budgets.
Another blog post, coming soon.
George Bowman
Founder, Maths Advance
MATHS ADVANCE BLOG 
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