Can the “Double Reduction” policy alleviate students’ learning anxiety?

Authors

  • Yadong Ding College of Teacher Education, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, P. R. China (Email: dingyadong@nbu.edu.cn)
  • Mengyuan Huang College of Teacher Education, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, P. R. China
  • Shuyi Huang College of Teacher Education, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, P. R. China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46690/era.2026.02.01

Abstract

The "Double Reduction" policy has been implemented for many years. However, surveys reveal that only 53.79% of students are aware of the policy, while the learning anxiety index stands at 79.2%, indicating a notable "high-low conflict." To investigate the direct and indirect impacts of the policy on students' learning anxiety, an empirical analysis of 3,890 students demonstrated that awareness of the policy significantly alleviates learning anxiety, with both in-class and out-of-class academic burdens exerting indirect effects. Nevertheless, reduced out-of-class academic burdens have, to some extent, increased students' learning anxiety. Based on these findings, the government should enhance policy communication, establish targeted interventions for learning anxiety, continuously reduce in-class academic burdens, and flexibly adjust extracurricular training measures to optimize the policy's effectiveness and mitigate students' learning anxiety.

Document Type: Original article

Cited as: Ding, Y., Huang, M., Huang, S. (2026). Can the "Double Reduction" policy alleviate students' learning anxiety? Educational Research Advances, 1(2), 77-87. https://doi.org/10.46690/era.2026.02.01

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Keywords:

“Double Reduction” Policy, Learning Anxiety, Awareness of the “Double Reduction” Policy, in-class Academic Burden, out-of-class Academic Burden

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Published

2026-06-23

How to Cite

Ding, Y., Huang, M., & Huang, S. (2026). Can the “Double Reduction” policy alleviate students’ learning anxiety?. Educational Research Advances, 1(2), 77–87. https://doi.org/10.46690/era.2026.02.01

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