Results week was like a slow motion car crash
( And today it’s my other son’s turn!)
Round two of results in our house, and this morning my GCSE son will receive his grades. there will be no algorithm, no complex ranking of classmates, no computer saying no.
Just the teachers from his state school, with full knowledge of his ability, deciding what he might have achieved in the exam hall. It will be a calmer morning than this time last week, when nerves were set to full jangle mode.
Has a generation of students — and their parents — ever experienced so much anxiety?
Last thursday, my A-level son broke the habit of the past few months and got out of bed before lunchtime. His motivation: to be up and ready at 8am to wrestle with the uCAS website that held the key to his future.
the fact that it was overloaded and continued to crash, blocking entry to the thousands of students who were desperate to see their grades, was only the first sign of the catastrophic failure that developed over the next few hours, then days.
once logged in, many sixthformers were blindsided with grades that took little account of their hard work or their teachers’ assessments. they were judged by a complicated algorithm that even an A* maths student would fail to understand. university places were closed to desperate pupils like doors slamming before their eyes.
For students, this was devastating. As a mum it was heart-breaking, even though my son was lucky. I had friends WhatsApp me in desperation over their tearful children.
A friend’s daughter got a d in one of her subjects and lost her place at Edinburgh. Another has a son who was denied his oxbridge place because his school had never been awarded an A in his subject.
As we watched the news, it emerged that the greatest unfairness involved highachieving students at historically low- performing schools, and my boys, both at London comprehensive schools, became increasingly outraged.
It would serve tory ministers well to remember that young people generally have a heightened sense of social justice, and being the Government responsible for a huge kick in the teeth for social mobility will not be a future vote-winner.
As my A-level son talked to disappointed friends and absorbed the consequences of the fiasco, my 16- year- old watched the unfolding chaos with a mounting sense of dread over today’s GCSE results. It was like being witness to a slow-motion car crash. ‘I wasn’t thinking about it before, but now I really feel worried,’ he confided as he heard the stories of students being marked down.
MyBoyS are no strangers to my criticism of ministers, but this time it fully sank in. they realised that the failures of this Government could have a direct and immediate impact on them.
I feel sad that they’ve missed out on the key lesson of exams. you can work like a demon and see that reflected in outstanding results. or you can fail to revise, and deal with the outcome.
But the class of 2020 has learned far harder lessons. they’ve been taught that those in charge can catastrophically let you down.
they’ve seen the man responsible, Gavin Williamson, keep his job, while the Prime
Minister stays silent. these youngsters will lose their faith in authority for ever if something isn’t done urgently to address the next stage of the saga.
While teachers can sigh with relief that their predicted grades have been accepted, thousands of students are still in the dark about whether they have a place at their chosen university.
If there is anything positive to take away from this sorry debacle, it’s that youngsters made themselves heard. they saw injustice and confronted it. on social media, in interviews and at noisy protests, they made change happen.
our tough teens have had an unexpected lesson in resilience and the unpredictability of life. they learned that those in charge don’t always have your back, and won’t always face the consequences of their ineptitude.
But you don’t have to accept it. Shout loudly enough, point out the injustice and you might just see things change.
they may take the rest of us for fools at times, but this week ministers have had their knuckles rapped by the Covid Generation.
I hope it’s a lesson those who claim to rule over us don’t forget in a hurry.