‘Jumping for joy’: some newspapers, especially the Torygraph, seem to run virtually the same hackneyed A-level results story, and pictures, every year. And note the absence of working-class boys from most of the images
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Secondary school teacher KEN TOWL on the sense of anticipation gripping the nation’s teens, and their parents and tutors, ahead of tomorrow’s big A-levels results reveal
All over the country, 17- and 18-year-olds are getting nervous. Their parents are getting nervous. Their teachers are getting nervous.
Tomorrow, A-level and other level three results are published, deciding, we tell these nervous young people, the course of their lives.
I am guilty of it myself.
As a teacher, I take every opportunity to tell my pupils of the benefits of passing exams, of getting the best grades they can, so that they have a greater choice of university courses, so that they have greater agency over their own lives.
We tell them that the stakes are life-changingly high. No wonder they get nervous in the middle of August.
And university isn’t what it was.
According to a recent House of Commons report, attendance at university in this country has doubled in the past 20 years. Every year, more than half a million degrees are awarded. Almost 50% of state-school pupils enter higher education.
On the other hand, we seem to be failing other groups. The least successful, in terms of accessing higher education, are white working class boys (measured by eligibility for free school meals) at 19%. Look out for the white working class boys in tomorrow’s news images of successful A-level students leaping into the air on the instructions of newspaper snappers.
Then there’s the average £50,000 debt that graduates generate, living, not like my generation on a generous grant, but on the never-never, on an (obviously) inadequate loan.
Life-determining: tomorrow’s results will have a significant influence over the course of teenagers’ next steps
And pity those university students who, in 2020, 2021 and into 2022, found themselves paying £9,000 per year to sit in their bedrooms, virtually imprisoned in cramped student accommodation during the covid lockdown. The impact of those two and half years of isolation for so many young people have yet to be properly assessed or understood.
My Year 13 pupils – those anxiously awaiting their results tomorrow – lost much of their Years 9 and 10 education to covid. Of course, the school provided online teaching, but not all students could access it equally, and, anyway, it’s not the same. Teaching and learning thrives on presence, with teachers engaging in discussions with pupils and moving around the classroom, checking work as it is produced.
And so, this year we have a cohort who were under-prepared for their GCSEs and who are now, at least in the experience of me and my colleagues, over-dependent on copying definitions and facts but not so confident about interpreting and manipulating information for themselves, precisely the sort of attributes they will need at university.
For a number of reasons – a devaluation in the relative worth of degrees, student debt, learning styles – university might not be the best option. We should congratulate the students who pass their A-levels tomorrow and get the grades they need for the courses that they want and the universities that they choose. They have worked hard.
They should jump in the air to celebrate and someone should capture the moment in a photograph and post it on social media prefaced with “Proud parent alert!”, because it is an achievement and it does matter.
But, tomorrow, we will also be dealing with pupils who are not going to go to the place we have encouraged them to aspire to for the past few years. And we will be advising that there are other, perhaps better, options, like earning £20,000-plus a year on a degree-level or HND apprenticeship.
Meanwhile, fingers crossed…
Ken Towl, pictured right, is among Inside Croydon’s earliest and most prolific citizen journalist contributors, writing across arts, education and providing a series of detailed and engaging guided walks and reviews of pubs. And sometimes walks and pubs. You can access the archive of his articles by clicking here
- Croydon Commentary provides a platform for any of our readers to offer their personal views and experiences about what matters to them in and around our corner of south London. To submit an article for consideration for publication, email us at inside.croydon@btinternet.com, or post your comment to an Inside Croydon article that has caught your attention
Recent Croydon Commentary columns:
- Time to act is now. But our council is ignoring climate change
- Judgement Day has happened for Croydon. Now we need to act
- Building on precious green spaces won’t fix the housing crisis
- Our four MPs are doing nothing to try to stop carnage in Gaza
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
