Congratulations to students picking up technical, academic and vocational results

A press quote from the Association of Colleges Chief Executive David Hughes on Results Day:

David Hughes, AoC chief executive said: “Congratulations to the hundreds of thousands of students receiving results in colleges today and to the staff who have supported them on their journeys. The class of 2022 has faced unprecedented disruption to their education, and many have never taken public exams before due to the pandemic. So their achievements are a testament to their resilience and hard work throughout this period and to their outstanding teachers and support staff who have helped them to achieve success.

“As we look ahead to the new academic year, colleges face a double whammy of a staffing crisis and soaring inflation. This week I have written to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss urging them to make it their priority when one of them enters Number 10 to tackle these dual challenges. One way they could do this is to exempt colleges from VAT – as schools and academies already are – which would give colleges extra cash to boost staff pay and meet the rising costs of running college estates.

“This year also sees the first 1,300 T Level students graduating from their courses. The staff and students on these courses have blazed a trail for those who come after them and colleges have been at the centre of this landmark reform. While we want to see T Levels grow in student numbers and in reputation, we don’t believe that defunding existing applied general qualifications like BTECs and Cambridge Technicals is the right step to achieving that. T Levels will be successful in their own right because they are good qualifications, recognised and respected by students, teachers, and employers, so we hope that the new Education Secretary will understand that and not try to force students away from other qualifications which may work well for them.