High Stakes Assessments in Primary Schools and Teachers’ Anxiety About Work

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for the analytic sample.

	Year R	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Ofsted rating
Outstanding	16%	19%	14%	15%	12%	14%	17%
Good	68%	70%	73%	76%	76%	72%	69%
Requires Improvement	16%	11%	12%	8%	12%	13%	14%
FSM Quartile
Q1 (least deprived)	35%	14%	27%	22%	21%	15%	22%
Q2	27%	34%	30%	24%	28%	27%	30%
Q3	24%	27%	26%	25%	24%	33%	22%
Q4 (most deprived)	15%	25%	18%	29%	27%	24%	26%
Gender
Male	4%	10%	11%	18%	22%	23%	23%
Female	96%	90%	89%	82%	78%	77%	77%
Job role
Class teacher	43%	57%	41%	52%	53%	50%	26%
Middle leader	27%	22%	28%	26%	28%	30%	33%
Senior Leadership Team	26%	22%	24%	20%	15%	17%	33%
Headteacher	4%	0%	7%	1%	3%	2%	7%
Children
None	34%	36%	44%	45%	44%	36%	40%
Under 5	8%	14%	5%	11%	14%	17%	13%
Primary age	22%	23%	17%	18%	11%	15%	16%
Secondary age	12%	4%	13%	8%	8%	11%	8%
Over 16	13%	11%	9%	9%	14%	13%	13%
Missing data	11%	12%	12%	10%	10%	8%	10%
Age
20s	15%	20%	21%	27%	27%	21%	15%
30s	23%	43%	33%	27%	33%	34%	39%
40s	44%	27%	35%	36%	27%	33%	33%
50+	18%	10%	11%	10%	13%	12%	14%
Experience
Under 5 years	15%	29%	26%	33%	25%	25%	16%
5 to 10 years	21%	20%	22%	20%	29%	26%	27%
10 to 20 years	33%	38%	33%	28%	29%	28%	36%
Over 20 years	31%	13%	19%	19%	17%	21%	21%
Teach multiple year groups
No	90%	89%	74%	83%	71%	80%	56%
Yes	10%	11%	26%	17%	29%	20%	44%
N	106	81	169	159	204	168	613

Figures refer to column percentages. Year R refers to reception year – the first year of school in England. Ofsted rating refers to the school’s most recent inspection rating. FSM quartile refers to the level of socio-economic deprivation of the school, as indicated by the proportion of pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM).

Table 2. Mean, standard deviation and number of observations at each timepoint for year 3, year 5 and year 6 teachers.

Date	Year 3				Year 5				Year 6
	Mean	SD	Weighted N	Unweighted N	Mean	SD	Weighted N	Unweighted N	Mean	SD	Weighted N	Unweighted N
31/08/2021	4.45	2.60	210	89	4.53	2.97	169	81	4.06	2.70	706	388
28/09/2021	4.90	2.74	252	115	4.30	2.64	221	108	3.89	2.75	826	458
12/10/2021	4.75	2.73	260	119	4.33	2.94	229	116	4.17	2.80	826	460
09/11/2021	5.12	2.50	268	124	4.30	2.80	225	112	4.43	2.79	861	479
14/12/2021	4.80	2.54	288	135	4.07	2.69	277	137	4.13	2.90	937	545
11/01/2022	4.67	2.47	273	135	4.68	2.68	301	150	4.31	2.83	956	552
25/01/2022	4.56	2.49	283	134	4.60	2.65	284	142	4.26	2.84	970	553
08/02/2022	4.65	2.45	295	139	4.23	2.55	309	155	4.40	2.85	970	559
22/02/2022	3.55	2.94	296	139	3.21	2.79	283	144	2.69	2.71	897	522
15/03/2022	4.44	2.49	280	134	4.23	2.51	297	146	4.05	2.76	913	528
19/04/2022	3.84	2.78	286	137	3.66	2.83	285	142	3.12	2.98	916	524
03/05/2022	4.54	2.56	284	136	4.36	2.55	274	137	4.40	2.95	882	512
10/05/2022	4.61	2.59	281	133	4.13	2.51	280	143	4.90	2.97	894	512
17/05/2022	4.65	2.77	266	133	4.26	2.65	291	144	4.19	2.82	875	511
07/06/2022	4.61	2.39	271	130	4.37	2.68	281	141	4.26	2.80	879	510
12/07/2022	4.06	2.58	260	124	4.09	2.56	260	129	4.17	2.93	809	476

10/05/2022 is the SATs test week. 22/02/2022 and 19/04/2022 were during school holidays.

Figure 1. Average work-related anxiety scores of year 6 and year 3/5 teachers during the 2021/22 academic year.

Table 3. OLS regression model estimates of differences in work-related anxiety between year 6 teachers and selected comparison groups.

	Years 6 vs 3/5		Years 6 vs 3/4/5		Years 6 vs all other
	Difference	SE	Difference	SE	Difference	SE
2021/22 average	−0.32	0.17	−0.23	0.15	−0.10	0.14
mid-Feb to mid-May	−0.31	0.18	−0.21	0.16	−0.09	0.15
Week before SATs	0.16	0.24	0.08	0.21	0.22	0.20
SATs test week	0.68*	0.25	0.77*	0.22	0.83*	0.20
Week following SATs	−0.21	0.25	−0.09	0.22	−0.04	0.20

Figures refer to the difference in average anxiety scores between Year 6 teachers and the stated comparison group (i.e. the (unstandardized) $\mathit{\beta }$ parameters from the regression model presented in equation 1(1) $\mathit{An}{x}_i=\mathit{\alpha }+\mathit{\beta }.\mathit{Yr}\_6_i+\mathit{\gamma }.D_i+\mathit{\delta }.S_i+{\epsilon }_i$(1) ). Positive figures indicate where Year 6 teachers report higher levels of work-related anxiety than the comparator. The first row (Year 6 average) uses the average anxiety of teachers between the start of the school year and the SATs test week. The second row (mid-Feb to mid-May) averages teachers work-related anxiety scores following the February half-term until the SATs test week. The final three rows report differences in anxiety in the week before, during and after when the SATs take place. * indicates statistical significance at the five percent level.

Figure 2. Difference in conditional work-related anxiety scores of year 6 and year 3/5 teachers during the 2021/22 academic year.

Notes: Figures refer to the difference in work-related anxiety between Year 6 teachers and Year 3/5 teachers. Positive figures are where Year 6 teachers report higher levels of work-related anxiety than Year 3/5 teachers. Circular markers with solid fill illustrate where the difference is statistically significant at the five percent level (hollow markers indicate where the difference is not statistically significant). Thin gray bars running through each data point represent the estimated 95% confidence interval.

Table 4. OLS regression model estimates of differences in work-related anxiety between year 6 and year 3/4/5 teachers. Estimates for sub-groups.

	Male	Female	Believe SATs unreliable	Believe SATs reliable	Booster lessons for Year 6	No booster lessons for Year 6
2021/22 average	−0.39	−0.22	−0.08	−0.24	−0.28	−0.18
mid-Feb to mid-May	−0.49	−0.17	0.08	−0.23	−0.29	−0.11
Week before SATs	−0.50	0.16	0.21	−0.16	−0.05	−0.17
SATs test week	0.68	0.76*	0.93*	0.69*	0.73*	0.85*
Week following SATs	0.12	−0.14	−0.07	−0.18	−0.12	−0.09

Figures refer to the difference in average anxiety scores along the 0–10 scale between Year 6 teachers and Year 3/4/5 teachers as the comparison group (i.e. the unstandardized $\mathit{\beta }$ parameters from the regression model presented in equation 1(1) $\mathit{An}{x}_i=\mathit{\alpha }+\mathit{\beta }.\mathit{Yr}\_6_i+\mathit{\gamma }.D_i+\mathit{\delta }.S_i+{\epsilon }_i$(1) ). Positive figures indicate where Year 6 teachers report higher levels of work-related anxiety. The first row (Year 6 average) uses the average anxiety of teachers between the start of the school year and the SATs test week. The second row (mid-Feb to mid-May) averages teachers work-related anxiety scores following the February half-term until the SATs test week. The final three rows report differences in anxiety in the week before, during and after when the SATs take place. * indicates that the difference between Year 6 and Year 3/4/5 teachers is statistically significant at the five percent level.