Comment
abandon the Diploma R
ARELY HAS the introduction of a new qualification been met with such strong feelings, both from those who are passionate
in its support and those who prophesised its demise from the moment of conception. Tat certainly has been our experience
in the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) as we have listened to our members’ views over recent years. Many teachers, lecturers and students are enthusiastic about the experience, many employers believe that it really will prepare young people more appropriately for the workplace and senior leaders have enjoyed the extension of collaborative working, particularly those who were already involved in and committed to partnerships. Yet there are others who have
felt ground down by the sheer magnitude of the task in managing the complexity of Diploma implementation and feel that the time and resources needed are out of proportion to the numbers of students involved. In the months leading up to the election it had become apparent that, if the Diplomas were to survive, changes would be needed.
Heads and senior leaders had a number of concerns, including the complexity of the offer and the structure, the entitlement, future funding, the cost of collaborative working and employer involvement. But the one which was becoming more urgent as
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summer 2010 approached was the position of Functional Skills and the concerns about the inequality of a qualification strategy which had the achievement of Functional Skills in one qualification route (the Diploma) but not in the route still followed by large numbers of 14 to 19 learners, the general qualification route. Te fact that pilot qualifications were being used as a part of a whole qualification only served to increase the level of anxiety. Te coalition government has started to
address these issues. Tere will no longer be a 14 to 19 qualifications strategy with four routes, but instead institutions will choose their qualifications offer from the wide range available to provide the best fit for their students and their local context. Te entitlement for all students to all Diplomas has therefore gone, as have the phase four and the extended diplomas. Te Gateway process, which assessed
centres on their readiness to deliver the qualifications, is to be scrapped, meaning that institutions will be able to offer Diplomas just to their own students rather than being obliged to work in partnership. Te Diploma Development Partnerships (DDPs) are no more, and funding for communications and support has been drastically reduced. Diplomas will simply be one of many other qualifications on offer, no longer supported by additional resources, and will sink or swim depending on take-up. Quite an amount of change in a short time which might appear to be solving the problems previously identified. Yet these changes were designed largely to save money and to bring Diplomas in line with other qualifications on offer, thus removing the advantaged position they had previously occupied, rather than to address the issues
Delivering Diplomas • Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 2010 Te coalition will not
The new government brought with it a completely new approach to the Diploma. Many feared it would be abolished altogether, others were more optimistic. Several months into the coalition’s first term in office, Sue Kirkham takes a look at the political landscape, and how it sits with the Diplomas
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