Reading and Mathematics Attainments and Self-esteem in Years 2 and 6 - an eight-year cross-sectional study

Abstract

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 mean for Cohort 8 is 2.17 above that of Cohort 1. An analysis of variance showed there were significant differences between both years groups with cohorts focused around the introduction of the national tests having significantly different scores than other cohorts (Year 2 significantly lower: Year 6 significantly higher). Overall, there were significant positive correlations between the children's self-esteem and all their attainment scores. When the correlation coefficients were computed separately for the pre- and post-national test groups differences emerged. There were no significant correlations for the Year 2 pre-national test cohorts but for the post-national test groups all the correlations were significant. For Year 6 all correlations were significant. Discussion centres on the possible link between national testing and self-esteem.