‘The stress is exhausting... everything is driven by exams’
How exams make a teacher, pupil and a parent feel
Parents can offer balance and tell them it’s important but not the end of the world DR SHARON PARRY
ATEACHING union has warned that pupils are selfharming and expressing suicidal feelings due to exam stress and pressure.
The National Education Union (NEU) gave the warning after a survey of its members found that more than half (56%) of school staff said youngsters had been self-harming or thinking of self-harming.
And more than a quarter (27%) said mental health issues have led to pupils killing themselves, or attempting suicide, according to the poll of more than 700 school staff.
■ An English teacher who has taught in high schools in Cardiff and south Wales for more than 15 years told us that everything in schools was being driven by exams and it was making children ill.
“For teachers stress is always there but it ratchets up at exam time – from around January. The stress is exhausting. You want to do your best for the kids so you overwork and prepare. Sometimes you go home and work until 10pm-10.30pm and everyone works through lunch now, prepping lessons,” she said.
“Education is unrecognisable from when I started more than 15 years ago.
“The system has changed fundamentally, in some ways, for the worse, as everything is driven by exams. The pressure is on all teachers as students are set individual targets in all subjects.
“The system makes pupils feel failures if they don’t get a C because that is what schools are judged on.
“Some students are becoming mentally ill. We have a good wellbeing team at my school but exams are making pupils ill. I think pressure of exams through the whole school system is a key reason for growing mental health problems.
“In the past five years I have noticed pupils are more stressed. I have seen pupils coming in and sitting at their desk literally unable to function because they are so stressed. A lot simply don’t come in because they get so stressed by all sorts of stuff.
“Teaching has become formulaic. There is very little room for the independent thinking and writing and talking that there was 15 years ago. The downside then was there were complacent teachers in the past, so something had to be done, but it has gone too far.
“Where have the arts gone, and music? Books are chunked down to short sections of text and often the main focus is on non-fiction as this is what they will be examined on. Two books in five years of high school is all some students will read – the two set texts for GCSEs.
“The culture of learning being a good thing in itself has gone. I feel kids come to school just to pass exams on a factory line and we are all colluding with that.
“Key Stage 3 has become exam centred from Year 7 (first year of high school). On results day I don’t feel nervous. As an English teacher you want to do well but I always have confidence I have done my absolute best and the grades they get will be fair.”
■ A-level student Jade Eastwood says exam stress gives her headaches and there are too many exams.
The 18-year-old Stanwell School, Penarth, pupil is taking A-level geography, music and textiles and the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate. She wants to study geography at university and has a conditional offer of AAB at her first-choice university.
“About two weeks before exams start I feel like everything is there at once and there’s a lot to do. I felt overwhelmed taking GCSEs and AS.
“The grade offers I have got back from the universities I applied to are quite high. That makes me feel pressure.
“I have been revising about four hours a day over the Easter holidays. I’ve also had coursework to do. Music is the hardest to prepare for because there is a lot you need to do and I also play flute and piano for it.
“I think the Welsh Bacc is quite a good thing because it teaches things which are helpful and takes the pressure off a bit as some universities include it in their offers.
“When I’m revising I make a list of what I need to do, but I do feel there are too many exams throughout school. There are a lot of exams in a short space of time.
“I get stress headaches, which get worse nearer to exams and at revision time.
“When that happens I just have to go and lie down.
“A lot of the pressure to do well comes from myself but my parents are quite pressuring too. My teachers are OK and don’t pressure us too much.”
■ Parent Dr Sharon Parry admits she gets stressed when her daughters have exams.
Her middle daughter, Jo, 16, is taking AS-levels this year, her eldest daughter, Kate, 19, is at university, and her youngest, Rose, 13, started high school this year.
“Parents do get stressed when their children are taking exams, some more than others. There is a limit to what you can do and maybe that’s what makes it stressful. You are really just support crew doing what you can.
“You have to do the small stuff so they can concentrate on revising. I get in plenty of snacks and food and make sure they are eating, taking breaks, getting fresh air and not getting overwhelmed. It’s just a matter of being around in case anyone has a meltdown. Parents can lend per-
spective. All around this young person are people telling them exams are hugely important and vital. Parents can offer balance and tell them, yes, it’s important, but not the end of the world. There are lots of successful people who did not do well academically.
“That said, I have a PhD in public health, so I know academic qualifications are important.
“As time has gone on and I’ve been through a few exam seasons I am less stressed by them.
“Parents should not add to the stress their teenagers are feeling by carrying on about how important exams are, they know that already. Do not say how much easier exams were in your day, and if you have a friend whose child is revising 12 hours a day do not bring that up!
“I am also not a big fan of revising into the small hours.
“If you stay up revising until 2am you will just be tired.
“On the morning of an exam we throw a shoe at the person taking it. This came from when I was at Cardiff University.
“We were leaving the halls of residence and a cleaner asked us where we were going, and when she heard we were off to an exam she threw a shoe at us for luck. I don’t know where that comes from but we’ve carried on doing it.”
■ A 14-year-old GCSE student from the Vale of Glamorgan, who is taking her first Year 10 GCSEs this summer, thinks there are too many exams.
She is working towards 12 GCSE exams by the end of Year 11 and has a maths and an English tutor to help her.
“I definitely think there are too many exams and they are too close in proximity and there’s not much time to revise. This summer I have English literature, the three sciences, RE, history and Welsh Bacc coursework. I’ll have maths in the first term of Year 11.
“I have already done one English literature exam in January this year, as well as performing arts GCSE coursework.
“I do get stressed and I am a real worrier. It’s really hard. Even when I know I have revised stress takes over and it’s really hard to concentrate.
“There are revision lessons at school and I have tutors. I need that to reassure me, which helps with the stress and helps my maths and English.
“English literature is my favourite subject, and history. The hardest are some topics in maths, Welsh language and physics.
“I think we are learning the right stuff at school but we have to learn so much in such a little time. But what they teach is what we need for the future, I think.
“Our teachers know how we’re feeling because they have been through it before. I have an older brother who has been through exams so my parents help me and don’t pressure me.
“I have to revise early on before an exam, make a timetable and try to get enough sleep and off social media.
“Social media is bad when you’re revising.
“I think I want to go on and do A-levels and then to university.”