Diplomas 'can offer opportunity'

Ed Balls showed a keen interest in checking levels

Schools Secretary Ed balls said it was not about a "big bang" in year one, but about getting it right and building up the qualification year by year. He was talking to reporters as he visited Hackney Community College in east London, which will be offering some of the first Diploma courses from this September.

Schools Minister Jim Knight referred to a school nearby in Hackney that had pulled out of doing the same because - with redevelopment work going on - it felt it was not ready.

"They weren't confident that they had the facilities in place and they weren't confident that they had the teachers with the right skills to offer it on the basis of quality," he said.

Asked whether this only served to illustrate the complexity of the undertaking for schools, Mr Balls said: "Change is always complex."

'Worth it'

The question was whether it was worth the effort - and employers and universities were saying Diplomas would provide the kind of skills they wanted in a new way.

"But the proof of that pudding is going to be in the eating.

"It will be whether parents, pupils and teachers see that the kind of skills they are learning do really suit them for the careers for the future.

"That is going to take some time. But the message we are hearing is that it is worth the effort."

It was a message Mr Knight had taken from a conversation with one of the students.

He said she had told him of her frustration that the existing structure of qualifications meant she could not take her painting craft skills and apply them in a more imaginative way in developing her own business.

'Aim higher'
College section leader Steve Lammas said he believed there needed to be better publicity aimed at teenagers and their parents - and teachers.

Teacher Steve Lammas believes Diplomas offer great opportunities

Diplomas are industry-related but not job specific, blending theoretical and practical learning.

But he felt local schools were tending to aim them at students who were not sufficiently academic to take advantage of the opportunities they offered.

So those on construction courses, for example, should be looking to be pursue higher level careers as surveyors or project managers - with Diplomas providing a bridge into higher education.

"At the moment every contractor and every builder we talk to tell us it's really difficult to get good managers, so in the next 10 to 12 years that's the area where there's a big opportunity," he said.

"One of the things we have got to get across is to sell it to the parents that this is a viable industry and a viable job. Once people get to know what's going on it should snowball."

'Lack of confidence'

The construction industry's sector skills council, representing employers, said it had seen an excellent response from pupils wanting to take the Diploma in construction and the built environment.

Diplomas will offer a mix of theory and hands-on learning

"For example, places in the Sheffield schools and colleges offering our Diploma have actually been oversubscribed," it said.

But the Civil Engineering Contractors Association - representing over 350 contractors of all sizes in Britain - remains critical.

Training director Joe Johnson said: "Contractors want the Diplomas to succeed but students have voted on the new qualification with their feet."

He added: "Parents, students and employers have not been given enough information to understand the Diplomas and take them on with confidence.

"Students looking for an alternative to the academic pathway would have been bemused by the downgrading of the vocational element.

"Contractors have been particularly unimpressed with the change in the work experience element to 'experience of work' meaning that a holder of the C&BE Diploma might not have set foot on a construction site during the entire course."

Apart from construction the first Diploma courses will be in engineering, IT, media and health.

Eventually, 17 Diplomas will be offered, including in the traditional academic areas of languages, science and humanities.

They cover three levels of attainment: foundation, intermediate and advanced.

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