Student and teacher stress in high-stakes testing

High-stakes testing is common to educational systems around the globe. The pressure to perform well in high-stakes tests is a source of pressure for teachers and for students. A systematic review was conducted to assess whether teachers perceived high-stakes testing to be stressful. The review found that teachers perceive high-stakes testing to be stressful due to perceived pressure to increase student results from school leaders, a lack of autonomy and control over what is taught, the impact they believe the tests have on students and the lack of control they have over external aspects that impact student results. The Study without Stress (SWOS) program is a manualized CBT group program designed to reduce stress in HSC (high-stakes test at the end of formal schooling in NSW, Australia) students. The SWOS program was found to significantly reduce stress and depression, and increase total self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy and emotional self-efficacy in students who completed the program from pre to post intervention as compared to students in the waitilist control group.