According to Ken Boston, Chief Executive of the UK’s Qualifications and Curriculum Authority,‘the creation of the specialised Diplomas is the most ambitious and important educational reform currently being undertaken anywhere in the world.’ April 2006
So, when last Friday, the Secretary of State for Education, said that the introduction of the new diplomas "could go horribly wrong” alarm bells should be ringing http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6435563.stm . Especially as the Secretary of State’s comments come at a time when concern has been expressed by some of those responsible for developing and rolling out the diploma programs http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6234063.stm . They need to be worried: if the 14-19 diplomas are not a success, then there is little chance that any of the government’s learning and skills aspirations can be achieved. It would also be a disaster for its widening participation into higher education strategy. Indeed, it would damage the government’s whole anti-poverty strategy, as this is dependent on creating a high skilled workforce, in a high wage, high skill economy. There is also a specific link between improving life chances for disadvantage students and vocational education; a failure of the vocational would primarily be a blow to the disadvantaged.
On the basis of a few ‘off the record’ conversations, I’m worried that too many people in the education system are just waiting for this train to hit the buffers. This is wrong, this initiative is too important. I think that just as the Sutton Trust bangs on about private schools all the time, we should be banging on about these diplomas. For example, a key question for the future of Bright Journals is will the Russell group universities treat the diplomas as equivalent to top grade A levels? How many UCAS points will an advanced diploma be worth? These questions need clear answers now. Obfuscation at this time will mean that those who have any sort of choice will stick with the traditional qualifications.
The Brightside Trust could also focus on the way the health diplomas are being run and seek to improve their operation. There is still time; but the history of education in the UK has repeatedly shown that if vocational based qualifications are not seen to of high value, and that means at least as valuable as traditional qualifications, then they are doomed to be seen as second best.
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It will be such a shame if these diplomas don't work. I agree that their value and status need to be clarified right at the beginning. It seemed that with previous attempts at vocational qualifications, HEIs were quite sniffy about them and middle-class families were quick to catch on and steer their kids towards GCSEs and A levels, so downgrading the vocational qualifications even further. I reckon the government should have taken all the recommendations of the Tomlinson report and scrapped GCSEs etc altogether and replaced the whole lot with diplomas, it would have made much more sense. Sadly they got scared off by all that hysterical rubbish about 'losing the gold standards' and ended up with a half measure. Anyway, fingers crossed that Brightside can save the day and salvage the situation single-handedly! (I really want us to have special super-hero outfits made...)
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