As a teacher, here’s my advice if you didn’t get the A-level results you wanted today

This is a day charged with nervousness and worry and for those who don’t have the results they wanted it really can feel like the end of the world, especially when surrounded with peers who might be celebrating success

Believe it or not, falling short of the grades you want can actually be empowering (Reuters)

Last night was likely not a fun one for young people across the UK as they anxiously awaited their exam results. For many this morning the wait will have been worth it as they open much-deserved fantastic results, securing them the future they wanted. But for others this morning will have brought with it disappointment and uncertainty and it is to those students in particular I want to say that, without belittling your understandable upset, it really doesn’t matter; this does not define you.

However bad things may seem right now this will not destroy your future and it is very likely that today has set you on a path for great things ahead. Or, indeed, the many other days in your life totally aside from this one will set you on that path.

As a secondary school teacher for 17 years I’ve seen my fair share of results days; the tears of joy, relief and disappointment, the ashen faces, the huge grins. Although it is more years ago than I care to remember I can still recall very clearly the day I received my own A-level results. Although today results day is more about opening emails and apps than envelopes very little else has changed

This is a day charged with nervousness and worry and for those who don’t have the results they wanted it really can feel like the end of the world, especially when surrounded with peers who might be celebrating success. This may feel like failure; it isn’t.

With recent curriculum changes, A-levels have become more challenging than ever. Despite any number of articles that claim exams are getting easier it is my firm belief that this is simply not the case. For many of my own students this has been a gruelling two years of study and immense pressure. Like I am sure many other teachers across the country are, I am rooting for my students and share the disappointment of those who did not, for whatever reason, achieve the grades they desired.

For my less conscientious students it is a tough lesson to learn, although it is a lesson nonetheless and one that many have moved on from with grace and determination. Perhaps the bitterest pill of all to swallow is for those who learn that hard work does not guarantee success and this can seem a great injustice.

A grade on a piece of paper (or a screen) may be the culmination of two years of study but tells us very little about the individual who achieved that grade. What it very much does not measure is the worth of that individual, their character, their wit, their ideas, their intelligence, their kindness, their attributes, their skills and all of the things that make them the person they are. The things that are by far the most enjoyable aspect of my job as a teacher as I get to know the students I am privileged to work with.

Just as disappointing A-level results do not measure the worth of an individual nor do they equal ruined futures and failure. Any internet search will throw up hundreds of results for people who failed (or didn’t even sit) A-levels and went on to fame and fortune. While not every glum-faced 18-year-old figuring out how to break the bad news to their parents is a future successful entrepreneur, some will be and many more will go on to lead happy and fulfilling lives in which their A-level results simply won’t matter.

Indeed, some will attribute their future success to today’s disappointment, be that because it gave them the shock they needed in order to work hard from this day forward or because it set them on an unexpected path: a university course they would not have considered previously, a higher education institution they hadn’t originally applied for, a career choice that they hadn’t thought of, travel and volunteering that would never have occurred had they secured their firm or insurance place.

Options exist, whatever the grades. With less competition for university places since the upper cap on admission numbers was removed in 2015-16, chances are that many students not making their offer grades will still secure those places. This was certainly the experience of many of my students in 2016 and, with a 4 per cent drop in applications in 2017, this trend is very likely to continue.

It’s a buyers’ market and for those who don’t go to their firm or insurance choice institution there are plenty of options when going through the clearing process. A record number of courses – over 40,000 – were offered through clearing in 2016, including numerous vacancies at prestigious Russell Group universities.

For some this will be the point at which they abandon or postpone their university plans. For these students there are a myriad of choices, including apprenticeships, college courses, work experience, employment, volunteering and travel.

Indeed degree-level apprenticeships offer to many the best of both worlds, combining a degree and an apprenticeship and saving thousands in fees. All of these experiences will shape the young people who choose them and could prove enriching in ways never anticipated.

Regardless of the grades, there will be better days than this one and there will be worse ones too. It is just one day.

Jenni Yuill is an A-level history and politics teacher based in the North-east of England.