New Diploma Resources

Resources for everyone involved with the new diplomas

Violence: schools seek police aid

The police were called to violent incidents in schools in England more than 7,000 times last year, according to figures from the Conservatives.
Police forces were asked how often they were called to “school premises for an attempted or actual violent crime”.
The survey was based on 25 out of 39 police forces in England.
Head teachers’ leader [...]

Bad parents ‘widen ability gap’

Poor parenting is the key factor behind the significant gaps in readiness for school between children from low and middle income families, a study says.
Analysis of ability test scores of children in the UK and US showed the poorer their families, the less well prepared they were for school.
But the study found up to half [...]

Diploma Survey

The Teacher Support Network has launched the first survey to assess teachers’ views on diplomas.  Patrick Nash, of TSN and the College and University Support Network, said it was vital that the views of teachers in schools, colleges and universities were taken into account if diplomas where to prove a success.  “The new qualification represents [...]

Education targets on numeracy and literacy being missed

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Last Updated: 5:32PM GMT 11 Dec 2008
Vital goals to boost childhood literacy and numeracy have not been met, despite huge investment in primary education.
Ministers pledged to increase the number of 11-year-olds with a decent grasp of the three-Rs to 80 per cent by 2002, but only 75 per cent reached acceptable [...]

Diploma Envy?

Perhaps the negative approach to diplomas of Bernard Trafford, the vice chair of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, is more a sign of envy that the independent sector may not have the resources to deliver them as effectively as other sectors.
The diplomas’ practical content tends to be focused on the foundation level because of the [...]

Learning by heart is ‘pointless for Google generation’

Schoolchildren should no longer be forced to memorise facts and figures because such information is readily available on the internet, a leading commentator claims.
 
By Murray Wardrop
Last Updated: 7:07AM GMT 02 Dec 2008
For generations of pupils, learning key historical dates, places, and names off by heart has been the bastion of academic success.
But for [...]

Diplomas threaten our independence

So what would make the independent sector jump at diplomas?
We would require a structure that:
 

Allows seriously academic pupils to be seriously academic
Doesn’t dress up vocational routes as something spuriously academic
Allows a well defined “mix of theoretical and work based learning” for those who want it, but clearly differentiates between the two
Permits candidates to choose [...]

Diplomas

Diplomas – an attempt to create a work orientated curriculum geared to the needs of 21st century employers have had a difficult baptism.  But students and teachers are genuinely enthusiastic about their future, as are some of the partnerships running them.
The were conceived in a 2005 White Paper that was published in the wake of [...]

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