Balls warned of new A-levels disaster
Exam boards tell minister to delay introduction of diplomas or face ‘compromising quality’
Ben Quinn and Polly Curtis
The Observer, Sunday 26 April 2009
Article history
Exam boards have warned the government that the quality of new academic diplomas intended to replace A-levels and GCSEs will be compromised unless their introduction is delayed.
Ministers are pressing ahead with plans to [...]
Advanced Diploma delay announced
The introduction of one of the government’s new Diploma qualifications for England has been delayed by a year.
Schools Minister Jim Knight said the delay was needed to make sure the advanced level science course was the best it could be.
The qualification, equivalent to three A-levels, will now be taught in schools from September 2012, rather [...]
Headteachers warn: £60m sixth form cuts could scupper diplomas
Polly Curtis and Warwick Mansell
The Guardian, Tuesday 7 April 2009
Article history
Headteachers are warning they could be forced to abandon the government’s new diplomas after sixth forms and colleges in England were told they face a £60m shortfall in funding from September.
Government officials wrote to every college and school sixth form last week setting out their [...]
Diploma students set to treble
The number of pupils taking Diploma qualifications in England will treble to 40,000 next September, says the Schools Minister Jim Knight.
This will take numbers up to the levels initially expected for last September, when less than 12,000 students began the first year of the qualification.
The Diplomas, both vocational and academic, are intended as an alternative [...]
Ministers drop pledge to test basic skills at GCSE
Teenagers will not have to pass basic skills tests to get a C grade
Anthea Lipsett
guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 April 2009 10.21 BST
Article history
Ministers have abandoned their pledge to make all teenagers pass basic skills tests in English and maths in order to get a grade C or above at GCSE.
Exams regulator Ofqual has issued revised criteria [...]
Three Rs courses ‘ineffective’
Adult basic skills courses have been a waste of millions of pounds, an educationalist will tell a conference.
Professor Anna Vignoles, from the Institute of Education, believes that good basic skills must be learned early to improve attainment later in life.
The government spent £995m between 2006-07 on one such programme in England, called Skills for Life.
The [...]
Functional Skills
Looking for resources for the Functional Skills element of the new diplomas? Then hop along to Guroo.info
Recently Written
- Key skills remain for a short period.
- Key Skills reprieved for apprentices only.
- New GCSE course in personal finance teaches pupils how to manage money
- Is the end of BSF a bad thing for diplomas?
- Academies veer towards vocational courses despite doubts over worth
- TES letters 4 June
- ASCL advocate a new general diploma
- New work experience in Diplomas booklet
- DCSF research report into diplomas
- Microsoft apprentice scheme
Categories
- Diploma Resources
- Diplomas in the Media
- Functional Skills
- Manufacturing and Product Design Diploma
- New Diplomas by Local Authority
- Travel and Tourism Diploma
- Uncategorized
Archives
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
Blogroll
- 14-19 Functional Skills
- Guroo Functional Skills - Great Functional Skills Resources