It's interesting to see young people's perspectives might be shifting when it comes to the good old GCSEs. Remember when we talked about the drop in their satisfaction with school and schoolwork? Well, it seems like there's a connection here.

In the past five years, the percentage of students who used to think acing their GCSEs was ‘very important’ has taken a bit of a dip, while those who see exam success as merely ‘important’ has grown, jumping from 20% to 30%.

While most young people still appreciate the value of nailing those exams, there's a subtle change happening. Some have shifted priorities away from getting the grades, or perhaps they’re more concerned with the bigger picture – like their overall happiness and well-being which we talked about in Chart 1 of the Mental Health and Wellbeing section.

That said, the vast majority of young people haven't lost their ambition when it comes to GCSE success. I mean, we're talking about a teeny-tiny 3% who don't think it's important. For the rest, it's still a significant goal.