New Diploma Resources

Resources for everyone involved with the new diplomas

Governmental Grants Going?

The university secretary confirmed today that Student grants for middle income students will be cut next year along with the growth in student numbers.
The cuts to those eligible for student support come as the Department for Innovation, Universities and Families faced a £200m shortfall in funding to meet the take up of student support this [...]

Teenagers’ learning ‘dumbed down’

Today’s 14-year-old pupils are better at quick-fire answers, but much worse at complex questions than teenagers in the 1970s, research suggests.
Professor Michael Shayer of King’s College London looked at how 800 secondary pupils performed in problem-solving tests.
He said his findings reflected that pupils now lived in an environment favouring instant responses.
But the [...]

Could the New Diploma lead to more student dropouts?

A leading education charity has warned that the Diplomas and apprenticeships will not help reduce the number of young people who drop out of formal education.

The number young people not in education, employment or training – has fallen in the last two years but a report found that the government’s focus on qualifications risks disaffecting [...]

Diplomas off to a slow start

Today it was confirmed by the schools secretary Ed Balls that only 12,000 of the 20,000 students predicted started the diploma qualification.
The slow start has been put down to caution from pupils and parents to approach the new qualification.
However positive feedback has been given from the students and the parents who have currently undertook the [...]

Functional Skills Company Nominated for Award

Jonathan Wells, Managing Director of Guroo Ltd was last night short-listed as “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the 2008 Portfolio Business Awards.
Guroo Ltd was singled out as a fast-growing, successful company dedicated to supporting teaching and learning of functional skills from its base in NE England. The company recently secured significant investment in a deal [...]

Guide to Functional Skills

Guroo have put a single page all-you-ever-wanted-to-know-but-were-afraid-to-ask style guide to functional skills on their website.
Useful definitions, acronyms, your most common questions - everything you need for the “functional skills” round of the next staff outing to the local pub quiz!

More pressure on A-Levels

Yesterday A-Levels where brought under more pressure as the former chief schools inspector stated that A-Levels fail to prepare students for university degrees.
 
Does this open the door for Functional Skills and Diplomas?
Functional Skills has been created just for that reason to give students the skills they need and to prepare them for life after education.
 
For [...]

More concerns over the diploma

The diploma, a new qualification, a new option for students but what do people really know?
Costs?
Credibility? 
What are they worth?
How do they compare to GCSEs and A Levels?
There are many questions that still remain unanswered for many people about the diploma and these questions are concerning MPs.
Related Articles include:
The BBC
The Guardian

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Information, news and resources for everyone involved in 14-19 education in the UK.

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