BSB Insider
‘Mental health and the case against exams’ Here, Matej – one of our Press Room writers – talks about the mental health challenges surrounding exams in this opinion piece*. By now it is common wisdom that our education system is the offspring of the industrial era’s demand for trained and obedient workers. Despite notable improvements in conditions and methods, education continues to serve the same societal role as it did back then. It should come as no surprise that a system with this as a foundational basis is overbearing and stressful for students of all kinds. No offender is worse in this regard than the standard examination. The statistics are clear. In recent years reported mental health issues as a result of examinations have been rising. Hope Line UK, a confidential support hotline for young people, has seen a quadruple increase in contacts from students and parents since 2013. In the UK in 2018, 23.2% of students reported that anxiety impacted them and 15.4% reported that depression impacted them. This increase is partly attributed to the fact that people are now more willing to speak about mental health issues, however, it also correlates with greater exam pressure on the student population.
46 • The British School of Brussels
The most blatant example of this is a pure increase in exam time. Students sitting exams in 2019, on average, faced 9 hours more exam time than those sitting in 2016. Less obviously however, competition between students has also raised the standards to which they are held, something which has been a decades ongoing process. From 1985 to 2013, the percentage of students who scored an “A” increased from some 30% to nearly 50%. This has led to a sort of grade inflation where higher scores become oversaturated, and students are pushed into ever tighter upper grades. A corresponding decrease in coursework hasn’t helped either, as an ever-greater percentage of a student’s grade is determined by exams. All of these factors conspire to make examinations, and preparing for them, a truly demanding experience.
