From time to time at 360Education we carry guest blogs which we hope may be of some interest to readers.  Today's is by David Lowe, Principal of DLD, an independent sixth form college in Central London.

It’s that time of year again, when the release of results seems to give rise to hackneyed and sterile arguments about the validity of the examinations. However, the debate ought not to be about whether A-levels have got easier, or how imprecise a predictor they are for universities, but the importance of education itself. It is critically important to the individual young people who are getting their results, to their families and to our wider society and our economy. We should surely be debating how education can and should prepare students for the world of the future, which is the world that they will inhabit. We should be exploring ways of making education more relevant, focused and ever more effectively delivered. 

Most teachers agree that their work is both a privilege and an opportunity. It is a privilege to help young people by enabling them to learn, to open their eyes both to knowledge and to a love of learning. This opportunity is open to all teachers as they stand in front of their new classes in the next few weeks; the opportunity to pass on both knowledge and enthusiasm, to build confidence, to challenge and to set high standards.

Assessing a student’s ability and understanding is neither easy nor totally reliable. However, the methods we have are the result of many years’ refinement and development, and, by Global standards ours in the UK are pretty good. A ritual knocking of the process once a year does no-one any good, and can actually erode confidence, both of students and teachers. For goodness sake let us change the record and, for a change, pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of students and their teachers.

David Lowe