Because five new courses have just been added to the Government’s new Diploma for 14 to 19-year-olds which ministers have trumpeted as a potential replacement for GCSEs and A-levels – and which some people claim is the biggest reform to the education curriculum in England for two decades. It was launched in certain areas of the country in September last year and is being made available nationwide from this week.

What exactly is the Diploma?

A new qualification that combines academic and practical work-based learning. The five courses which have been available until now were: construction and the built environment; creative and media; engineering; information technology; and society, health and development. From this week students will also be able to take two-year Diploma courses in business, administration and finance; environmental and land studies; hair and beauty studies; hospitality; and manufacturing and product design. From next year courses will be available in: public services, sport and leisure, retail; and travel and tourism. By 2011 there should be 17 different courses available.

What is the idea behind it?

Employers and universities both complain that young people, despite their paper qualifications, leave school ill-equipped for the world of work or higher education. The Diploma was an attempt to address this. It was the brainchild of England’s former chief schools inspector Sir Mike Tomlinson. His plan was for an over-arching diploma scheme which, at all levels of attainment, would develop both academic prowess in maths, English and the other basics, but also develop the teamwork, creative thinking and problem-solving skills required in the workplace.

Mr Tomlinson wanted to broaden ways of learning so that less academic pupils were better motivated while cleverer students developed a wider range of skills than at present. He also thought this would keep pupils’ career and educational options more open, allowing them flexibility to progress to further study, university or jobs.

His idea was for the Diploma to have a Foundation level equivalent to 5 GCSE grades D to G, a Higher level equivalent to 7 GCSEs grades A* to C; a Progression level equivalent to 2.5 A-levels; and an Advanced level equivalent to 3.5 A-levels. The GCSE would fall away, since it made little sense to have a “terminal examination” at 16 when, from 2013, the school-leaving age will rise to 18 for everyone.

The former Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, described the Diplomas as “the missing link” between vocational and academic education which the nation had “lacked for so long”.

What has been the uptake?

Pretty poor. The new system, which the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, said could replace A-levels as the “qualification of choice” within a few years, was taken up by just 11,400 pupils – around a quarter of the original estimate. Creative and media was the most popular subject area. Only 1,416 pupils were on Level 3 courses, equivalent to A-levels or BTec Nationals.

Some 200 students opted to do the course in one year rather than the two usual years. Their results were published last week. At the higher level – designed to be equivalent to seven good GCSEs – no students gained an A* or A grade. More than half were awarded a C and a quarter failed. Many who attempted the diploma were not included in the figures after failing the “functional skills” tests altogether.

Some 20,000 students are reported to be taking up the course this year. Fears about rising levels of youth unemployment could boost numbers. But heads in schools teaching the Diploma say many of them have found it difficult to persuade students and parents to opt for them.

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