COMMENT // Qualifications – the intellectual benchmark or the educational relic?

But what do employers think about public examinations and the significance of qualifications? In 2019, I led an 18-month curriculum review which explored what employers were looking for from those leaving school. As part of this process, I spoke with leading employers around the world, ranging from innovative and dynamic start-ups in Silicon Valley to major tech corporations including Google and Facebook. I spoke with HR directors and senior executives from major banks and accountancy firms to legal professionals and media consultants to name just a few. Inevitably, there were myriad perspectives, but two key themes attracted considerable consensus. The first of these was that public examinations do remain important. They represent a snapshot of a pupil’s academic achievements and serve as an extremely valuable passport to the next phase of education or employment. The British educational system’s qualifications – and in particular A-Levels – represent a gold standard which is respected across the globe. The second principle finding was that while public examination success is important, it is insufficient by itself to prepare people for the modern workplace. The employment landscape now requires agility, creativity, problem-solving, digital expertise, and working in diverse teams across a range of time-zones. These aren’t things that can simply be taught in a traditional way, but rather need to be experienced through a lived and real-world education.

These two ideas form the pillars of a Hereford Cathedral School education: academic rigour leading to public examination success, and a holistic education which equips young people to be real-world ready. This summer, our A-Level results were record-breaking. With over a quarter of all grades being awarded an A* and with an A*-A rate of 57%, they represented the School’s best outcomes by a cohort taking public examinations. Our Year 13 leavers have impressive outcomes which will open no shortage of doors to interviews, internships, and other exciting opportunities.

Outside of formal qualification-based framework, our curricula prepare pupils to thrive in the workplace and in society at large. This is characterised by two new programmes: the HCS Diploma and the launch of our Futures Department. The Diploma sits alongside the A-Level qualifications and is taken by all Sixth Form pupils. At the heart of the Diploma is the Elective programme – a series of short non-examined courses on coding, cooking, car mechanics, public speaking and interview skills to name just a few. Other aspects of the Diploma include exploring leadership themes, working in teams on exciting projects and taking part in work experience, voluntary work or real employment. Leavers will receive upon completion a digital transcript demonstrating their portfolio of experiences and courses, and how these have moulded their skills, aptitudes and dispositions. 

The launch of our Futures Department is a world away from the rather dry careers advice that many of us recall from our own schooldays! Instead, it is an educational culture and approach which begins in the Junior School and goes all the way through to the Sixth Form and even beyond that. It includes bespoke guidance, the facilitating of work experience, networking dinners, and preparation for the increasing use of aptitude tests, psychometric evaluation and gamification as part of the graduate recruitment process. 

Qualifications should not be thought of therefore as an educational relic with no place in the modern world; instead they are a key part of what employers are looking for. They are not everything, but they are certainly something which continue to hold tremendous value and will do so for many years to come. A modern education means equipping its pupils for the contemporary workplace, which is at the heart of our approach at Hereford Cathedral School: in practice this means top grades and real-world readiness.