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The visual clichés of nervous students ripping open results envelopes continue to be plastered across our screens today.
But there have been some more interesting encounters as journalists and spokespeople get to grips with the breaking news that GCSEs have got a tad harder – with the number of top grades awarded falling by 0.4%.
Why, Evan Davis mused on the Today programme, has there been an almost inevitable increase in GCSE grade success up to now? Glenys Stacey chief executive of the independent regulator OFQUAL stated one of the factors was the rounding up of marks. So for example a student might achieve 1.8 but would be awarded 2.
A superior laugh from Evan. As an economist, all things inflationary are his bag. That would not account for these substantial rises surely? Stacey re- affirmed this was only one factor. It was not a bad start – the last thing you want from an expert is a list they’ve no hope of completing. And it was a concrete example. Unfortunately there was no follow through.
No laughing allowed on the TV at One where there was dark talk of unfairly harsh marking and suggestions Michael Gove is behind C grade students becoming D graders. Then cut to Labour’s Stephen Twigg with a bizarrely permanent grin on his face as he predicted a Tory return to O Levels and CSEs – “it’ll be a disaster” for young people, he pronounced.
Mr Twigg’s performance is a case study on how not to handle bad news. It is a lesson that an expression, perhaps appropriate at the beginning of an interview, can sometimes get stuck as the speaker thinks more about words than demeanour. It does, unfortunately, suggest he didn’t take what he was saying that seriously.
It can be a problem for delegates if they associate a smile with appearing relaxed – even if they’re churning inside. It’s so important to adopt the appropriate manner for the subject matter and not stick with an increasingly false grimace. It’s less of a challenge if you speak with conviction, as that belief will help shape your manner too.
As we continue to wrestle with what these GCSE results really mean, it’s worth remembering an earlier debate on the future of these exams which probably didn’t make Stephen Twigg smile. His stand in at the June Commons debate was Kevin Brennan. The former economics teacher said three in 10 pupils got good GCSEs in 1997 but claimed that was 60 per cent. It was an attempt to attack Education Secretary Michael Gove’s ability at maths, but it backfired and prompted the cabinet minister to say percentages were not Labour’s strong point.
Ouch.