It’s the week between A Level and GCSE results and students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as internationally, are waiting for results of have got results that determine their next steps. It’s not an easy place for them all to be.
I was out on Saturday night with friends and we talked about results, GCSEs, pathways forwards and whatnot. We all agreed that there’s just still not a way forward for so many young people who aren’t necessary going to aim for the most academic route forward. We just don’t care for the current model of success and that the only way to appear successful is the school-uni pathway.
What really got all of our goats was that students who are more creative or practical are STILL not catered for properly. There is STILL not decent provision or acknowledgement that some kids may not reach the gold standard of grade 4/5 and above or whatever happens to be the current measure of ‘success’ by government. I do not decry the need to support learners towards excellence, but what that means for kids will differ and not every kid will get twenty-seven 9 grades or be able to make beautiful pieces of furniture from wood, or see how to wire a house just from seeing it outside. All of these skills are vital but not necessarily assessable by exam-based curricula.
Hopefully T-levels will be a good way forward for vocational skills for folk who want to go that way. Hopefully at some point the focus purely on GCSEs and everyone getting through the academic pathway will shift towards acknowledgement of other ways of doing careers and education.
It was quite a chatty and opinionated night out on a cold and miserable summer night in Trowbridge.
