Young people want the chance to prove their worth

The August exam ritual is over. This year, many commentators seemed to revel in trying to prove that today’s young people are just not as good as we were at their age after the top grade pass rates dropped in both A-levels and GCSEs. The line in previous years has been that all the exams 16 and 18-year-olds sweated and fretted over were apparently getting easier.

Rather than focus on the annual summer debate over the quality of exams and what they do or don’t say about young people’s achievements, now is the time to launch a more grown-up conversation about what education is for. In doing so, we need to question all aspects of the system against a new measure: what our young people need to allow them to succeed in the 21st Century.

That would mean asking some big questions. Is a school year still running as it was designed, around agricultural cycles of planting and harvest, best placed to meet the needs of a post-industrial, technological society? Does the curriculum provide the skills and expertise needed to let our young people realise their potential in a globalised economy? Are we sure the subjects they learn are equal to tomorrow’s challenges, whether in the world languages we teach or the proficiencies we promote? At a time when public services are regularly challenged to become more personalised and customer-focused, should we not look again at how any group of students with a variety of learning styles and abilities can be taught more flexibly?

Young people all agree they need support, challenge and coaching. Everybody needs to learn values as well as skills; to be citizens as well as meeting vital academic targets; to learn from their mistakes and their successes. Towards the end of the Olympics, a group of eight- to 10-year-olds told Sky News they needed honest role models and encouragement, not blanket praise or blame. They were very clear: life is not a neat affair. 

Mixed messages
As schools prepare for the new year, it’s time to listen to pupils’ concerns to encourage and challenge them to do their best, in both exams and the rest of their lives. We must also challenge the confusing messages they receive through society wishing to wrap them up in cotton wool one minute and expecting them to conquer the adult world’s challenges the next. 

Exam statistics are vital in this mix, but so are others that can give a flavour to critics and commentators about what our young people are working to achieve. The Olympics provided many positive statistics. The AS, A and GCSE results gave us opportunities that were not all taken to celebrate a generation.

Let’s remind ourselves of young people’s achievements. Despite serious funding squeezes, thousands still do constructive activities in youth and community services. Nearly half a million a year participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Thousands achieve through scouting, guiding, cadet forces and in the police, fire and rescue services, volunteer ambulance and first aid organisations. Many play sports. They complete millions of hours of volunteering through schools and in an array of community groups. An estimated quarter of a million are principal carers at home.

Although 16- to 24-year-olds are the hardest hit generation by unemployment, the majority want to contribute. They simply seek the chance to prove what they can do, and to have what they achieve recognised as well as analysed. It is time to put some of these things on the front pages.  There’s our test then: ours to pass or fail.

Maggie Atkinson is the children’s commissioner for England