Today thousands of teenagers nationwide have opened envelopes that will impact greatly upon their futures. Further education results, notably A Levels, definitively mark the end of a chapter; they are the final results concluding fourteen years of education. Not only important as the passport to university, further education or employment, they are highly symbolic achievements for each individual.
Understandably, A levels are subject to great scrutiny, whipping up an annual media frenzy. Yet year upon year, as the pass rate rises and more and more young people achieve top grades, we witness a profoundly reactionary, almost gleeful, outcry against the decline of standards allegedly represented by this trend (even though the reverse would undoubtedly invoke an even more vehement debate – with identical conclusions). It has therefore become almost unusual to celebrate this progress. However, the uninterrupted rise in the A level pass rate, from 87.6 per cent in 1997 to 97.6 per cent in 2010 should be recognised as an enormous achievement. It is a testament to both the individuals themselves and thirteen years of Labour’s investment in education.
The trivialisation of this staggeringly impressive trend is consequently damaging to both the students themselves and the education system that we ought to cherish. Despite all our efforts and investment, we fail young people fundamentally if we stand by and let their achievements be downplayed and undermined in such a careless fashion. So whilst journalists create headlines, sell papers and fuel indignant and self-righteous debate about ‘proper’ education, young people, put under an increasing amount of pressure over their exams, ultimately see their success diminished by the commentariat on results day.
What is more, this abstraction away from pupils’ achievements is doubly damaging, as it also undermines Labour’s record on education. The persistent yet unjustified argument about exams becoming easier is slowly discrediting its tremendous investment and drive to improve standards in education. Our starved system was reinvigorated, with thousands more teachers employed and schools built and refurbished over the 1997-2010 period, vastly improving children’s education nationwide.
Perhaps, as I did, young people who today received their results will eventually find that they become a distant memory; a seemingly insignificant few letters that account for those years at school, as subsequent commitments and achievements take precedence. But as a whole, we must not lose sight of the significance of attainment in further education and allow our collective record to fall prey to unjustified criticism. We must strive to uphold our achievement, promoting and encouraging the success of all young people.