Let’s remember the importance of developing skills over exam results, says Robin Gainher, headmaster at Beeston Hall School at West Runton.
In today’s world the pressure on young people to get a job which suits their skills remains as challenging as it has always been. In the younger generation’s modern world fixated by celebrity culture, the unrealism of some TV docu-drama programmes (so far from reality it isn’t true), and a desire to instantaneously communicate every minutiae of their lives to each other, many employers rightly lament the lack of skills being learned, particularly “soft skills”. The question is, are we doing enough to prepare children for the world of 2015 and beyond when they leave school? Education in the modern world it could be argued has evolved very little. Exams are still taken at different points in a child’s schooling, they continue to be taken on paper despite the availability of technology, and schools focus increasingly on results (those who protest otherwise are kidding us all).
If the key focus continues to be exam results in our schools then we are doing a great disservice to many of our children. Not all children are driven to succeed in exams, and frankly does it matter in their adult lives if they have not managed to pass GCSE Maths, but they will still have aspirations to do well and get a good job.
As an employer, I’d much rather employ someone who is personable, can work in a team as well as independently, someone who shows initiative and is driven to succeed, than someone who lacks all these qualities but has a string of A* grades behind them.
