The Impact of High-Stakes Testing: The Experiences of Educators, Students, and Parents in Trinidad and Tobago

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCunningham, Victoria Maria
dc.date.accessioned2023-10-16T19:26:00Z
dc.date.available2023-10-16T19:26:00Z
dc.date.issued2021-10-15
dc.description.abstractStudents completing primary schooling in Trinidad and Tobago must pass the high-stakes Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam to be promoted. Although there are sufficient schools to accommodate students, the competition for high scores is equated and rewarded with placements into a few elite secondary schools. Failure to get a placement in a prestigious school can have a negative social, psychological, and emotional impact on students. This research describes and interprets the experiences of thirteen participants, and finds out their inherent beliefs and values and the ways their experiences impact their lives. Using a qualitative methodological design with unstructured and semi-structured in-depth interviews, data was collected from a purposive sample of 13 participants inclusive of primary school principals, teachers, students, and parents. Documentary analysis of pre-SEA students’ writings was also used to generate data. Abraham Maslow’s and Carl Roger’s humanistic theory of psychology and personality development, and Paulo Freire’s and Henry Giroux’s critical pedagogy helped me to make sense of the collected data. A critical theoretical approach was taken using thematic analysis to arrive at my findings that are presented thematically. Findings revealed experiences of fear, academic pressure, stress and test anxiety, negative feelings, and suicidal ideation. Participants had strong educational expectations, valued extra-lesson, believed in the prestige school ideology, and believed in educational inequity. Self-recrimination, play deprivation, diminished self-worth, approval-seeking, validation behaviour, a cycle of academic indoctrination, and a helicopter parenting style, were some of the ways participants were impacted. This research study is part of a growing body of knowledge and will contribute to future research on the assessment practices and behaviours that are needed to promote students’ well-being rather than focus on judging the students’ worth.
dc.identifier.urihttps://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/31474/1/The%20Impact%20of%20High-Stakes%20Testing%20-%20The%20Experiences%20of%20Educators%2C%20Students%2C%20and%20Parents%20in%20Trinidad%20and%20Tobago.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2139/56083
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Sheffield
dc.subjectHigh-stakes testing
dc.subjectEducators
dc.subjectStudents
dc.subjectParents
dc.subjectTrinidad and Tobago
dc.subjectQualitative research
dc.titleThe Impact of High-Stakes Testing: The Experiences of Educators, Students, and Parents in Trinidad and Tobago
dc.typeThesis

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
The Impact of High-Stakes Testing_The Experiences of Educators, Students, and Parents in Trinidad and Tobago.pdf
Size:
3.79 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.64 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

CVTLIB - Full-text Database