Welcome to the Grammar School Pressure Cooker: How do assessment pressures affect the teaching and learning of Able, Gifted and Talented students?

This study was designed to shed light an under-researched field, the pressures of working in a grammar school. The existing literature on this subject is best described as minimal. Therefore, the literature cited is often adapted or relates to the topic of general academic pressure, but not exclusively about grammar schools. Its purpose was to be used for academic and professional reference and should be viewed as a case study into a narrow and specific field. The findings of the study illustrated that Able Gifted and Talented students were largely unaffected by national examination estimates, in this instance Fischer Family Trust grades, but appeared to thrive on other pressures, such as internal aspirations. However, teachers seemed to feel stressed and pressurised by the expectations of such estimates and regarded them very negatively on the whole.