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 ov er the period of the introduction of the National Curriculum and assessment procedures into primary schools (the first cohort was pre-national curricu lum: the others were post-national curriculum). All Year 2 (N = 1513) and Y ear 6 children (N = 1488) in Jive randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample to which the Lawse q 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 tre nd in the second half of the study, with the mean of Cohort 8 being slightl y, 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 signific ant differences between both years groups with cohorts focused around the i ntroduction of the national tests having significantly different scores tha n 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 coeffic ients were computed separately for the pre- and post-national test groups d ifferences emerged. There were no significant correlations for the Year 2 p re-national test cohorts but for the post-national test groups all the corr elations were significant. For Year 6 all correlations were significant. Di scussion centres on the possible link between national testing and self-est eem.