21st August 2022

 On Thursday, this year’s 18 year old UK students received their A-level and new T-level results. In the 1980s, following my own schooling in a grammar-technical school, I sent a letter to the then Minister for Education, Sir Keith Joseph. I knew, even then, that instead of having purely-academic qualifications it would be better to also offer high-level technical/apprenticeships’ training - each on an equal footing. Children, I wrote, should be allowed to choose at 11, with the possibility to switch at 14, which educational route they wanted. As expected, there was no reply. In the following years I found myself working in university admissions. My favourite job of all time was on A-level results day when I, personally, had the pleasure of giving good news over the phone to anxious students who often had just missed their required grades. I can still hear the excitement as they and their families could be heard, crying with joy that they’d been given a university place. However, these days, far too many students are pushed towards university, when clearly they’d have been better suited taking much-needed apprenticeships. As a result, A-level standards have dropped accordingly to accommodate them all. But now, with the new T-levels allied to industry, I see hope for the future.