Another autumn and another gathering of the further education sector for a jam-packed conference in Birmingham. I’ve been attending the annual conference of the Association of Colleges (AoC) since the turn of the millennium; this year, though, it will be a bit different.

This is not just because it will be my first as the AoC’s chief executive. That will be a big change, I know, but it will be different, too, because the context in which colleges operate has altered so much in the past six months. The changes stem partly from the Brexit vote and all the implications of that but also from a creeping realisation that the austerity years have left big challenges for our society, economy and for millions of people.

By November, we will start to have a better idea of what direction the new ministerial team at the Department for Education wants to take; we may have more of a sense of the new prime minister’s big ideas and we may even have some indication of what the new chancellor will do on spending and the deficit. What better time to come together as a sector to hear from important speakers on policy and politics, such as apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon, Lord Sainsbury and Sir David Carter, the national schools commissioner?

AoC’s annual conference is much more than that, though. The networking and the learning that goes on in breakouts is just as important as the keynotes. On top of a wide array of topics and themed sessions, we also have a main-stage focus on mental health this year, with Ruby Wax leading the notable line-up of speakers. Mental health is one of the big issues that colleges across the country are concerned about - among students but also staff.

With the new skills plan and apprenticeship growth firmly mainstream, has there ever been a more promising time for colleges?

In my early weeks at AoC, I have been travelling around the country meeting with members, hearing first-hand the pressures they are under, the many policy and funding changes that they are coping with and the impact on their students. I have also heard about the resilient, creative and impressive responses our college leaders are making to these challenges and the opportunities that so many are finding amid the difficulties.

Over the years, I have never met a minister or senior civil servant who has not been impressed (and perhaps slightly daunted) by AoC’s annual conference. By the scale, passion, wide-ranging discussions and debates about people’s life chances, about communities, about productivity, employment, devolution, politics and students’ voices. We must use all that to make a positive impression - hence this year’s theme, “Colleges mean business”.

With the new skills plan and apprenticeship growth firmly mainstream, with Brexit raising questions about how we support people to train and retrain across 50-year careers, and with a prime minister who wants everyone to benefit from economic growth, has there ever been a more promising time for colleges? For me, the “Colleges mean business” theme is all about us defining what we do for society, people, communities and the economy; about how colleges contribute so much to the fabric of people’s lives.

I want us to use the AoC’s conference this year to be confident, to portray an image of a sector that will deliver so much if it is given the support, funding and space it needs.

David Hughes is chief executive of the Association of Colleges
@AoCDavidH

• TES is supporting media partner for the AoC annual conference, which runs from 15-17 November at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. For more information, visit www.aocannualconference.co.uk