What happens when you don’t sit your GCSE exams?
Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking at some stories of people where education hasn’t gone to plan for them. I’ve been seeing social media posts about this which resonate, and we need to support those who are in exam years and feel hard done by during the pandemic. This may be a different journey to other years but there is no direct route in education. You have to follow the path that is right for you.
This week I want to tell you my story.
On the surface I look successful, I’m deputy CEO of a charity, I spent 11 years as Head of Maths and 16 years as a teacher. I have a Masters in Education and a Maths with Management Studies BSc. I’ve taught English in Japan and done some amazing things. Some people think it all comes easy to me. It really doesn’t, and I’ve had my struggles.
Growing up, for various reasons it was hard to focus in the house, getting homework done was a battle, and I wasn’t the most organised (I’ve battled with that for years and tried different systems to help me, and survive now!). I used to go and study in our caravan on the drive, as the only place to focus with a space that was mine.
My GCSEs were based on teacher predictions
In 1996 whilst I was in year 11, two weeks before the GCSE exams started I was in a nasty car accident. I won’t go into the gory details, but I was trapped for an hour and had to have long operations. I broke both femurs and had a nasty cut which became infected. I spent six weeks in hospital having operations and I didn’t sit my GCSE exams. I was given some results using teacher predictions and coursework, just like the current year 11 will get. I have no idea if these were reasonable, and I didn’t even get two of the GCSEs, so I had to sit them the following year. I’m not sure how many people can say they sat their maths GCSE whilst they were sitting A level Maths! My school was brilliant, I had enough GCSEs for them to allow me into sixth form, and they knew I’d be okay with the maths when I did get to sit it.
I built resilience
My journey of healing required a lot of resilience and strength. It was tough, but I battled through. I learnt so much about myself as I learnt to walk again. Each week I would have two 2 hour physiotherapy sessions, which meant I missed school for 4 hours a week. There were days when I was in pain and tired, days when I wanted to give up, days when my friends supported me through. I had to learn to live with the scars that were both physical and mental.
I missed 6 weeks of A Level teaching
During year 12 I ended up back in hospital when a pin needed replacing. After a 2 week hospital stay, I had 4 weeks at home recovering from another major operation and couldn’t really study as much as I tried. I missed a whole half term. After that, I felt like the rest of my A levels I was on catch up. The course was modular, and the impact of that term was that I needed to resit, as my results didn’t reflect my ability.
An emotional results day
On results day, I discovered I’d failed my favourite subject, music. I have 2 A levels and thought I wouldn’t get the university place that I wanted. I sat and cried. Our supportive head of sixth form told me to phone the university, I took his advice and found out I WAS accepted to study Maths because of my Maths grade.
Having got through from one step to the next I made it to university, and as they say the rest is history. It wasn’t a smooth ride, but I survived, and each time the next door has opened. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have a music A level, I still play my violin. It doesn’t matter that my teacher predictions may not be what I would have achieved if I sat the exams, I have a maths degree, I have an MA in education. I got through. That’s enough. And I changed emotionally, I learnt so many more things. I wrote last week about some of the things our young people are learning from the pandemic, whilst we struggle with the tough, also focus on the good.
I’ve gone on to use my experience to help others, from talking on a young drivers course about safety, to discussing my struggles with those who were struggling in school. Start asking others around you what their experiences were, I bet they weren’t the straight path we imagine!
We can’t expect life to be perfect, the journey is not smooth. Our current young people need encouragement to bounce back. They need to understand that yes, their journey isn’t the same as others, but… It’ll be okay.
