I left school without being able to read properly. The system failed me and it’s still failing too many people.
By Grant H.
When I was 15, I used to hide in the toilets at school because I was terrified someone would ask me to read aloud in class. I could just about sound out words, but reading a full page was exhausting and humiliating. Writing was worse. My spelling was a jumble of guesses and teachers’ red pens only made me feel smaller. By the time I left school, I didn’t have English or maths GCSEs. I couldn’t fill out a CV properly. I couldn’t read job applications without asking a friend for help.
And I wasn’t alone. Today, nearly a million young people in the UK are out of work, many in the same position I was: leaving school without the basic skills or confidence to get on in life. The truth is that the system is failing them just as it failed me.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Other countries have built systems that don’t let kids slip through the cracks. If the UK is serious about fixing this crisis, we should stop patching holes and start learning from those models.
I didn’t really get any help with reading until it was already too late. By secondary school, I’d fallen so far behind that every lesson felt like a punishment.
In Finland, children who fall behind get immediate, small-group support from specialist teachers. No stigma, no shame. In Singapore, teachers constantly check for gaps so kids don’t get left behind. In Estonia, digital learning tools personalise reading and maths lessons to each student’s level.
What the UK could do: Make early support non-negotiable. Hire literacy and numeracy specialists in every primary school and invest in tools that spot problems before they become life-long struggles.
When I left school without GCSEs, there weren’t many options. University was out of reach, but vocational routes felt like dead-ends. I didn’t want to sit in a classroom anymore - I wanted to work, to learn by doing. But the system made me feel like I’d already failed.
In Germany, things are different. Apprenticeships there are respected, well-paid and linked directly to industries. In Switzerland, students can switch between vocational and academic routes - no doors are shut. In Denmark, career guidance starts young, so teenagers understand what opportunities are out there long before they’re thrown into the job market.
What the UK could do: Treat apprenticeships as equal to university, not second-class options. Employers, schools and colleges must work together so that every pathway feels meaningful.
My struggles weren’t just about lessons. My family was going through tough times. I was anxious, tired and angry, but no one at school really noticed. When young people are carrying heavy personal struggles, education often takes the back seat.
In Norway, there are youth hubs where you can find mental health support, career advice and social services all in one place. In Canada, mental health workers are embedded in schools, making it normal to ask for help. In The Netherlands, schools, families and local authorities collaborate to keep young people engaged.
What the UK could do: Build community-based youth hubs and embed mental health support in every school. Education can’t be separated from wellbeing.
Even now, I sometimes wonder, would I have engaged more if school had felt relevant to the world I lived in? Instead, it was all about memorising Shakespeare quotes or passing exam papers that didn’t prepare me for real life.
Look at Estonia and South Korea, where coding and digital citizenship are part of the curriculum from primary school. Finland teaches critical thinking and collaboration through real-world projects. Australia even includes financial literacy, so students leave school knowing how to manage money.
What the UK could do: Update the curriculum so it reflects the skills young people will actually need in a tech-driven, uncertain future such as digital fluency, problem-solving, creativity and resilience.
When I finally learned to read properly in my twenties, it wasn’t thanks to school, it was thanks to patient tutors and community programmes. That changed my life. But it shouldn’t take until adulthood for people like me to get the support they deserve.
The UK doesn’t need to invent new solutions from scratch. We just need the courage to borrow what works elsewhere. Finland’s early interventions, Germany’s vocational pride, Norway’s integrated youth hubs and ar Estonia’s digital curriculum. Together, they paint a picture of a system that refuses to let young people fail.
I know what it feels like to slip through the cracks. Too many kids are still living that reality today. It’s time we built an education and youth system that catches every single one of them - before it’s too late.