As the exam season approaches once again, it brings with it the culmination of the hard work, hopes and worries of students and, of course, their teachers alike. Indeed, teachers never really get to move away from that ‘exam feeling’ which they first experienced as students themselves. Examination success is not the be all and end all in life, yet it is hard to see that as a student under the pressure of expectation from whatever quarter, be it school, family or themselves. We all cope with this pressure in different ways. As a student I liked to see examinations as a competition between myself and the unknown examiner who was ‘out to get me’. This element of competitiveness seemed to motivate me in order to look forward to exams as an opportunity to show this ‘unknown enemy’ what I could do. Would this work for me today if I were a year 10 facing over 20 separate examination papers with no coursework to build my confidence? – I am not so sure.
Targets Targets Targets
I was visiting a school recently when I got in to a discussion with an able Year 10 student. The student informed me that all of their target grades were a grade 9 for all of their subjects. They went on to say that they felt very demotivated by these targets in terms of the practicalities that surrounded them. Their downheartedness is in direct relation to having to sit around 20 written examinations in Year 11. Understandably, they felt aggrieved because their targets could not be supported by confidence in earlier coursework marks, or even early entry, as in earlier years. Essentially, they felt that they would ‘fail’ before the examinations. From their perspective, they question the feasibility of maintaining the very top level of responses across so many examinations, across a number of weeks. This was not a panicking student. They spoke in a very resigned, matter of fact, manner that really quite moved, upset and depressed me. There is clearly a need to look out for such students and ensure they are mentally, as well as academically, equipped. A whole generation of students are facing an unimaginable amount of pressure to succeed within a system they feel is working against them.
Motivation
How have we got to a situation where otherwise talented and motivated students feel that for the next two years their best efforts will result in a perceived ‘failure’? Statistically, in terms of potentially getting Grade 9 in so many examinations, it was very hard to challenge the student’s assumption, despite me moving the discussion on to concepts around resilience and challenge. Perhaps school leaders at all levels, including teaching staff as leaders in the classroom, have been so focused on the wider implications of Progress 8, and the new measures of educational success. It is too easy to forget the impact on the individual. With challenges around teacher performance targets, whole school Ofsted pressures and reducing budgets, the child, the individual student, can get lost. Shouldn’t this be the most important element? We all have a duty of care for these students and we must make allowances, and create strategies for them to cope with the emotional challenges they face.
Raising Self Esteem
Raising the self-esteem of young people, and increasing their wider resilience to the challenges that life will inevitably bring, is the bread and butter of working with young people. This crucial ideal has been the bedrock of a project that Everything English Education and the Blue Therapy Clinic are currently running to improve the self-esteem of Year 9 girls in the North East. We have identified students in the early stages of feeling negative about themselves and feeling anxious about their future, and our aim is to build their resilience BEFORE they face what they foresee as insurmountable pressure in the latter years of school life. Clearly, parents, carers, schools and friends all have a role to play in improving the resilience and communication skills of young people in order to support them in meeting life’s challenges. However, before any of this can be done, we have to take some time out from our own professional targets and pressures to notice the individual that they relate to.
Are you Looking?
We must ensure we are all looking. We need to see changes in behaviour, notice when a student is louder, more attention seeking, or even more reserved. We need to look, and we need to make sure that everyone who knows that particular child, offers their support. Despite a ‘business model’ being implemented in many schools – children are not a commodity to be judged and measured, they are foremost human beings with thoughts and emotions that should be developed and enhanced; not crushed by the weight of examination pressure.
We ALL Need to Look
We all need to keep looking for the child that needs support in managing the pressures of modern education. It is time to reflect on how we can best support their needs? Do we know them? Are we even taking the time to look? We have a duty to ensure that we do.
by Peter Thomas
Director – Everything English Education