why did you decide to do a btec?k a big part of the btec is actually dipping your toe into the water of the real world, of what it's actually going to be like out there. i've got to go to work placements to do my btec sport. it didn'tjust amalgamate to one exam right at the end, after loads of studying. it was small, manageable chunks, in a way that suited me, plus mixing in the real world. last year, more 16—18—year—olds in england achieved vocational qualifications, compared to a—levels. funding for the colleges that provide this type of training has been cut by nearly a third in the last decade. borisjohnson said in his first speech as prime minister that he wants to change that. so, it's significantly more expensive to run further education provision, because it's specialist and its technical. so, without putting the funding in, we're not going to be deliver the skills that the country and industry needs. funding is not the only problem. there are over 12,000 vocational qualifications on offer. reform is now on t

why did you decide to do a btec? think a big part of the btec is dipping your toe into the water of the real world, of what it's actually going to be like out there. i've had to go to work placements to do my btec sport. it didn'tjust amalgamate to one exam right at the end of the loads of studying. it was small, manageable chunks in a way that suited me, plus mixing in the real world. last year more 16 to 18—year—olds in england achieved vocational qualifications compared to a—levels. funding for the colleges that provide this type of training has been cut by nearly a third in the last decade. borisjohnson said in his first speech as prime minister that he wants to change that. so it is significantly more expensive to run further education provision because it is specialist and technical. so without putting the funding in we are not going to be able to deliver the skills the country and industry need. post—16 education is facing major reform which includes the introduction of a new qualification called t levels. and

why did you decide to do a btec?can do. i think a big part of the btec is actually dipping your toe into the water of the real world and what it is actually going to be like out there. i've got to go to work placements in my btec sport. it didn'tjust amalgamate to one exam right at the end of loads of studying. it was small, manageable chunks in a way that suited me. plus mixing with the real world. last year, more 16 to 18—year—olds in england achieved vocational qualifications compared to a—levels. funding for the colleges that provide this type of training has been cut by nearly a third in the last decade. borisjohnson said in his first speech as prime minister that he wants to change that. it is significantly more expensive to run further education provision because it is specialist and it is technical, so without putting the funding in, we are not going to deliver the skills country and industry needs. post—16 education is facing major reform, which includes the introduction of a new qualification called t—level

i want their ha rd btec results today. do that. the important thing to recognise is that students need to have faith that their actual grades, the work they do, will be recognised, and they will have an opportunity to go to the university that they want. there is nothing more demoralising than overachieving to what you're predicted grades were and then finding out that there are no places at the universities you wa nt to no places at the universities you want to go because in the clearing system those places have already been taken. i think that is really unfair, and there is inbuilt in that unfairness for students from poorer backgrounds. we have to change the system so students have confidence in it. that means we have to put support in place and change the academic year to do it, then we can. it is done internationally, other countries to do this. i appreciate that, looking at the example of australia earlier. they have exams in november. i think it is a major change, but i understand from your perspective that changes

why did you decide to do a btec?d what it is actually going to be like out there. i've got to go to work placements during my btec dport. it didn'tjust amalgamate to one exam right at the end of loads of studying. it was small, manageable chunks in a way that suited me. plus mixing with the real world. last year, more 16 to 18—year—olds in england achieved vocational qualifications compared to a—levels. funding for the colleges that provide this type of training has been cut by nearly a third in the last decade. borisjohnson said in his first speech as prime minister that he wants to change that. it is significantly more expensive to run further education provision, because it is specialist and it is technical, so without putting the funding in, we are not going to deliver the skills country and industry needs. post—16 education is facing major reform, which includes the introduction of a new qualification called t—levels. and it is not all about money. it is also about making the system less complex so that people c

i wa nt got their btec results this week.have done, rather than what their background is. and it's important to create a system where it is considered fair. across the world, it is done differently, and we should learn from that and create a better and fairer society for our students. and yet there were record rates of 18—year—olds from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university, according to the government. there are, but it's a question which universities and where you to go. the problem with under predicting red results is that when it comes to clearing, trying to get into the top university that you consider to be the best place for you, is much harder when going through the clearing process and a lot of those offers have been made based on predicted grades. if your grade has been inflated and you have a better place than somebody who has worked hard and got a better grade but they can no longer find a place on the course they wanted to do, i think that is unfair. all students should be given fair access to go to the u

i got a double distinction in btec film and production.i am ecstatic. i was very much concentrated on getting into my university. my teacher said aim as high as you can as well, don'tjust worry aim as high as you can as well, don't just worry about ucas points, a massager cannon don't just worry about ucas points, a massager cannon that is what i've i've done. what is your plan for the future? i'm going to university for the creative arts to study film production. congratulations both of you, i know mum and dad are waiting inside to give you hugs and hopefully presence. as we said the overall pass mark is stable as last year, but the grades in those achieving an a star and an a grade has fallen slightly. also girls have achieved for the first time ever have entered to do more sciences, biology, chemistry and physics. that is up by 53 percentage points, but there is concern over the amount of entries into english language and english literature. that has fallen slightly. there is a warning that the overall selling of those subjects is doing

i studied triple btec music and i got triple distinction star. coursework but a lot of it was performance—based so we had to get into bands, learn pieces and go out and perform them on stage which was really exciting. and how are you feeling about what you've done? i am absolutely overjoyed. i put so much hard work into it, and so glad it all came together. fantastic. how are you and how did you do? i did btec sport and i got triple distinction star as well. massive congratulations. thank you. i'm really happy that all the work's paid off. a lot of hard work over the last two years and it's all come together to get the grades so i can go to uni, and study sports science there. yourself, how happy? yeah, very happy. yeah. i did maths, further maths, history and economics, and i got four a‘s. and yourself? i did maths, further maths, physics and chemistry, and got four a‘s. and how are you guys all planning to celebrate? what's the plan? alcohol... i won't publicise that! principal gill... yeah, hi. a very happy college. really, really happy. i mea

nearly 80,000 find out their btec level 3 qualifications today, the biggest single results day for vocational —

if you look at the reforms in both the a—levels and the btec qualifications, there have been quite at the standards are any less — in fact, i think they are pretty rigorous. after phoning around, olivia has been offered a place at the university of reading. one happy ending following a day of mixed emotions across the country. frankie mccamley, bbc news. a court in gibraltar has ordered the release of an iranian tanker which was seized by royal marines last month on suspicion of supplying oil to syria in breach of eu sanctions. gibraltar‘s government says tehran has given assurances that the vessel, the grace 1, wouldn't deliver its cargo to syria. the ship's seizure led to a diplomatic row between london and tehran. in retaliation, revolutionary guards seized a british—flagged tanker which is still being held by the iranians. at least three soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire between pakistani and indian military forces along the line of control which divides the disputed territory of kashmir. meanwhile, there have been protests in birmingham and london over delhi's dec

if you look at the reforms in both the a—levels and the btec qualifications, there's been quite a lotnk that the standards are any less. in fact, i think they're pretty rigorous. after phoning around, olivia has been offered a place at the university of reading. one happy ending, following a day of mixed emotions across the country. frankie mccamley, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: drug deaths in england and wales have hit a record high, with around a0 people now dying every week from illicit substances. a seized iranian tanker held in gibraltar is to be released despite a last—minute plea by the us authorities. a—level results are out. the number of students getting the top grade drops to its lowest for more than a decade. at least three soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire between pakistani and indian military forces along the line of control which divides the disputed territory of kashmir. meanwhile, there have been protests in birmingham and london over delhi's decision to remove the limited autonomy kashmir enjoyed in the parts of the territory india controls. th

if you look at the reforms in both the a—levels and btec qualifications, there have been quite a lotbelieve that the standards are any less, in fact i think they are pretty rigorous. after phoning around, 0livia has been offered a place at the university of reading. 0ne happy ending following a day of mixed emotions across the country. frankie mccamley, bbc news. the authorities in gibraltar have released the iranian tanker seized by royal marines last month on suspicion of supplying oil to syria in breach of eu sanctions. the government of gibraltar says it's received written assurances from iran that the grace 0ne won't discharge its cargo at a syrian refinery. the capture of the grace 0ne sparked a diplomatic crisis between britain and iran, which saw the seizure of a british—flagged tanker by the iranian republican guard. 0ur correspondent kasra naji from the bbc‘s persian service is in gibraltar. i wonder what you think this might do for uk iran relations. george, the release of this ship has always been seen as the key to defusing the crisis between iran and britain, the tango

now, nearly 80,000 students will get their btec qualifications today — they recognise vocational studiesengineering. steph mcgovern is at one college in lincolnshire. where they have been getting their results. good morning, steph to stop it is important we recognise these alongside more traditional qualifications, isn‘t it? alongside more traditional qualifications, isn't it? it certainly is. yeah, good morning. you can see a demonstration of some of the types of things these guys have been learning about. joinery, bricklaying, sports science, computing. you mentioned car maintenance there. health and social care. these are vocational qualifications well they might involve a lot of practical assessment. throughout the year they will be doing weekly assessments, working with local employers as well doing work placements. the reason why this is important, there are a lot of people who do these and if you look at 16—18 —year—olds there are around 325,000 of them studying vocational qualifications last year. if you compare that to a levels, it is actually more than a—levels. just under 300,

tens of thousands of people have been getting their btec results today.ncolnshire where students were getting their results. when it comes to post—16 education, there are thousands of qualifications to choose from.|j there are thousands of qualifications to choose from. i got the top grades in my health and social care. and now it's at time of yearagain social care. and now it's at time of year again when students are finding out whether they got the grades to secure a job or a place to us secure the next level of education. congratulations, guys! and lydia, tell me what you're doing next? i'm going to study architectural engineering. these guys are some of the millions of people who have been studying for vocational qualifications. everything from magic, sports, bricklaying, competing, health and social care, catering, engineering, scores on. a key pa rt catering, engineering, scores on. a key part of their assessment is all about the practical work they have to do as well as work placements with local employers. last year, more 16—18 —year—olds in engla

if you look at the reforms in both the a—levels and btec qualifications, there have been quite a lotappy ending following a day of mixed emotions across the country. frankie mccamley, bbc news. today was also the day that the first year of reforms, pushed through by michael gove when he was education secretary, for maths a—level — came into force. the coursework element was reduced, with more emphasis on a tougher final exam. 0verall passes were down, and one maths board paper was described by experts as being "fiendishly difficult" to do. one person who‘s seen that decel maths a—level paper is laura mcinerney. she‘s an education columnist at the guardian, and former editor of schools week. laura joins us from live from east london. thank you for speaking to les, you saw that paper. what was your impression? i actually had not seen the paper sorry about that, but i do know from speaking with the exam boards and what we saw throughout was it must‘ve been incredibly difficult, so the great boundaries, which is a score you have to get on the paper was lower than before, and although yes

this week, many students are going to get their results, and i wish them all the best, including the btece able to go to the top universities based on their actual grades. we'd work with the universities, schools and the colleges to make sure that the support is in place and that if we do have to tweak the system, the current calendar, then we'll do that, because i think the important thing to recognise is, students need to have faith that their actual grades, the work that they do, will be recognised and that they will have an opportunity to go to the university that they want. there is nothing more demoralising than actually overachieving to what your predicted grades were and then finding out there's no places at the universities that you want to go because in the clearing system, those places have already been taken. and i think that's really unfair, and there is in—built within that unfairness to those disadvantaged students that are from poorer backgrounds. so we've got to change the system so the students have confidence in that. if that means we have to put the support in place an

this week, many students are going to get their results, and i wish them all the best, including the bteche top universities based on their actual grades. we'd work with the universities, schools and the colleges to make sure that the support is in place and that if we do have to tweak the system, the current calendar, then we'll do that, because i think the important thing to recognise is students need to have faith that their actual grades, the work that they do, will be recognised and that they will have an opportunity to go to the university that they want. there is nothing more demoralising than actually overachieving to what your predicted grades were and then finding out there's no places at the universities that you want to go because in the clearing system those places have already been taken. and i think that's really unfair and there is in—built within that unfairness for those disadvantaged students that are from poorer backgrounds. so we've got to change the system so the students have confidence in that. if that means we have to put the support in place and change the academ