Schools Are Making Children Anxious

Neuro-Normative Epistemic Injustice – Consequences for the UK Education Crisis and School Anxiety

Emmie Fisher, Keren MacLennan, Sinead Mullally, and Jacqui Rodgers

This commentary article in the 'Neurodiversity' journal argues that the growing crisis in UK schools—seen in high rates of children missing school and suffering from severe anxiety—isn't caused by the children themselves, but by a broken system that doesn't fit them.

The students who struggle most (those with Neurodivergence or SEND, like Autism or ADHD) are being treated like the problem instead of being seen as warning signs of deep-seated faults in the education structure.

The Core Problem: The Myth of "Normal"

The authors call the main issue Neuro-Normative Epistemic Injustice. This simply means:

• The System is Built for One Brain Type: Schools are based on a narrow idea of what is "normal" or "Neurotypical" (i.e., neuro-normativity).

• The Knowledge of Others is Dismissed: This system ignores and devalues the experiences, ways of thinking, and learning styles of Neurodivergent people (epistemic injustice).

Essentially, schools are set up with "affordances" (opportunities or settings) that only Neurotypical students can easily use. For Neurodivergent students, this mismatch causes constant stress, exclusion, and sensory overload, leading to high anxiety.

What the System Does Wrong

The strict, performance-driven culture in the UK education system actively harms these students:

• High-Pressure Testing and Standards: The focus on standardized tests, like phonics checks and rigid curricula, forces teachers to rush and "teach to the test." This limits the flexibility needed to truly include students with different learning needs, often leading to them being labeled as "SEND" or "failing."

• The Teacher Stress Trap: Accountability measures (like Ofsted inspections) put so much pressure on schools to hit the "normal" targets that teachers have less time, knowledge, and motivation to learn about and implement inclusive practices. Successful inclusion can even be seen as a threat to their performance metrics.

• The Need to "Mask" (Camouflaging): Many students feel they must constantly camouflage—or hide their true neurocognitive traits and try to act "normal"—just to survive or avoid punishment, judgment, and bullying.

  • This masking is a huge drain on their mental energy, leading to exhaustion, worsening anxiety, and increasing the risk of self-harm.

  • This is especially difficult for groups with intersecting marginalized identities (like Neurodivergent girls), who often "slip through the net" because they are better at masking, resulting in missed diagnoses and support.

The Solution: Stop Blaming the Child

The article concludes that minor changes (like new attendance policies or better support plans) are not enough. The education system needs a fundamental shift.

Instead of seeing a child who is anxious or refusing school as an individual who needs "fixing," we must see their distress as a clear sign that the system itself is broken.

The authors call for Epistemic Justice: listening to and centering the voices of Neurodivergent students, parents, and teachers to redesign an education system that truly values all ways of learning and being.