The Daily Telegraph - 20.08.2019

Resist Facebook

exam boasting,

parents urged

By Camilla Turner education editor

PARENTS should resist the urge to
brag about their children’s exam re-
sults on social media, according to the
Good Schools Guide.
It can be “devastating” for students
to see their classmates’ grades paraded
online, particularly if they are feeling
underwhelmed with their own results,
said Elizabeth Coatman, a consultant at
the guide. Her advice came as thou-
sands of students prepared to receive
their GCSE results on Thursday.
Although it might be “pretty hard to
resist” she urged parents to lead by ex-
ample and not “show off ” on platforms
like Twitter and Facebook.
“Given that young people invest a
huge amount of effort in revising for
their exams, if they get disappointing
results it can be devastating,” she told
The Daily Telegraph. “It’s not a good
idea to emphasise success because it is
very demoralising for other children
who might have worked equally hard
but got worse results.”
Ms Coatman said exam results can
affect children’s mental health if they
feel disappointed with their grades.
“We are much more aware about the
impact on mental health of exam pres-
sure,” she said. “You invest so much ef-
fort in revision and then fret about the

results. You do build things up and that

can be a little bit risky.”

Nine in 10 heads agreed that the new,

tougher GCSEs had affected teenagers,

triggering panic attacks, sleepless

nights, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

The reformed qualifications caused

greater anxiety than their predeces-

sors, according to a survey of head

teachers by the Association of School

and College Leaders last year.

Geoff Barton, of the ASCL, said ex-

ams were by nature stressful but the

reformed GCSEs had pushed levels to

“unhealthy and demoralising” for both

students and teachers.

The revamped GCSEs were created

by Michael Gove when he was educa-

tion secretary to inject rigour into the

tests and bring the UK in line with top

performing countries in the Far East.

The exams now have numerical

grades designed to separate the very

highest achievers. The old A* grade is

split between grades 8 and 9. There is

also less course work and students take

exams at the end of two-year courses.

Ms Coatman said social media boast-

ing had become the new “round robin”

Christmas, where parents would sum-

marise their children’s achievements.

She said it was now worse, as achieve-

ments were put on public display.

An education department spokes-

man said: “We know exam season can

be a time of heightened emotions for

pupils who want to do their best ... we

trust schools to make sure pupils get

the help and support they need.”

Feature: Page 19

Online bragging can affect

the mental health of less

fortunate classmates,

warns Good Schools Guide

JOHN HEALD

Row brewing as

trans cricketer

piles up runs

By Tom Morgan

THE England and Wales

Cricket Board (ECB) is re-

viewing its transgender pol-

icy while a row brews over a

6ft-plus male-to-female

player taking the women’s

league by storm.

Currently players can self-

identify as women to com-

pete across all levels outside

the international game in

England.

Among the first trans play-

ers to emerge is Maxine Bly-

thin, who has a reported

batting average of 105 for St

Lawrence and Highland

Court in Canterbury.

She has also played seven

one-day matches for Kent

Women this year, with an av-

erage of 33.

Her case came to light

days after Clare Connor, the

ECB’s managing director of

women’s cricket, confirmed

the governing body was re-

viewing its current transgen-

der policy. A spokesman for

the governing body has since

said it is “unlikely to make

any unilateral changes” to

the policy, which dictates

that only male-to-female

players at international level

be tested over their testos-

terone levels.

Ms Blythin’s success in the

Women’s Cricket Southern

League has reignited a

highly-polarised debate be-

tween campaigners.

Dr Nicola Williams, direc-

tor of the Fair Play for

Women campaign group,

said opening up the female

competition to self-identify-

ing women “shows utter

contempt for the women’s

game”. “It’s a simple fact of

life that males can throw and

hit balls faster and further,”

she said, adding that the ECB

had “bowed” to pressure

groups.

Stonewall, the lesbian,

gay, bisexual and transgen-

der rights charity, has

staunchly defended the

ECB’s position.

Robbie de Santos, director

of sport for the campaign

group, said: “The sport sector

and, in particular the England

and Wales Cricket Board,

have worked incredibly hard

to develop policies, advice

and guidance to ensure all

people, including trans peo-

ple, have a good experience

taking part in sport.”

Ms Blythin has not re-

sponded to requests for

comment, but Simon Storey,

chief executive at Kent, has

been reported as saying the

club was “committed to pro-

moting diversity and inclu-

sion” in line with ECB policy.

The need for clear rules

on transgender policy has

been heightened by the

growth in investment in the

women’s game. The ECB will

invest £20 million in wom-

en’s and girls’ cricket over

the next two years.

The work being done by

the ECB on transgender pol-

icy is part of annual reviews

the governing body con-

ducts on participatory mat-

ters, rather than a special

review of transgender policy.

Audiobooks are ‘just

as good as reading’

By Sarah Knapton

Science editor

BOOK snobs who insist that

reading literature is superior

to listening to an audiobook

should turn the page now.

Neuroscientists have dis-

covered that the same cogni-

tive and emotional parts of

the brain are stimulated

whether a person hears

words, or reads them.

A YouGov study carried

out in 2016 found that just 10

per cent of Britons believed

that listening to an audio-

book was the same as having

read the physical version,

with the majority regarding

it as a lesser form of culture.

But experts at the Univer-

sity of California, Berkeley,

disagree. Dr Fatma Deniz, a

neuroscience researcher,

said: “At a time when more

people are absorbing infor-

mation via audiobooks, pod-

casts and audio texts, our

study shows that, whether

they’re listening to or read-

ing the same materials, they

are processing semantic

information similarly.”

Nine volunteers listened

to stories from BBC podcast

The Moth Radio Hour. The

participants were then asked

to read the same stories.

Researchers scanned

their brains in both listening

and reading conditions to

compare brain activity and

found they were virtually

identical. They also found

that words activated specific

parts of the brain depending

on whether they were vis-

ual, tactile, numeric, loca-

tional, violent, mental,

emotional and or social.

The research was pub-

lished in the Journal of

Neuroscience.

News

Maxine Blythin has a reported batting average of 105 for St Lawrence and Highland Court in Canterbury, and has also played seven one-day matches for Kent Women this year

‘It’s a simple fact of

life that males can

throw and hit balls

faster and further’

8 ***^ Tuesday 20 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph

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