School pressure shapes student's future

BCU student, Claudia Stanley, discussed with our reporters the controversy surrounding her secondary school, The Streetly Academy, in northeast Birmingham.

The 20 year old’s secondary school in Sutton Coldfield encouraged her to study Media as an “extra GCSE”, singling out the less academically advantaged students in order to “boost their UCAS points”, she said.

She pursued Media further in her A Levels and she “still came out with A’s”, regardless of how her teachers had judged her academic abilities.

Social stigma against these subjects means many secondary schools and sixth form colleges routinely encourage students to pursue courses such as Media and Art as they are deemed to be less academically challenging.

This could potentially be due to ulterior motives to slant the league tables in favour of schools and colleges that have students taking more courses than average.

The BCU student used this to her advantage as she now studies Media at degree level and aspires to become a set dresser.