Rosemary Clark, former quality manager at the AoC, writing for the Education Guardian said:

“Many people question whether the diploma will attract its target market or provide learners with a curriculum that will give them an opportunity to succeed. Some of these students are already well served by qualifications such as BTEC firsts, where applications have doubled in the last year.  

“How effective will the new diploma be in attracting A-level or BTEC national diploma students, for whom progression routes into university or employment are understood by all, and where inspection confirms that the standard of teaching and learning is higher than in other provision?  Diplomas are to be delivered by several partners located perhaps some distance from each other, so we can expect bewildered students bussing themselves around the borough or, more likely, bussing themselves off home or to more attractive activities elsewhere.

“Meanwhile, their A-level and BTEC counterparts will be actually engaging in learning, on courses where the content is mostly appropriate, has been stable for years and is not impossible to deliver - and where teachers have had a chance to hone their delivery of the curriculum. Now surely this is the way to raise the status of a qualification.”

Reproduced with permission from Education Guardian.  Full article available here.