Young people are at the heart of our Plan for Jobs
A VERY different stage is set as Scottish pupils return to school.
Drama teacher Geoff Nolan had clearly learned his lines as he held a socially distanced class at Holyrood Secondary in Glasgow yesterday – standing well away from the children, behind tape markings on the floor.
Scotland is bringing different years back each day this week.
Some sites are assigning pupils colours to set where they sit for meals and who they interact with. forcing exam boards to rely on teachers’ predicted grades. But that led to fears deprived students at poorer schools would lose out.
However, Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers’ union, said mock exams were carried out in many different ways by schools and were not consistent enough to be used to determine results.
He said: “They aren’t a set of exams which all conform to the same standards. The clue is in the name ‘mock’.”
Suzanne Whitton’s daughter Holly, 18, will get results today in Wokingham, Bucks.
She said: “This feels very much like a knee-jerk panic reaction to me, by a government who has watched Scotland’s fiasco unfurl. I don’t know why they have left it so late.”
Charlie Heron, 18, a pupil at Shenfield High School, Essex, said he is “not confident” the changes will help him and feels autumn exams, scheduled for October, come too soon.
He said: “A lot of us in our mocks didn’t put in the maximum effort because we had Ucas and university applications to do... in the end, my mock grades weren’t the best.
“I haven’t opened any of my books and I didn’t even finish my A-level courses, so to sit an exam wouldn’t really benefit me in any way.”
Cheyenne Williams, from Barnhill Community High School in North West London, added: “I feel even more confused and stressed.” Prof Julia Buckingham, president of Universities UK, said: “This lastminute policy change presents a number of challenges for universities.
“We are seeking urgent clarification from the Department for Education on a range of issues.”
The Ucas deadline for applicants to meet their academic offer conditions is September 7, which leaves exam boards less than four weeks to issue outcomes of appeals.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson apologised to pupils for the “disruption they’ve had to suffer” to schooling and exams during the Covid-19 pandemic. He also admitted there were “things we could take a
Geoff Nolan in class yesterday difference approach on” when pressed about the Government’s handling of education recently.
But Mr Williamson refused to say sorry for the 11th hour alterations to the A-level results system, saying: “I won’t apologise for the fact we want to make these changes because we do think they’ll benefit young people.”
He also insisted that the best thing is to get every child back to school in September, adding: “Is there anything more that I can do in order to make that happen?
“Well, if there is, tell me about this, and I will go out there and I will do it.”
YOUNG people find themselves wondering what results await them today, and what it means for their future.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that students will receive the news they are hoping for, while standing ready to ensure everyone is given the opportunity to reach their potential, whatever grades they achieve.
Now more than ever, we’re aware of the challenges our young people are facing as they leave education.
This is why young people are at the heart of our Plan for Jobs, and ultimately recovery and renewal.
This autumn, we’re launching our £2billion Kickstart scheme, which will offer hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised, high-quality six-month work placements for young people.
It is focused on those aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit.
We are also increasing participation in the DWP’s work academies, supporting 40,000 jobseekers of all ages – leveraged by a further boost of £17million to fund quality training.
And we’re giving a £111m boost to triple the number of traineeship places available, and offering employers £1,000 for every new trainee they take on.
While, from this month, we are paying businesses £2,000 for each apprentice under 25 that they hire.
And we’ve invested an additional £32m in the National Careers Service, which will provide advice for 270,000 more people until March 2022.
Helping young people unlock potential and get on in life is a mission for this Government as we build back better.
Today we should remind ourselves of the importance of investing in young people, for the good of our economy, our workforce and our nation’s future.