It would seem, if you follow the progress of our exam system through both social and traditional media, that from P1 to S3, exams don’t matter. Then they do for a couple of years, but only if you do well. In that case, we’ll photograph your kids literally jumping for joy and put it in the papers. If not, we’ll create a Twitter hashtag telling them their results aren’t important. A conveyor belt of “celebrities” will sympathise, claiming, “I got nothing at school and I turned out all right, didn’t I?” We all have our stories of why exam success isn’t the be-all and end-all.

The truth, of course, lies somewhere in between.

With each year of experience, it’s sobering to think of the number of young people who come through my classroom door. Entering my 19th year of teaching, I was shocked to realise that some of the first kids I taught will be well into their thirties by now.

I recently met a former pupil in Glasgow, recognisable and memorable as one of those kids who had been, in his own words, a “nightmare”. A polite and erudite young man, he now runs his own business and is married with a couple of kids. He left school with only a whole heap of negative baggage, but went on to become a responsible, successful individual.

‘Failing is a natural lesson in life’

As a secondary teacher, I do believe that the best thing we can provide for our young people is a strong set of qualifications that will enable them to move on to the next stage of their lives, whatever that may be. It may not sit well with the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence, but it is what I’m judged on whether I like it or not - and it is what secondary schools are judged on. However, this can make for a damning indictment of those kids who fail to achieve at school, whatever the circumstances. Meeting my former pupil merely reaffirmed the folly of the way our education system works.

Is it not patronising to tell kids who don’t do well in exams that it doesn’t matter? They, we assume, worked hard at those exams and perhaps expected to pass. Failing is a perfectly natural lesson in life; telling them it doesn’t matter demeans them as individuals. Is it important to do well in your exams? Of course. Will your life be over if you fail? Of course not. But you will have to reconsider your options. Assisting kids in being able to deal with the disappointment - instead of telling them to cheer up - is a more responsible and caring way to help them grow and develop.

Kenny Pieper is a teacher of English in Scotland