Do you think this is the future qualification of choice for 14 - 19 year-olds?
Posted by: Edge | 21.01.2009 12:14pm
Thanks for the link James.
The government site does indeed contain lots of info, but what do young people actually DOING the new diploma think?
Does the diploma give YOU the right mix of learning, or is there room for improvement?
It would also be really interesting to know why students DIDN'T choose to sign up for the diploma; what held you back, and how would you compare this new qualification with GCSEs or A levels?
We want to hear from you, so get posting!
Not so keen
Posted by: ani brooker | 14.01.2010 05:51pm
I am 18 and took the diploma in performing arts when I was at school. I was told that given we worked on it for an hour or more everyday, much more so than a GCSE class, colleges would count each of teh 4 module grades as a GCSE grade. At my special measures comp' it was taken as red that you HAD to take a vocational Btec - there was no option to opt out and do more GCSEs. According to school leadership it shoul dhave counted at 4 separate A*s in my portfolio when infact the 2 colleges I have been to since (I dropped out of the first)have completely ignored the qualification.
People I know took the PA BTech and got 100% but becaus they took it and studied it every day, in place of a drama GCSE, they were turned away from Drama A levels.
My worry about the blanket vocationalisation is that it is very narrow - you leave with a trade if you are very lucky and nothing if you are not. It creates this polarized system where kids from *****py areas HAVE to learn something practical and CAN'T pursue academic paths. It assumes that plumbers don't have the brains or imagination to study poetry.
I think this is increasingly becoming a scapegoat for producing teachers who can't get kids to pass traditional GCSEs, so get them to teach something a little simpler and make the school look far better in those pesky league tables. Education at 14 needs to be broad and diverse, critical and challenging.
As OFSTED fascism swept over my school and declared us no good my English teacher had to hold 'creative thinking' lessons in secret - because such lessons don't come with pretty, 3-part lesson plans. People who've never picked up a classic and who had never heard of Sartre would debate the fundamentals of existentialism and it would be FUN and INSPIRING. Why does policy keep trying to drill this out of the curriculum?
At 14 your should be learning for learning's sake. An ends in itself. NOT thinking about job prospects. This sytem is failing young people. To be honest, I had higher hopes for a film sporting the lovely Germaine - I think you could have been a little more critical.