REFORMS to school accountability criteria pioneered by ex-education secretary Michael Gove are making kids increasingly anxious, new research published yesterday suggests.

Academics Merryn Hutchings and Naveed Kamzi have revealed pupils are “losing motivation” as a result of a narrowing curriculum, in an interim report which forms part of an ongoing research project for the National Union of Teachers.

Mr Gove introduced four new league table measures in 2013, including grading schools and ramping up the importance of their performance in relation to one another.