Ivy Brember

Change-linked work-related stress in British teachers

This article examines the impact of educational change and government initiatives on teachers. As a result, stress and its effective management are high on the agenda of many schools. It has been identified as a major factor in teacher job dissatisfaction, job-related illness and early retirement. The research identifies major stresses in primary and secondary schools. Adapting an illuminative research paradigm, it gave teachers the opportunity to voice concern in a series of focus groups, followed by individual focused interviews. Certain work-related stressors emerged as common, even though the causes of stress might be different for each individual or group of teachers. The research analysis grouped the stressors into eight clusters or factors. It confirmed the importance of considering both organisational and personal factors in any examination of teacher stress and that it is the relation between them which explains why stress is felt as a stigma by many teachers. The article suggests a number of strategies which school leaders need to consider as part of any management plans.

Reading and Mathematics Attainments and Self-Esteem in Years 2 and 6--An Eight-Year Cross-Sectional Study.

This eight-year cross-sectional study measured the self-esteem, reading and mathematical attainments of eight cohorts of Year 2 and Year 6 children over the period of the introduction of the National Curriculum and assessment procedures into primary schools (the first cohort was pre-national curriculum: the others were post-national curriculum). All Year 2 (N=1513) and Year 6 children (N=1488) in five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample to which the Lawseq questionnaire (Lawrence, 1982), Mathematics 7 or 11 (National Foundation for Educational Research, 1985, 1987a) and The Primary Reading Test Level 1 or 2 (France, 1981) was administered. Self-esteem means for Year 2 shows a downward trend in the first 4 years of the study followed by an upward trend in the second half of the study with the mean of Cohort 8 being slightly below that of Cohort 1. Self-esteem means for Year 6 fluctuated for the first 5 years followed by a steady rise until the m...

Boys Outperforming Girls: an 8‐year cross‐sectional study of attainment and self‐esteem in Year 6

Abstract This 8‐year cross‐sectional study measured the self‐esteem, reading and mathematical attainments of eight cohorts of Year 6 children. A total of 1488 children (737 boys, 751 girls) in five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample to which the Lawseq questionnaire (Lawrence, 1982), Mathematics 11 (NFER, 1985) and the Primary Reading Test Level 2 (France, 1981) were administered. Differences in attainment related to gender were found in mathematics, but not in reading, with boys significantly outperforming girls (at the 5% level). The percentage of boys who scored significantly above the mean in mathematics and significantly below the mean in reading contrasted with the girls’ more compressed scores in the middle range. The national test data for Cohorts 7 and 8 followed the national pattern with girls outperforming boys. Boys had significantly higher self‐esteem than the girls (at the 0.1% level). Correlation coefficients between Lawseq and ...

The Reliability and Validity of the ‘Smiley’ Scale

Abstract The ‘Smiley’ scale was devised to measure primary school childrens attitudes to school as part of the Junior School Project by the Inner London Education Authority in 1986. It appeared potentially useful, in both content and format, for our purpose. It was found that no reliability or validity study had been carried out on it. To rectify this, one was done. Internal consistency reliability was found to be satisfactory when tested on 641 Year 2 and 585 Year 6 children. Test‐retest reliability was considered by readministering the scale to 172 Year 2 and 155 Year 6 children after a 1 week interval. The Year 6 children showed more consistency in their responses than the Year 2 children. The correlation coefficients of the totals on the two occasions were 0.71 and 0.87 respectively. The validity of 172 Year 2 and 167 Year 6 childrens responses was tested by comparing them to the teachers’ perceptions of the childrens attitudes using the ‘Smiley’ scale. Results showed very few significant correlati...

Gender‐related Causes of Stress in Trainee Teachers on Teaching Practice in the School of Education, University of Manchester, UK

Abstract In this paper the gender‐related causes of stress in trainee teachers on teaching practice in the School of Education, University of Manchester are examined. A questionnaire was administered to trainee teachers on a Post Graduate Certificate in Education course (teacher training course for both primary and secondary trainee teachers) during their period of initial teaching practice in the academic year 1998/9 in order to identify their stressors. The means and standard deviations of each item were then calculated separately for males and females. In only 12 of the 61 items did the males have a higher mean (indicating higher anxiety) than the females. There is clear evidence to indicate that the females were more stressed than the males. However, of the 12 items the males found more stressful than the females the two which were significant centred around issues of support of friends, family and partner. The best way to deal with stress is to try to prevent it occurring, and this research would seem to indicate the need for PGCE tutors to include some stress identification and management courses in teacher training.

The First Mathematics Standard Assessment Tasks at Key Stage 1: issues raised by a five school study

Abstract This paper assesses the value parents can put on the mathematical Standard Assessment Task (SAT) score as an indicator of what children are achieving in mathematics. The results of a study of a sample of all the Year 2 children (176) from five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) are presented. Pupils’ scores on Mathematics 7, a standardised mathematics test for 7 year‐olds (National Foundation for Educational Research INFER], 1987a), are compared to the mathematics Standard of Assessment Task (SAT) score elicited by them in the previous half term. Results show that children with the same NFER 7 score may be designated Level 1, 2 or 3 on the mathematics SAT. No child in social class three (unskilled, manual) or four (unemployed), comprising 50% of the sample, attained Level 3. Conclusions, based on such a small study, are tentative. There is a need to be aware that measuring a childs attainment in mathematics may be more complicated than simply looking at ...

Monitoring Reading Standards in Year 6: a 7‐year cross‐sectional study

This article assesses the value of looking closely at reading scores of cohorts of children in order to pinpoint where, within the groups, attainment is rising, falling or static. This article analyses the reading standards of seven cohorts of Year 6 children from five randomly selected primary schools within one local education authority (LEA) (n = 1293). The results of this cross-sectional study of a sample of Year 6 children are presented. Examination of the means of the standardised comprehension scores for each cohort reveals a significant fall in attainment between Cohorts 1 (1989) and 6 (1994) and between Cohorts 1 and 7 (1995). This drop was not due to a general fall in standards. The cause was the result of a growth of the percentage of children who scored less than 85 at the lower end and to the decrease in the percentage of children who scored more than 115 at the top end. This paper re-emphasises the need to look critically at reading standards data if best use is to be made of educational resources in the attempt to raise the nations reading standards.

The Effects of Gender and Attendance Period on Children's Adjustment to Nursery Classes

Abstract This paper analyses the effects of gender and attendance period on childrens adjustment to nursery classes as measured by the teachers using the Child at School Schedule. The sample consisted of 778 children in 16 nursery classes attached to primary schools in one Local Education Authority. The results of a two‐way analysis of variance showed that boys were perceived to be less well‐adjusted to school than girls (at F 1% level) and the afternoon attenders less well‐adjusted to school than the morning attenders (at ¥ 1% level). The results are discussed in the light of other studies which indicate that boys settle with greater difficulty into school than girls and the effect that parental choice of session has on the composition of the two groups. Strategies to help the less well‐adjusted children to settle into school are discussed in terms of closer home/school liaison to help promote co‐operation between home and school for the benefit of the child.

Self-esteem and National Tests in Years 2 and 6: A 4-year Longitudinal Study.

ABSTRACT This 4‐year longitudinal study measured the self‐esteem, reading and mathematical attainments of four cohorts of children on two occasions‐‐in Year 2 and again in Year 6. All Year 2 children(N = 842) in five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample, of which 588 were present in Year 6. The Lawseq questionnaire (Lawrence, 1982), Mathematics 7 and 11 (NFER, 1987a, b) and the Primary Reading Test Levels 1 and 2 (France, 1981) were administered to this sample. Results showed that Cohorts 3 and 4 had the lowest self‐esteem scores in Year 2 and the highest in Year 6 (significant at the 0.1% level). Attainments in mathematics were stable over the 4 years, but reading comprehension means were significantly higher in Year 6 than Year 2 (at the 0.1% level). Discussion centres on the age effects of self‐esteem responses as well as the effects of context and domain specific factors on self‐esteem.

National Curriculum Testing and Self‐esteem in Year 2 — the first 5 years: a cross‐sectional study

Abstract This 5‐year cross‐sectional study measured the self‐esteem, reading and mathematical attainments of five cohorts of Year 2 children over the period of the introduction of the National Curriculum and assessment procedures into primary schools (the first two cohorts did not do the national tests; the other cohorts did). All Year 2 (N= 1058) and Year 6 (N= 998) children in six randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample to which the Lawseq questionnaire (Lawrence, 1982), Mathematics 7 (NFER, 1987a) and the Primary Reading Test (France, 1981) were administered. A two‐way analysis of variance on the Lawseq scores found a significant difference interaction between year‐group and cohort. Separate one‐way analysis of variance indicated no significant differences between cohorts in Year 6, but significant differences in Year 2. Subsequent analysis therefore focused on Year 2 children. Self‐esteem showed a downward trend throughout the first 4 years of ...