Star comment: GCSE results day will never be same again

It is the moment which determines whether a young person will press ahead with further schooling, or sever their ties with the education system once and for all to plunge headlong into the world of work.

The class of 2013, who picked up their results today, are the last to be faced with this choice.

From next year, all young people will have to retain some kind of ties to the education system.

While this doesn't mean pupils have to stay in the classroom or follow a school-style academic curriculum, it does mean they will have to continue to receive some form of training. And so, in a small way, the magic and mystique of GCSE results day will never be quite the same again.

It is fair to say, however, that this change had become somewhat inevitable. Most countries in the developed world operate a system which keeps its young people in education until they turn 18.

The logical argument is that, until you become a fully-fledged adult, you still have plenty to learn. Why throw a teenager into an unsupported world of work, fully two years before they are trusted to vote or get married without parental consent? That's how the reasoning goes.

Cynics say, however, that keeping teenagers in education also helps the Government to keep unemployment figures under control. And critics point to the fact that it will do little to halt the trend of young people living at home with their parents much longer, damaging the market for starter homes.

Amidst all of this change, however, the importance of the GCSE results themselves has not dimmed. Shropshire pupils, and staff at our schools, should be congratulated today for another set of impressive results which have, in many cases, bucked the national trend by setting records.

Let us hope that changes to the education system are not just a box-ticking exercise, and genuinely provide better support for the less successful performers, who currently leave school at 16 with few skills and dismal long-term prospects.

• See also: Shropshire bucks fall in GCSE results pass rates