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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think a local newspaper should not print full exam results

165 replies

petal2008 · 21/08/2014 13:22

Our local paper prints all the schools' a level and gcse results in their full glory, or not, as the case may be.

This is great for the A star pupils etc but I feel a bit sorry for those students who didn't do so well.

Not only have they possibly got the disappointment of the results but also the residents of the whole city and local villages seeing them as well.

Maybe you sign some sort of disclaimer with the school for them to disclose the results to the press, I'm not sure. I remember giving permission when my DC were at school for their photo to be published.

I just think it's not necessary.

OP posts:
Davsmum · 21/08/2014 15:32

I don't understand why a parent would be embarrassed by their child's results - and the students would probably know what each other got anyway.. The 'public' would probably not give a toss what grades your child got.
There is no shame in getting low grades so it is sad that anyone should feel 'not good enough' or embarrassed.
You get what you get. It's life.

tittifilarious · 21/08/2014 15:34

Floop I assumed this would be in teeny towns but you've blown my theory out of the water!

I don't buy that because they are public exams they should be in the public domain. percentages yes, anonymised detail possibly, trends yes. Individual information - no. Can't see why that is in anyone's interests.

LadyLuck10 · 21/08/2014 15:35

Agree with davsmum.
The kids know what they would be expecting anyway.
It's only embarrassing when comparing to other kids. But that's life, you work hard you get good results and if not then you get bad results. That's reality.

Davsmum · 21/08/2014 15:40

Ooh,..I dunno - some kids work hard and still get bad results and others do not work hard and get good results - but that is why I don't think anyone should be embarrassed or ashamed.
You do your best and accept the results you get.

Becca19962014 · 21/08/2014 15:59

My local paper has now stopped doing this because of complaints (it stopped a few years ago), now it's just photos of those who did well.

When I did my degree (20 years ago) my department would put all grades for modules on huge notice boards for all the sciences and all undergraduates and postgraduate grades and I was horrified, no one ever saw what my problem was. Not everyone wants everyone to know their grades, what was good for me wouldn't necessarily be for others e.g. a 2:2 for me was brilliant given how much I struggled with my subject (a 3 more likely), but others didn't see it that way. It was awful.

I thought this sort of thing had stopped now, obviously not!

Becca19962014 · 21/08/2014 16:06

In terms of GCSEs as one of the first years my predicted grades were really really out. I got one C and the rest were Fs or failed (there was no U then). I did manage to get professional qualifications though so it wasn't the end of the world, though the school were really embarrassed as those who they predicted would 'do well' didn't, there were two of us who went to university in our year, both of us got very low GCSE grade [biggrin] - the embarrassment was when we were invited back to say what we did. I did it deliberately to show GCSEs were not the end of the world and they could do something else if it fell apart - it did not go down well at all, they were clearly expecting those who did well to have all these great careers and they didn't. [biggrin]

I had an email from someone two years below me saying she had been invited to a similar event - they insisted she explained what she was doing and what she would say first!!

My DN got all Fs for their GCSEs this year, not through lack of trying, he worked really hard, he has LD, but had been predicted higher by the school (I've no idea why they would do that, my aunt never accepted his predicted grades were realistic). So they don't always know it can be a shock.

TheCunkOfPhilomena · 21/08/2014 16:12

Yep, it happened to me in 18 1994 with GCSE and A Level results. Still happens now I think and it's awful.

RedRoom · 21/08/2014 16:32

This was done to me when I was a GCSE and A-level student in the 90's! I thought date protection etc would have put a stop to it!

thelmachicken · 21/08/2014 16:38

I remember this happening in the 80's. One of my nosy parker neighbours (who we didn't even speak to) stopped me in the street to demand to know why my results weren't listed. They were...God knows what he was looking at.

I think it's an invasion or privacy and unnecessary.

hatsybatsy · 21/08/2014 16:44

when I took professional exams, the results were printed in a national paper - I managed to fail 3 exams one year and finding out about it by trying to find my name in a page of the Times was.... less than ideal.

Nomama · 21/08/2014 16:44

As I posted earlier, they are public exams and the link to the Information Commissioner's Office I included details that there is nothing in the data protection act to prevent it.

Why would there be? It is public information, not top secret. And the school will publish their intent in that wodge of paperwork no one reads. It will be in a policy document that all parents have access to. If you haven't seen what your school intends to do, ask them!

FruitbatAuntie · 21/08/2014 16:47

They certainly did this in the Sheffield Star in the 80s and 90s. I hated it (though I did very well) but I don't recall our parents ever being given a choice to opt out. It obviously worked well in terms of newspaper sales, as loads of people bought them that day as souvenirs (or just to be nosy).

I was quite surprised when I moved area and they didn't do this in the local paper. I haven't thought about it in the years since, but if I had I would have been surprised they can still do this due to data protection, or even child protection. Okay, the students are presumably over 16, but may have siblings at the same school who could then be located by abusive relatives etc?

TalkinPeace · 21/08/2014 16:51

Not done round here, and today's results are not final anyway - DDs school are asking for a full cohort remark on one paper.
Anyway there are so many kids round here (300 pupils per school, 20 secondaries within 8 miles) that it would pages and pages of paper for no real use at all.

Also certain schools - my local one for a start - try to suppress ALL of their data until the January tables come out.

Nomama · 21/08/2014 16:52

Talkin - it is the schools who publish. The newspaper can only get the results from the school!

So whatever is published is done so at the school's request!

areyoubeingserviced · 21/08/2014 16:54

This is a revelation.
I can't believe this actually occurs.'what with data protection

TalkinPeace · 21/08/2014 16:58

Hmm, in which case I have a LOT less faith in the information.
Do they give the papers the whole list or the edited version .....
Last summer the data in the Newspapers like Telegrapg that was collected from the schools was arounf 10% off the DFE stats that came out in January ...

it must be really gutting for the lower middling to have their C and D grades published if they were hoping for B and C

moomoo1967 · 21/08/2014 17:02

they did this when I left school which is a fair while ago, I found the clipping the other day

VodkaJelly · 21/08/2014 18:32

They also do this in deepest Cheshire. I remember in the 80's mine got printed also. I dont agree with it personally.

ADinnerofHerbs · 21/08/2014 18:41

My school listed mine in 1987 and even included what subjects you got which mark in! So no pretending my A in Home Economics was really in Mathematics! I had bulimia at the time and was very ill and didn't do anywhere near as well as I hoped. It was there in black and white for all to peruse and plenty perused as they all commented on my marks! Think it is completely unreasonable.

dixiechick1975 · 21/08/2014 18:47

They did this in the town where I grew up and locally to me now (Lancashire)

Fills the local papers. The sandwich boards outside the newsagents advertise x pages of results.

Think they just put initial, surname and how many and how many over C in brackets after. My mum gave me the cuttings with some photos recently.

crazykat · 21/08/2014 19:15

They did this when I was at school/college. I did well but I hated it.

ohmymimi · 21/08/2014 19:42

My local paper a been printing full exam results, with names attached, for years. I left school in 1965 and have still got the pages showing my year's O and A levels.

dotdotdotmustdash · 21/08/2014 19:53

I'm in Scotland and I've never heard of this or even considered it would be done! What a bizarre thing for a school to do! Can you imagine if the local STD clinic published the names and results of those it tests! (I'm being facetious obviously, but test results should always belong to the testee in my opinion).

Andrewofgg · 21/08/2014 19:59

All my public exam results were in the local press and I am 1952 vintage - a very good year.

ruralmyth · 21/08/2014 20:04

DH's school don't release any information to anyone for months. There's a piece on the website that says something like 'results are personal to the student'.
Later on they given the %s but don't release names.

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