Thousands turn to helpline to cope with exam pressure
THOUSANDS of children and teenagers are seeking help from Childline as they struggle to cope with the pressure of taking exams.
But one in four calls to the service are going unanswered owing to a lack of funding, Childine – which is run by the NSPCC – has warned.
Last month a teacher in Wales said exams are making some young people mentally ill.
The teacher, who did not want to be named for fear of identifying her school said: “Some students are becoming mentally ill. We have a good wellbeing team 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.
“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.”
New figures from the NSPCC-service reveal it delivered 3,135 counselling sessions on exam stress in 2017/18 – just over a fifth of these took place in May.
Eighty-five of these counselling sessions were identified as having been carried out with children and young people from Wales but the true figure is likely to be higher with many nationalities not confirmed.
Half of the counselling sessions were with young people aged 12 to 15 years old, some of whom expressed specific concerns about an overwhelming workload, pressure from their parents and worries about whether they would get the grades they want.
Young people contacting Childline also said the prospect of taking exams was having an adverse effect on their mental health, with some saying it was leading to them self-harming, feeling depressed or experiencing anxiety.
Childline warned its counsellors are only able to respond to three out of four children and teenagers that seek their help.
The NSPCC’s “Are you there” campaign is calling for increased government funding for the service.
Des Mannion, head of NSPCC Cymru/Wales, said: “Preparing for and taking exams places a lot of pressure on young people.
“Worryingly for some these feelings can act as a trigger to them developing mental health issues.
“It is, therefore, vital that family, friends and teachers are there to support children and teenagers during this stressful time, listening to them and keeping them calm and focused so they can properly prepare for the challenges to come.
“Exams are very important and we really want young people to do their very best. However, they should also remember that if things don’t go exactly according to plan there will be lots of other opportunities for them to express themselves and succeed.”
Earlier this month parents of primary school children across Wales reported how they had been crying and had stress related stomach aches because they were so worried about Wales’ National Tests taken by all pupils aged seven to 14.
Meanwhile, the Welsh Government announced last week that from 2019 it will no longer measure school performance on the number of five A* to C GCSE grades pupils get.
New measures will be more sophisticated and take into account a wider range of work schools do.
Teachers said they hoped this would ease some of the pressure around exams, although students will still need qualifications to go on to A-level, further and higher education.
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