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Deep in discussion: Delegates at the conference had the opportunity to discuss the Diplomas with a range of experts, including Ian Duckett from the Learning and Skills Network (far left), who lead a seminar on Gateway Guidance

Tories ‘less hostile’ towards Diplomas after key meeting

by Dorothy Lepkowska

With the General Election imminent, there are signs that the Conservatives may be softening their position on Diplomas. As SecEd’s sister magazine

Delivering Diplomas was host-

ing its fifth national conference, it emerged that shadow education ministers had met with the chair- men of Diploma Development Partnerships last month to discuss the qualification. The Tories had previously

indicated that they would reform Diplomas if they came to power and abandon the introduction of the final three lines of learning, which are due to be rolled out in September 2011. The party said the future Diplomas in humanities, languages

and sciences were “a mistake and a wrong turning”. As for the other 14, “we will take stock when the time comes”. However, Graham Lane, chair

of the engineering partnership, said he believed the shadow education spokesmen had left the meeting less hostile to the qualifications. Mr Lane, who was a delegate at

the conference, which took place in Birmingham last week, said: “It was quite obvious to us that they did not understand the philosophy behind the Diplomas and that they remain wedded to the idea that young people should do either aca- demic or vocational qualifications, but not a mix of both. “You cannot talk about reform-

ing Diplomas when it is still early days and they are in a constant state of flux as they bed in.” Mr Lane said the chairmen

Functional Skills a key debate at SecEd conference

Schools are struggling to find room for Functional Skills in the timetable and teachers are unclear about what to teach, it has been claimed. Functional Skills were a recur-

ring theme at the Delivering Diplomas conference, with del- egates expressing concern about teaching the courses in English, maths and ICT. Dick Palmer, principal of City

College Norwich, said students working at foundation level had found Functional Skills particularly difficult, while Ofsted had criticised the consortium because the college used different methods of teaching them than schools. Meanwhile, Phil Bevan, deputy

head of Hanham High School in South Gloucestershire, told the con- ference that he had had to remove Diploma students from PHSE class- es in their first year for Functional Skills teaching, because there was no other space in the timetable. A workshop discussed how

making Functional Skills a compul- sory part of learning in Diploma and apprenticeships, but not at GCSE, had caused confusion in schools.

SecEd • March 25 2010

While Functional Skills were

driven by business and industry, there was no guarantee that pupils with top grade GCSEs in English, maths and ICT had the requisite skills required by employers, one speaker said. Bernie Zakary, head of UK

examinations at awarding body EDI, said the teaching of Functional Skills was “in a complicated mess at the moment” because of the dif- fering stipulations. Leanne Bond, aged 16, a pupil at

Hanham High School, who is study- ing for a Diploma in society, health and development and was a member of the workshop panel, said she thought the content of Functional Skills lessons was “more about com- mon sense than anything else”. “It is a bit degrading being

taught where to put a comma or do exercises on how to sit and what to wear to an interview. Surely eve- ryone knows they should not wear jogging bottoms,” she said. “It took us a while to get our

heads around how being taught to read signs about disabled park- ing was anything to do with our Diplomas.”

Delivering: More than 150 delegates attended the Fifth National Delivering Diplomas Conference (above), where they heard from a range of experts including QCDA Diploma chief, Teresa Bergin, and students from Hanham High School in South Gloucestershire (pictured right)

What’s next for

The Spring 2010 edition of

Delivering Diplomas published

on March 11 and has been sent to all Diploma consortia. It is also available as a digital edition online. From September, the maga-

zine will become termly, with the next edition due out in September, followed by editions in January and Easter 2011.

The Sixth National Delivering

Diplomas Conference will take place in October 2010 and the pro- gramme for this will be confirmed later this year. To receive the digital editions

shaw@markallengroup.com

presented the politicians with evi- dence of the success of the first five Diplomas, and the satisfaction of teachers and students who had embarked upon them. “We asked them to leave things

alone and instead look at what has been going on before making any hasty decisions,” he said. “I believe they left the meeting with food for thought and indicated they wanted to have further meetings.” The conference heard that the

Diplomas were evolving into a popular choice for thousands of young people. Teresa Bergin, director of

the Diploma programme at the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, said the qual- ifications were being seen as “rigor- ous, challenging and stretching”. “Young people are responding very well to that challenge and are

achieving not just in academic terms but in terms of their personal growth and development,” she said. “We need more robust evidence

to show that far from constraining choice for young people, Diplomas actually open up choice.” Afterwards, when asked by

SecEd about the future of Diplomas under a change of government, Ms Bergin said: “I think the qualifica- tions face some challenges, but I am upbeat about the future. Diplomas are becoming firmly embedded in the educational landscape and are finding their niche in the market.” The conference, which attracted

more than 150 delegates making it the largest Delivering Diplomas conference to date, also debated the challenges of assessing the new qualifications. A packed workshop, headed by a panel of representatives from the

awarding bodies and other assess- ment organisations, heard that many teachers continued to lack confidence when assessing stu- dents’ Diploma work, because the requirements differed from what they were used to. Teachers and lecturers reported

an over-reliance on templates pro- vided by the exam boards, while others said they or colleagues had unsuccessfully attempted to use assessment techniques that were already in place for other qualifi- cations. Some admitted they were fearful of failing their students, or having the marks they gave rejected by exam boards on moderation. Meanwhile, a workshop on infor-

mation, advice and guidance (IAG) heard that confusion remained in many schools and colleges over the currency of the Diploma. Parents were concerned that uni-

versities might not accept Diplomas when offering places, and on inquiry were mistakenly being told by some institutions that this was the case, because they had spoken to the wrong person. Speakers urged schools and parents to refer only to admissions tutors when seeking advice. At the same time, it emerged that

some schools and colleges might be deliberately misinforming students about their qualification choices in order the safeguard other courses, or were plugging Diplomas in their own institution rather than the con- sortium as a whole. One delegate said: “I wonder what sort of advice a teacher is going to give when they have already had their two GCSE groups reduced to one. I do not believe that everyone is honest when they find Diplomas in compe- tition with other courses.”

Students steal the show

The students of Hanham High School in South Gloucestershire stole the show at the Sixth National Delivering Diplomas Conference. The Diploma pioneers travelled

to Birmingham for the event last Thursday, March 18, with their deputy headteacher Phil Bevan, and were given a stand in the con- ference’s exhibition area to show off their Diploma work. The six students, who are study-

ing two of the lines of learning at different levels, also joined in a number of the seminars during the event, including the discussions on the extended project, additional and specialist learning, and work experience. Two of the group even joined

Teresa Bergin, the Qualification and Curriculum Development Agency’s Diplomas chief, on stage during her opening address to the conference to talk about their studies so far. Mr Bevan was full of praise

for the students. He said: “The day really gave the students a chance to demonstrate how self-sufficient and resilient the Diploma course has allowed them to become. Within seconds of arriving two of them were whisked away to join Teresa (Bergin) on stage, and they handled themselves amazingly well in front of the 150-plus delegates. “Later on, they all sat in on

panel discussions, and although they didn’t know all the answers,

they all contributed something to the debates, and gave the dele- gates some first-hand stories of the Diploma in action.” Editor of SecEd and Delivering

Diplomas, Pete Henshaw, said: “As expected, the students’ exhibition stand proved to be one of the most popular attractions, and their con- tribution did not stop there as they weighed in with some incredibly useful and insightful comments during the seminars. “If proof was ever needed that

the Diplomas are producing con- fident and skilled individuals, you need look no further than the contri- bution of the Hanham High School students during last week’s event.” The students in attendance were

studying for the society, health and development, and the creative and media Diplomas.

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