Comment
identifi ed, and therefore many of the structural issues which were causing concern remain. At the ASCL, we have welcomed the simplifi cation of the structure achieved so far but would like the government to go further and to address the Functional Skill issue around parity and fairness in comparison with other qualifi cations. Now that there is very little motivation for schools to enter whole cohorts within key stage 4 for Functional Skills tests there must be a serious question about their future. It would be an anomaly for them to remain in existence simply as part of the Diploma if employers are not going to insist on all students having this qualifi cation. T ere is a certain logic to Diplomas entering the marketplace in line with other qualifi cations. Many resources have already been poured into their development, support and marketing, and perhaps they should now have to stand on their own feet. But they are still a very new and diff erent qualifi cation which needs the positive support of government, higher education and employers if it is to be taken up by students and parents concerned about its market value in the future.
Many young people now in their twenties and thirties struggle to explain in job applications the meaning and value of qualifi cations which they took in all good faith, but which have since disappeared and hardly touched the consciousness of employers. T e future funding position must also be
clarifi ed. Diploma partnerships know that they will still receive the additional funding grant for students embarking on Diplomas in September for 2010/11, but beyond that nothing is guaranteed. A sudden loss of funding would make it very diffi cult for institutions involved, especially in a period of reducing funding, and hardly encourage them to promote Diplomas to future students. Diplomas are diff erent from all existing
qualifi cations and the practical approach to learning in real life settings combined with a high level of challenge has motivated many students. T ey are also providing evidence that rigorous assessment can be carried out by teachers during the work of the course. It is pleasing to see that awarding organisations believe that the Principal Learning element of the Diploma is here to stay and are developing qualifi cations for the Qualifi cations and Curriculum Framework
based on phase four Principal Learning. T is is particularly welcome in modern languages, where schools and colleges are struggling to fi nd qualifi cations which motivate their students.
Although partnership working can be challenging and time consuming, those who are committed to improving educational opportunities for all young people, rather than only focusing on those in a single institution, have found that collaboration really does open more doors for more young people. It is to be hoped that such collaboration will continue and certainly we hear from our members that partnerships are working most effi ciently where there is collaboration across a range of qualifi cations rather than a focus just on Diplomas. So a cautious welcome to the government’s attempts so far to simplify the Diploma process but more to do and more high level support please for this challenging, practically based qualifi cation which employers tell us this country needs.
• Sue Kirkham is education policy specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, which represents 15,000 senior leaders in schools and colleges.
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Delivering Diplomas • Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 2010
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