This is an article from 2004...Have things improved since?


Exam Stress in Teenagers

And from there:

"....But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Exams only serve to bring to a head feelings of depression, hopelessness and fear of failure that have become endemic amongst school age children, thanks in large part to the results-driven agenda that the Labour government insists upon.

Figures from the government's drug watchdog, MHRA, show that in 1995 46,000 anti-depressant prescriptions were given to teenagers between 16 and 18 in full-time education. By last year this had risen to 140,000. There has also been a rise of almost 50 percent in the prescription of so-called "happy drugs" such as Prozac and Seroxat to under 16s. This has risen from 76,000 in 1996 to 110,000. This figure could be higher because prescriptions from private doctors and those given to hospital patients are not included.

Whilst the figures point to a one in five prevalence of mental illness among under 18s, the Department of Health (DoH) has admitted that it has no idea how many children are actually taking psychiatric drugs. Nor does it collect statistics on exam-related suicides.

In the seven years that the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has been in office, there has been an increased emphasis in education on attaining ever-more impossible targets. The expectations that schools will produce a year on year increase in test and exam results, which are then used to produce league tables, puts an enormous strain on social relations within schools and among the pupils themselves. The fear of failure and letting people down, whether it be yourself, your family, friends or the school, is widespread at a time when there has never been such a premium placed on achieving high grades in order to enter university.

The case of Tina Dzikl is not unusual, in that a growing number of bright youngsters are pressured to take exams earlier within the state school system. In the last few years there have been a number of teenage suicides where exam pressure has played a part.

Amy Burgess from West Mersea, Essex, jumped from the top of a multi-story car park the day she was due to take her GCSE's. An open verdict was recorded into her death.

Sixth former David Tebby from South Wales also killed himself by jumping from a multi-story car park because of anxiety about A-levels.

Tim Russell, 16, killed himself with his father's shotgun because he had failed his physics paper.

Shaun Begley, 16, hanged himself from a tree because he believed he would not pass his math GCSE.,,,,"



Watch the video on this page....listen to what the children themselves are saying!

The NHS advice on being your child's 'Study Buddy' (oh purleeze!)


And from *that* site...

British schoolchildren sit up to 70 exams and tests before they reach their GCSEs. There are ways to ease stress at exam time.


The children of this nation are over-tested, over examined, over worked, over stressed, and if the teachers themselves cannot see that, and are NOT prepared to stand up, en masse and REFUSE to keep doing this to them...then they do NOT deserve to be teachers.

Young people have a right to be young! Young and free!   They have a right to have holidays and summer evenings without bloody homework or examination revision, revision, revision!

When I took GCSEs I merely did a bit of swotting up, around 7/10 days before we took the test. I was not unusual in this and we had hardly any stress from our teachers, because there were no league tables, no OFSTED, no examiners examining examiners, or teachers teaching teachers...

The whole exam system is making many children ill, depressed and very angry. It is turning them OFF from learning, as had happened in the USA where the National Curriculum has been around for over 10 years longer than we've had it.

If I were a child today, I'd bunk off bloody school at every given opportunity and take to the woods with my friends, have picnics, barbecues, live my life the way I feit it should be lived, according to ME, NOT according to others.

And people wonder why our children are spilling out their souls on the pavements of our cites, falling over sideways, on their way to becoming alcholics, some already suffering major medical damage by their early 20s.

And yes, I know, that according to folks in here, NONE of this is happening and it is ALL a figment of my imagination!









Like hell it is...