James Kirkup James Kirkup

Vocational students are being treated with contempt – again

(Getty images)

England’s third national lockdown is an avalanche of news, affecting just about every bit of our lives. It’s a lot for anyone to grasp, but that’s still not an excuse for the fact that, once again, young people studying for technical qualifications such as BTECs have been ignored and let down.

According to the Association of Colleges, around 135,000 students are due to take assessments or sit exams in colleges this week: some exams are due today. And while the Prime Minister in his televised address last night talked about school and the need to cancel summer exams such as GCSEs and A-levels, the Government currently considers that BTEC tests should still go ahead this week.

Not that the kids taking those tests would have learned that from the PM. They had to wait nearly two hours more last night for the Department for Education to announce – via Twitter – that:

‘Vocational exams in England will continue as planned in January.

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