CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Stress is inherent and inevitable in a social system. It creates physiological and psychological changes in the individual. When one talks about the “stress and strain” of modern life, most especially in schools, one means simply the pressures caused by competitions in schools and in the working world. Social demands worries about economic security and frustration of expectation not achieved due to stress and strains.
Qualitative approaches have gone further in exploring the meaning of these stressful events for students concerned, highlighting theme such as an over identification with academic success and the perception of GCSE examination as constituting a crucial moment in determining the future life trajectory of a student. However, this area has been neglected by researchers working on the educational psychology disciplinary boundaries, and a number of important features have yet to be specified regarding the development, antecedents and educational consequences of examination stress.
The concept of the sources of pressures faced by young people and adolescents, Kyriacou (2003) and Seiffge-Krenke (1993) suggests that school assessments and examinations represent a number of sources of change and insecurity that leads to stress; others include school transfer, bullying relationships and identity.
This is also a popular theme in the National Press, where a number of recent articles have voiced concerns of students, parents and teachers that the frequency and importance of examinations is resulting in an unacceptable degree of stress in school children and subsequently contributing to a range of derogatory consequences (e.g. Times Educational Supplement, 2005, 2007, 2008). A number of survey-based studies have provided evidence for these claims indicating that assessments, and in particular examinations are perceived by secondary school students as stressful, worrisome and anxiety provoking events in Benin City and environ (e.g. Gallaghe & Miller, 1996) and (Kouzma & Kennedy, 2004).
The tension and strain experienced by individuals be it in their homes, in their schools have been proved as the by-product of stress by many psychologists. Aherne (2001) Executive stress and its management emphasized that stress occurs when nervous tension reaches a degree of intensity that interferes with normal physiological process in the body. He looked at these as a perceived substantial imbalance between demands and responses capability under the condition where failure to meet demands has important or perceived consequences.
This type of survey-based research is useful in providing an empirical body of data to substantiate claims that school assessment/examination are a perceived source of stress, but are limited by their design in the extent to which they inform on three important dimensions of examination stress. First, this research tells us little about subjectivity, that is how students make sense of the experience of assessment/examination stress. Second this research provides no information as to the factors which contribute to the development of examination stress. Third, the research provides little contextual information how the experience of stress is situated in schools, places (e.g. examination halls) and practices (e.g. how teachers prepare students for examinations). These sources of stress factors general stressful situations as they hinder goals and expectations.