English and mathematics teachers’ perceptions of how high-stakes GCSE examinations are shaping relationships with their learners in one secondary school in England

POPPY DALL’OCCO, ALEX MORGAN AND EMMAJANE MILTON, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, UK Context This article draws on research findings from a small-scale, qualitative case study based in one secondary school in England. It reports on an in-depth, thematic analysis of nine semi-structured online interviews with GCSE teachers of either English or mathematics. The findings reveal unsettling and concerning implications for the relationship between GCSE assessments and the wellbeing of teachers and their learners (Wilson et al., 2023), highlighting how the high stakes associated with GCSEs in these two key subjects are having a pervasive influence on the way in which teachers are enacting their role. In this study, key features of teachers’ pedagogy seemed to be entirely shaped by the test-centred curriculum imposed on them and their learners. Ways of working were reported to be obstructing the nurturing of teacher–student relationships and reducing the time available