Australian researchers said on Monday students who repeat a school year are more likely to skip school, lose motivation and suffer from low self-esteem.

The study, conducted by the University of Sydney of more than 3, 000 students from six high schools, looked at a wide range of factors including motivation, engagement, peer relationships and self-esteem over repeated students.

According to Author Professor Andrew Martin, the study found having students repeat is not a beneficial strategy, because it will decrease students' in academic engagement and self- confidence.

He said that it lowered self-esteem and brought no advantages in peer relationships, compared with students who did not repeat.

"The implications from this study are that repeating students is not a beneficial strategy, irrespective of whether the student is relatively older or younger in the year group, is male or female, high or low in ability, or of English-or non-English- speaking background," Martin said in a statement released on Monday.

He said the research findings support an educational approach of promoting students to the next grade, while providing targeted educational support for those who need it.

It has estimated that between five and 15 percent of Australian students repeat a school year.