SCHOOL ANXIETY AND LEARNING IN ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

Anxiety is part of the human experience and may emerge at different moments of school life, particularly in situations perceived as threatening, unpredictable, or associated with judgments about performance. Although moderate levels of activation may mobilize students toward certain tasks, intense or persistent manifestations can interfere with attention, memory, self-regulation, participation, and academic performance. This chapter aims to analyze the relationships between school anxiety and learning in elementary and secondary education, considering its cognitive, emotional, and pedagogical effects, as well as possibilities for school intervention. This qualitative, bibliographic, and analytical-reflective study is grounded in national and international research on anxiety, cognition, assessment, learning strategies, self-regulation, and school experiences. The discussion indicates that anxiety-related difficulties cannot be understood exclusively as individual characteristics of students, since assessment practices, interpersonal relationships, performance expectations, and aspects of school climate also participate in the emotional experience of learning. It is concluded that schools do not replace specialized mental health care, but they do have a pedagogical responsibility to build emotionally safe, predictable, and learning-oriented environments through diversified assessment practices, attentive listening, the strengthening of self-regulation, and teaching practices that reduce unnecessary situations of threat and exposure.