testing with stakes for students will be specifically denoted as highstakes standardised tests a country may choose to administer lowstakes standardised tests for a number of reasons and in response to different international and national pressures which in turn link to the test s purpose design and how test results are used the trends in oecd countries show a growing reliance on the results of standardised tests for a number of purposes and it is important to keep in mind the resulting effect on teaching and learning assessment practices whether they are focused on system school teacher or student results impact teaching practices and teacherstudent relationships and in certain cases can restrict learning and teaching harlen santiago et al