I wanted to create an intervention for students to help them manage feelings of anxiety about tests.
This is because I watched so many students suffer with test anxiety.
I have worked in both state and independent sectors of education since 1996
and the last decade in Leadership and Headship. I have been a Head of both Prep and Senior schools.
Test anxiety is a big problem and it's not just the main exams.
In mock exams and generally any exam season, staff, students and parents can become anxious.
The tension is often palpable in a school at these times.
About Me
I am Dr. Helen Barsham and researched test anxiety, self-efficacy and desirable difficulties
(Bjork & Bjork 2011) for my Doctorate in Education at the University of Cambridge from 2016-2022.
I overheard some Y10 girls say to each other:
We chatted, they were doing GCSE's and didn’t see the point of taking exams in subjects
they weren't going onto study.
I always believe that young people have a valid point. They really do!
The test anxiety literature illustrated that students become anxious because of a lack of control.
This may stem from fear of the unknown, not having revised effectively,
innate anxiety and many other inherited and /or contextual reasons.
The desirable difficulties literature illustrated tried and tested learning
for long-term memory techniques and my research combined the two ideas by teaching children
about memory for tests and getting them to recall this
so that they could reassure themselves that their 'testing routes' were well-oiled.
By mixing the strategies for learning in desirable difficulties with the
knowledge about how test anxiety works, self-efficacy in test taking was created.
The results showed that all students felt less anxious and more confident
about taking tests after the intervention, especially the anxious students.
Philosophy
Honestly, the education system needs reform.
"it seems like we just take exams so we can take more exams."
Firstly, a guide for students;
written for them with lots of practical tips and advice.
It’s a short read and even just reading this should give the students a bit more confidence.
It is detailed in terms of how to revise for exams.
This is with Triggerhub publishing and is called 'Manage Test Anxiety'; cover reveal soon.
The second book is a longer one. It's with Routledge and designed to be – again practical –
but for school /college /university staff. It’s called
'Supporting Children and Young People with Test Anxiety in School: How to Improve Wellbeing and Give Back Control'.
It talks extensively about how anxious students can feel about tests, even mock tests in schools
and gives educational teams strategies for creating a culture in schools
that changes the emphasis to learning for life and away from learning for tests.
It’s a tough ask because of the way the systems are set up
to keep testing our young ones with exams such as GCSE's.
However, the book gives the detail about how to best prepare,
both in terms of revision and mentally and emotionally to navigate
the current testing regimes that youngsters face.
Publications
I have two books coming out this year.
A published article
on how the testing effect can increase confidence
A blog post on learningscientists.org.
Current Preprint on PsyArXiv Preprints for Learning How/Why Retrieval Practice Works Can Improve Test Anxiety and Self-efficacy.
Published Articles
The full thesis is available at the Cambridge Repository
Services
Contact
Contact me at: helen@fighttestanxiety.com