Diploma students set to treble
Posted on | April 6, 2009 |
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 to GCSEs and A-level.
Mr Knight said that the new exams had now “reached the tipping point”.
The qualifications will be offered by 97% of local authorities by September 2010, the schools minister says.
Another five vocational Diplomas are set to be launched in the autumn, including hospitality and hair and beauty - in addition to the five launched in September 2008.
‘Cautious roll-out’
“Almost every local area will offer a Diploma by 2010. By 2013 all the Diplomas will be available in every part of the country,” said Mr Knight, who announced an additional £50m to support local providers.
“This vindicates our cautious initial roll out, which ensured those early adopters were of the highest quality.”
The Diploma has been the government’s attempt to create a qualification that bridges the divide between academic and vocational exams.
But they have faced a muted response from students - with an initial forecast of 40,000 in the first intake being revised down to the 11,490 who began courses.
A study from the Department for Children, Schools and Families suggested that young people were confused by what Diplomas represented.
And a report from the Sutton Trust claimed that only 30% of secondary teachers thought Diplomas were useful for pupils planning for university.
As well as competing with established qualifications such as A-levels and GCSEs, the Diploma is entering an increasingly diverse “market” in exams.
For more academic pupils, the Cambridge pre-U is being introduced and a number of high-profile independent schools have switched to international qualifications.
The next group of Diplomas being launched in September will be environmental and land-based studies; business, administration and finance; manufacturing and product design; hospitality; hair and beauty studies.
This article is from the BBC News Website
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