Behind this week’s GCSE headlines, jubilant social media posts and relieved announcements on family WhatsApp groups is a different reality – that faced by all those young people who have not passed these exams, especially English and maths.
In fact, pass rates for these two GCSEs are only around 65 per cent nationally. Not only that, but young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are only half as likely to achieve these grades as their better-off peers, and pass rates drop further to a shocking 6.5 per cent for those in alternative provision. These figures illuminate a tremendous waste of potential that might permanently scar many a young person’s life chances.
