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Exam Stress and Anxiety:handouts for workshop onwhole school approach

Jim McManus, Director of Public Health, Hertfordshire County CouncilJim.mcmanus@hertfordshire.gov.uk

For a full copy of the presentation and tool go towww.slideshare.net/jamesgmcmanus

November 2016Handouts for exercises

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The cycle of beating exam stress at a school approach

What is it?

Students

Parents

School environment (i.e. the systemic aspects)

Ownership

Understand what it is and the four dimensions

How will you support parents understanding and acting on

these?

How will you address the school environment to protect

and reduce exam stress

1. Write a plan2. Own it at governor level

Questions to ask What you need to do

How will you address cognitive, behavioural and

affective aspects

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What is exam stress• situation-specific trait • Some level of individual differences in extent to which people find

examinations threatening • broad and narrow definitions.

– Narrow - focus on fear of failure (emphasising how performance is judged), or evaluation anxiety (emphasising how test anxiety can be located with other, so called, subclinical anxieties including sports performance, public speaking, and so forth).

– Broad/systemic – individual factors and school factors and social factors contribute to stress

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Dimensions• cognitive:

– negative thoughts and deprecating self-statements that occur during assessments (e.g. ‘If I fail this exam my whole life is a failure’)

– performance-inhibiting difficulties from anxiety (e.g. recalling facts and difficulty in reading and understanding questions);

• affective: – person’s appraisal of their physiological state (such as tension, tight

muscles and trembling);• behavioural:

– poor study skills, avoidance and procrastination of work• Systemic:

– Factors in school which contribute to this• E.g. fear appeals by teachers

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Strategies – the key MUST dos1. Address the cognitive and behavioural aspects

1. Cognitive – thought framework, being in good physical state to think and perform

2. Behavioural – e.g. study skills, timetabling3. Affective – tension, trembling, panic

2. Address the systemic issues1. School day design, school environment2. Attitude and behaviour of teachers3. Spot the signs, intervene and refer4. Whole school approach

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A quick self assessmentDimension What are you doing

well?What could you do better?

Cognitive

Behavioural

Affective

Factors in the school day, environment, teacher behaviour

How good are you at spotting signs?

What internal support exists

How does the school own this?

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Governance in Action –the Circle of Accountability

How could this help you address exam stress and anxiety?