A-level results day!

The anxiety is palpable around breakfast time as we await Kieran's results. We may be well used to waiting for exam results by now (this is the 4th year in a row we've been through this) but practice doesn't make this particular experience any easier.

I needn't have worried of course and Kieran got his 3 As. With an unconditional place at Aberystwyth (is that spelt correctly?) his results reflected the very real effort he put in for his own sense of achievement.

But not everyone is celebrating tonight. And the reason for that is simple - school doesn't work for everyone.

Why do we continue to assume that all youngsters can learn effectively sitting in rows in a classroom? Do we expect as adults all to work effectively in identical environments? Are we all bus drivers or politicians, software engineers or fashion designers?

Education is in a mess and it's not the fault of teachers - there are much more fundamental problems that reflect the appallingly condescending attitudes of decision-makers towards young people.

If we want an education system that works we need to recognise some truths:

1. Young people should be valued as educators in themselves, not as cogs in a machine or outcomes to be 'produced' - if we believe we are made in the image of God, then we should be paying attention to young people and listening hard; not assuming that with age comes wisdom.

2. Young people don't owe society anything; after all it is adults that have got the world into its current mess, not youngsters. So if young people are to be nurtured into an adulthood that more closely reflects the beauty of humanity, then adults need to re-discover the importance of humility, repentence even.

3. Finally, let's re-define what it means to succeed. It has nothing to do with results and even less to do with acquiring the latest consumer goods or earning lots of money. Rather it has everything to do with being able to contribute to society in meaningful ways that enhance the world in which we live.

Everyone knows this is true. After all, look at all the award schemes that recognise selfless acts of compassion or charitable commitment.

So if we know these things are ultimately very important, why don't we set the expectation in society that this is the normal way to behave, and not the exception?