Regrades, masks and returning to school – who’s asking the students?

Then it’s back to school – to mask or not to mask, that is the question. But not one being put to students.

Young people have played their part in amplifying the grading/regrading issue on social media and through street demonstrations. They’ve told their personal stories and successfully called for a rethink. Erin Bleakley, a 17-year-old from Glasgow, was one of the first to take action at the start of August, by writing a passionate, well-prepared and very polite letter to the Scottish Education Secretary over the unfairness of the examination grading process in Scotland. She suggested to John Swinney that a “re-evaluation of the approach...would be a huge step forward.” She went on to organise a street protest by students in Glasgow to mobilise support. She was one of several young people in Scotland and elsewhere, writing, walking and subsequently exercising the ‘power of youth.’ Nina Mitcham, an A level student from Peterborough, was more forthright with the schools minister, Nick Gibb, on BBC Radio 2. “You have ruined my life!” after her assessed ‘A’s were downgraded to ‘D’s, denying her a place in veterinary college.