Feature Diploma doubts

The first students to take the much-vaunted construction diploma have their results. And the low pass rate has left all involved asking whether the diploma has a secure future. Elaine Knutt reports

THE FIRST RESULTS from the Construction and Built Environment diploma certainly pleased one lecturer involved. When CM spoke to the course leader at a Further Education college in the south west, he was astounded to learn that his six Year 13 students made up more than 10% of the national total passing the Advanced diploma, equal to three and half A-levels. Across the country, just 58 students collected the qualification they’d worked towards for two years. At Higher and Foundation level, both

taken at the end of Year 11, the results were equally disappointing. Figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications show that there were 284 passes at Higher level, equivalent to five GCSEs at A*-C. At Foundation level, equivalent to five GCSEs at Grade D-G, there were 125 diploma

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certificates. That makes a total of 467 - whereas around 1500 started the qualification in September 2008. Not all the “missing” students were left

empty-handed: figures from exam boards Edexcel and AQA/City & Guilds show that an additional 608 across the three levels passed “Principal Learning”, seen as just over half a diploma. Nevertheless, the results came as a shock to the exam boards and the government’s Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency. In June, QCDA had issued guidance to teachers and lecturers on what to do about the expected “small number of cases” where students failed to complete the diploma. After the results came out in August,

Edexcel said: “It is clear that completion rates have been lower than expected, and we believe that is a result of the complex

nature of the Diploma. We need to look at the structure of the Diploma and try to remove some of the administrative burden surrounding it.” The underlying cause of the high failure

rate, as Edexcel has suggested, was an extremely challenging structure that

“ It’s still almost a fledgling qualification, and I really do worry about it in the longer term.” John Stopani, Croydon College

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