Forget marks and search for relevance

As young people across the UK receive their A-level results, the usual debates rage.

Are standards slipping? Are exams too easy? Why are private schools out-performing state schools? Is the achievement gap widening between rich and poor? Sadly, few commentators stop to think about the relevance of these standards in today's world.

Some 15 per cent of graduates leave university to face unemployment. We have a shortage of key skills such as nuclear engineering, and employers complain that school does not equip young people for work.

Today's education fails to put the emphasis on catering for the future employer. And children do not see the relevance of the system.

I am struck by their lack of belief in what they have worked so hard to achieve. When I asked whether they expect to get five GCSEs with English and maths, one replied: "I don't see what the point is, my mum and dad never got them and they have done all right."

Many parents (me included!) have not got five GCSEs with English and maths - the gold standard as described by the Department for Education. Parents without these "crucial" qualifications have indeed done all right.

We often forget, when ramming standards down pupils' throats, that most of society succeeds in life and work without them. No wonder many feel disengaged from school.

I hope that this year we can move the debate from arguments about "easier" exams to focus on what a great 21st-century education can look like - more relevant for employers, parents, and, most importantly, our young people.

* Zenna Atkins is the outgoing head of Ofsted and will join GEMS Education as chief executive next month