An era of ‘hyper-accountability’

Results days bring with them success and failure, joy and disappointment. At my A level-heavy school, the overwhelming majority of our students still eschew online checks and come in to pick up those paper statements. Within the first hour, those who have achieved what they needed are on their way, celebrating.

Those left behind are dismayed, disappointed, uncertain. They’ve missed the required grades and are unplaced. Euphoria evaporates: a gloom descends on me while I watch my fantastic colleagues provide advice and support as students are obliged to recalibrate and perhaps change life-plans.

We live with all that. But this year another element dismayed me: and it wasn’t to do with the candidates. Via Twitter, two school heads, one high-profile, the other anonymous, wrote heartfelt and disturbing pieces about the pressure of GCSE results.