Daily Mail reports on easy qualifications
Posted on | May 9, 2011 | 1 Comment
Is there life in the 14 vocational diplomas yet?
Perhaps stories like this in the daily mail on 7/5/11 will turn the tide back towards Diplomas - after all they have fallen back because schools thought they were a bit too hard to teach and rigorous to learn plus because students needed to also be able to do basic English and Maths (ie pass Functional Skills).
Here is the story link.
Support from the Guardian for Diplomas
Posted on | March 15, 2011 | 64 Comments
click here for mike bakers review of wolf report
Posted by Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills.
Editorial - Wolf’s Got Talent, but until the GCSE is binned the curriculum will lack coherence
Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 52 Comments
Comment | Published in The TES on 11 March, 2011 | By: Gerard Kelly
This appeared on my google search about GCSe - jonathan
Witnessing the reaction to Alison Wolf’s report on vocational education is a bit like watching the response of the Britain’s Got Talent audience to Susan Boyle. Initial scepticism rapidly followed by universal acclamation. Simplify the system and end micro-management by Government? Excellent idea. Remedial lessons for teenagers who lack good GCSEs in English and maths? Why didn’t anyone suggest it before? Expand work-based apprenticeships? Just the ticket!
Even Professor Wolf’s assertion that too many vocational qualifications are useless has gained qualified approval.
Admittedly, agreeing which qualifications are dodgy and which are not is proving a tad more controversial. But there is a general awareness that some have been taken to aid the performance of schools in league tables rather than to help pupils gain entry into the labour market. This, as she says, is a scandalous betrayal of young people’s aspirations.
Above all, Professor Wolf has endorsed the worth of vocational education at a time when many suspected the Government was only interested in a narrow academic agenda (FE Focus, page 4). In her words: “Conventional academic study encompasses only part of what the labour market values and demands … Good vocational programmes are … respected, valuable and an important part of our … educational provision.”
There is, however, one large fly in Professor Wolf’s ointment: her recommendation to limit vocational courses 14 to 16-year-olds can take to 20 per cent of the curriculum. This not only denies these youngsters significant practical experience, it also discounts the role vocational education plays in engaging pupils academically. It also raises the suspicion that this limit was suggested to comply with the demands the EBac makes on a very crowded curriculum. That may be an ungenerous interpretation, but if correct it would be an echo of the last Government’s unfortunate tendency to address vocational needs through an academic prism.
The best way to avoid such contradictions has been suggested by former education secretary Estelle Morris and educationalist Alan Smithers, among others - scrap the GCSE. It is a useless, expensive relic; a school-leaving certificate dispensed at an age when hardly anyone leaves education. Far better to have a universal exam at 14 - we could call it the EBac. This would allow pupils three or four years to pursue a meaningful vocational or academic route, or a mix of the two.
Intriguingly, Professor Wolf hints at this possibility in her call to allow FE colleges to enrol 14-year-olds full-time. But, of course, it will not happen on any scale. Nor will the Government scrap GCSEs. It would be expensive, politically difficult and upset a system based on divisions at 11 and 16. Imagine a school structure that conforms to the needs of the pupils rather than the other way round. About as likely as Professor Wolf appearing on Britain’s Got Talent.
gerard.kelly@tsleducation.com.
SEN getting the Government review now?
Posted on | March 9, 2011 | 66 Comments
Ministers are due to unveil a major shake-up of special educational needs (SEN) support in England’s schools.
Under the proposals, education and health care plans are set to replace statements, which detail the support children with the severest level of need can expect.
The plans would be drawn up after a single assessment, rather than the numerous checks children now undergo.
A green paper detailing the proposals is due to be published on Wednesday.
The SEN system is one of the most controversial areas of England’s education system. In 2006 a Commons education committee labelled it “not fit for purpose”.
Currently, children who have a severe, multiple health or learning need or disability are supposed to be assessed by their local authority for the support that they need at school.
‘More mediation’
A statement of special educational needs is then drawn up. This relates to about 2.7% of children in England. A further 21% have a lower level of SEN which is supported directly by the school.
But parents and special needs campaigners claim councils can be unwilling to “statement” pupils, because of the legal entitlement and possible extra costs that it brings. Many face a long fight to get to the stage where a statement is drawn up.
And although statements are supposed to have regard to health needs there can be problems getting access to the services required because they are funded separately.
The whole process can lead to numerous assessments by different agencies involved with the child, such as the school, health and social services. The Council for Disabled Children estimates that a disabled child experiences 32 different assessments on average.
It can also mean delays in children getting the support that they need to learn effectively and a huge amount of stress for parents who are left to fight for what they believe their child is entitled to.
A possible new single assessment system, and accompanying education and health care plan, is to be piloted in 25 local authorities to try out how to get all the services working with the child working together.
‘Conflict of interest’
It is envisaged that instead of a child undergoing many separate assessments on separate days, everyone involved would meet together at the same time.
There have also been complaints that the organisation carrying out the assessment, the local authority, is the one who pays for the support it sets out.
“At the moment we know that parents’ confidence in the system is seriously undermined by that perceived conflict of interest,” a Department for Education spokesman said.
So ministers will also look at involving state-funded voluntary groups in co-ordinating the support packages families need.
This might mean a deaf children’s charity co-ordinating the package of need for a child who has hearing problems, for example.
More mediation will be encouraged for cases where parents and local authorities cannot agree on the support for a child, in a bid to reduce the adversarial nature of the system.
There are also plans to give children personal budgets so that their parents can control how the funding allocated to them can be spent.
In support of diplomas
Posted on | February 28, 2011 | 53 Comments
Ditch Diploma’s extra weight to see it really fly
News | Published in FE Focus on 11 February, 2011 | By: Russell Joseph
When I visit colleges and schools, I am often told they will not be offering Diplomas in future. How could this forward-thinking qualification, written jointly by employers and educationalists, have lost its way?
Part of the problem is that the Diploma now appears to be no more than the sum of its parts. It is an umbrella qualification, whose individual components may be valuable but provide no extra value when added together.
The idea behind the “gateway” groups of consortia for the Diploma was that learners would benefit from the best from a number of centres and could travel between them. Despite its many good intentions, this process created something unwieldy and costly to administrate.
A case in point is the number of awarding bodies involved. A single exams officer, focusing on one diploma, could have up to six awarding bodies to deal with: possibly three just for the functional skills element, then potentially another one for “additional and specialist learning” and another for the project.
Learners have been disillusioned with the small element of practical work, which should be what grabs their attention and drives them to achieve.
They should be getting proper opportunities to use the industry-required tools, yet have often missed out on picking up the kinds of practical skills that their parents and potential employers would expect.
It is the functional skills element, however, that has ended up the biggest failure. It has proven out of reach of many of the learners, and is thus perceived as the most unfair aspect of the qualification. Functional skills should be embedded in all aspects of teaching the diploma, in ways appropriate to the student. Yet the functional skills are tested generically, in isolation.
If a school identifies that a student will be inspired by level 2 principal learning, but not achieve functional skills at the same level, is it appropriate to lower the aspiration to level 1 just to get the umbrella qualification?
The Diploma has also suffered in comparison with longer-standing qualifications, such as BTECs, with which providers are more comfortable. Colleges and schools know these use up fewer hours and option blocks. In contrast, the Diploma is unproven. We should keep its best bits and ditch the rest.
The principal learning section has been an outstanding success. Success rates at level 2, which range from 75 to 85 per cent and equate to five A*-C grades at GCSE, compare favourably with a traditional GCSE pass rate of 69 per cent. Removing principal learning from the offer would disadvantage young learners.
We should continue with the controlled assessments. Employers want to know that learner work is authentic, that the students can do more than just copy and paste. The project, too, is popular. Many colleges now offer it as a stand-alone qualification, not just to Diploma learners.
In terms of lines of learning, we need to reduce the number, amalgamating units and subjects. We should put greater focus on specialist learning, replacing the units (or elements of them) with specialist exams. But we must also give our young people the opportunity to view the world where industries work together.
Streamlining the Diploma would make it more financially attractive at a time when incentives to offer it are being removed. Colleges are already put off by its cost, resulting from the extra hours needed to teach it compared with similar qualifications.
Data from the Diploma Aggregation Service suggests some centres, with the interests of their students at heart, are already entering them only for the principal learning and not for the whole qualification.
It’s time to campaign for the successful parts of the Diploma. If we make it less wieldy and more manageable, it will finally come of age.
Russell Joseph is the lead diploma assessor for the central London boroughs and a chief examiner with a large awarding body.
7th annual diploma conference
Posted on | January 24, 2011 | 60 Comments
From Sec-ed and yes, Jonathan Wells of Guroo will be taking the Functional Skills workshop.
A vital event for all those involved in Diplomas
How do we overcome the current challenges facing 14-19 Diplomas? How can Diploma deliverers work effectively with such tightened budgets? How can an innovative approach to Diplomas help with cost-effective delivery?
These are some of the issues that all those involved in delivery of the 14-19 Diplomas are currently having to deal with. The Diploma landscape has changed under the coalition government and as such there is a new need to find solutions to problems such as budget restrictions, maintaining employer engagement and getting the most out of existing partnerships, all with a view of delivering a strong Diploma offering.
The 7th National Conference on Delivering Diplomas will focus on these and other issues of fundamental importance under the theme of ‘Maintaining delivery & cost-effective partnerships’. This essential event will take place on Monday 28th March 2011 at the Lakeside Conference Centre, Aston University in Birmingham and is the latest in the series of very successful and well-attended conferences organised by MA Education, the publisher of Delivering Diplomas and SecEd magazines.
Now organising the 7th of our national conferences on Delivering Diplomas, we have been able to closely follow the development of the 14-19 Diplomas and this next event will once again provide a very useful and productive forum for anyone teaching, working with or involved in the Diploma qualification to listen to expert speakers and to participate in the interactive workshops. This event is aimed at secondary heads and teachers, FE college principals and lecturers, employers, policy-makers, local authority advisors, exam managers and officers, Diploma co-ordinators, consortium consultants and anyone else working in a Diploma consortium.
The conference, to be chaired by Gill Morris, Diploma Employer Champion and board member of the Education & Employers’ Taskforce, will include keynote speeches from leading Diploma experts and professionals on vital topics such as:
- The Diploma: the evolution of a qualification for today’s learners, two successful experienced Diploma deliverers will explore current challenges and why this qualification remains a valuable, sustainable and attractive choice for many of today’s learners
- Diplomas: lessons from Ofsted, an analysis of what works with Diploma delivery and how improvements can be made
- Maintaining cost-effective partnerships, a Diploma Employer Champion and expert practitioner on how education business partnerships can be maintained and developed
- Partnerships in action, will examine key solutions to successful delivery and partnership working in 2011, with a case-study led presentation
The afternoon workshops have always proved to be a very popular and engaging part of the conference at our previous events and so there will once again be a selection of interactive, discussion-based sessions for delegates to choose from and move between. These will provide an opportunity for delegates to question Diploma experts from awarding bodies, consortia experts, examiners and assessors amongst others. To view the full programme, please visit our website or download the attached booking form.
The event will also be supported by an exhibition giving delegates access to key companies and organisations with a strong interest in Diplomas.
All of our previous Diploma conferences have attracted a strong audience. So, to ensure your place at this conference, we advise that you book your places as soon as possible by calling me on 0207 501 6735 or by returning the attached form. Alternatively, you can book securely online.
My team and I very much look forward to meeting you at the event.
Kind regards
Matt Govett
Jody McIntyre: ‘What the government are trying to do is to widen the gap between the rich and the poor’Activist Jody McIntyre on inequality, political process, and the student demonstrations
Posted on | January 3, 2011 | 141 Comments
Nor much to do with Diploma resources but in doing a little bit of research about pass rates for Diplomas and Functional Skills, I came across this. Whilst i don’t necessarily agree with all the sentiments, the basic premise of the gap widening is very clear.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2010/dec/20/jody-mcintyre-student-protest
Can’t have it both ways!
Posted on | December 23, 2010 | 104 Comments
Perhaps it’s because he left school at 15 and ran his own business while his peers were still studying. But Richard Branson believes that the British education system does not serve budding businessmen and women well, according to a US diplomatic cable.
Branson touched on the subject at a lunch held in January 2008 by Chinese businessmen in Beijing. During the event, titled What Makes a Good Entrepreneur?, the Chinese criticised British entrepreneurs as being “overeducated, too conservative, lacking passion for entrepreneurship and too afraid of failure”.
Undereducated? Overeducated? What can we do next? the one thing that Richard Branson does have though is Functional Skills!
Travesty of our ’stagnating’ schools: In a damning indictment of Labour, OECD condemns British education which is now inferior to Estonia’s
Posted on | December 9, 2010 | 143 Comments
Travesty of our ’stagnating’ schools: In a damning indictment of Labour, OECD condemns British education which is now inferior to Estonia’s
By KATE LOVEYS
So why shouldn’t estonia have a good education system and what gives England the right to think they are better than Estonia?
Britain has plummeted down worldwide education rankings in the last decade, according to definitive figures which shame Labour’s record on schools.
Despite doubled spending since 2000, the education of teenagers has ‘stagnated at best’.
The verdict is a damning indictment of Tony Blair’s mantra that his three top priorities in government were ‘education, education, education’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336410/OECD-condemns-British-education-inferior-Estonias.html#ixzz17bLZoeTi
Ouch - school caught bending the rules
Posted on | November 24, 2010 | 185 Comments
it feels a little like that 6 foot 6 dider drogba falling over when very slightly nudged in the penalty box, technically it might be a penalty, but we all know he was totally focussed on the objective rather than the ethics involved - I guess the end justifies the means.
Here’s a piece from the white paper published today - pulled out by Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills
However, there is a risk focusing on particular narrow measures can distort
behaviour. Recently, secondary schools have narrowed their focus and steered
pupils away from GCSE courses towards less suitable qualifications which are
deemed to be worth more than a GCSE, take no more time to teach and are seen
as easier to pass92. It is important that we should recognise good quality
vocational qualifications, but we must avoid perverse incentives for schools to
offer lower quality qualifications. We have asked Professor Alison Wolf to consider
how best to recognise vocational qualifications in the performance tables and to
make recommendations.
Functional Skills
Looking for resources for the Functional Skills element of the new diplomas? Then hop along to Guroo.info
Recently Written
- Daily Mail reports on easy qualifications
- Support from the Guardian for Diplomas
- Editorial - Wolf’s Got Talent, but until the GCSE is binned the curriculum will lack coherence
- SEN getting the Government review now?
- In support of diplomas
- 7th annual diploma conference
- Jody McIntyre: ‘What the government are trying to do is to widen the gap between the rich and the poor’Activist Jody McIntyre on inequality, political process, and the student demonstrations
- Can’t have it both ways!
- Travesty of our ’stagnating’ schools: In a damning indictment of Labour, OECD condemns British education which is now inferior to Estonia’s
- Ouch - school caught bending the rules
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