For generation after generation, results day is a day of anticipation and hope. It was one of my favourite days of the year when I was deputy principal at City and Islington College, and I loved the buzz of activity.

In cases where students had achieved what they hoped for, there would be wonderful scenes of them jumping for joy, squealing and clinging to their classmates as teachers beaming with pride looked on.

And perhaps even more touching were the instances where students hadn’t quite achieved what they had hoped for but were able to count on their friends to take them under their wing - reassuring them and quickly helping them to look at options and solutions.

BTEC results day 2020: ‘There is a shadow of doubt’

Profile: Meet Cindy Rampersaud - Pearson’s BTEC champion

Background: BTEC results day - 250,000 students to get results

In many ways, this year will be similar but also hugely different. Five months of Covid-19 have been disruptive, to say the least. For many young people and adult learners it has been an unsettling time that has provided an uninvited and abrupt “end of term” along with understandable worry about their grades and concerns about their future prospects.

Despite, or perhaps because of the challenges, the past five months have involved a hugely collaborative and concerted effort from teachers, lecturers, examination boards, Ofqual and the Department for Education to develop and deliver a system to ensure that the hard work of learners is recognised and they can progress.

BTEC results day: Students vital for economic recovery

It’s against this backdrop that around a quarter of a million young people and adults will receive their BTEC results, and progress on to the next stage of their lives, be it into an apprenticeship or employment, higher education or further study.

Included in this class of 2020 will be 65,000 prospective construction workers, engineers and health and social care professionals - key workers of the future who will be vital to the national effort to build back better after the current crisis.

Not only are they completing their first steps toward being the key workers of tomorrow, but excitingly they are going into areas of high demand and political importance.

Currently, there is a shortage of over 100,000 full-time equivalent staff in the NHS and a further 122,000 in adult social care; by 2035 there will be around 950,000 new adult social care workers needed and the King’s Fund suggests the NHS workforce gap could reach almost 250,000 by 2030.

In addition, experts forecast that around 203,000 people with engineering skills are needed every year and around 168,500 construction jobs will be created by 2023.

In fact, so important are these professions, the chancellor committed a further £100 million to fund additional training places for learners looking to get on in these three trades at his recent economic statement.

Coronavirus key workers

Many BTEC alumni and those receiving their results today have been essential key workers during the coronavirus pandemic; and over the past few weeks and months, we’ve seen the impact these key workers have had on our society, our economy and within communities.

The world has clapped for and celebrated them. Covid-19 has provided an opportunity to shine the spotlight on this amazing group of individuals - the everyday person - many of whom kept critical aspects of our everyday lives and economy going during lockdown.

A great deal of those working in social care, food retail, distribution and production, public services and general infrastructure would have gone to an FE college, studied towards a BTEC or pursued an apprenticeship.

Covid-19 has also changed the learning landscape. Digital learning tools and the need to provide flexible access for young people and adults looking to upskill and reskill have accelerated.

We need to make sure young learners and adults have access to learning any time and anywhere so they can progress and achieve their aspirations. Short courses, modular, stackable provision, self-learning, blended learning need to be available and accessible. We launched the online UKLearns platform during lockdown to meet this specific need and have been blown away by its popularity.

The learning and content of the BTEC supports learners to develop a wide range of transferable skills and knowledge that can be applied to a wide range of careers. As well as those key worker roles, BTECs support Stem-based careers especially valuable in a changing world where job roles are likely to continue to change; and the emphasis is increasingly on flexibility, adaptability and transferable skills.

And it is important to highlight the role BTECs play in helping learners from all walks of life. They attract a real diversity of learners across a wide age range, social economic background and ethnicity - with around 30 per cent of learners in FE being from a black and/or minority ethnic background.

So while the challenges of Covid-19 are apparent, the situation will also create jobs and career opportunities. 

That means we need to be agile, flexible and collaborative with employers and partners to provide the best provision for learners.

Today I want to congratulate the class of 2020 who have had to continue their studies during an extraordinary time. I salute their hard work and dedication, and I’m thankful and grateful in advance for the positive contribution they will make. I wish every one of them the best and promise to do everything in my power to provide the very best learning opportunities.

And a special thank you to all the teachers, lecturers and all the teams across the education sector who have worked tirelessly to deliver the results.

Cindy Rampersaud is the senior vice-president for BTECs and apprenticeships at Pearson