David Willetts

Commenting on Friday’s report from Buckingham University on the new diplomas.

Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Michael Gove said:

“The Government should be totally focussed on delivering a new qualification which will prepare students for the world of work. But instead Ed Balls is playing politics with the diploma, trying to use it as a way of undermining the A-level.

“His failure to deliver has meant the number taking his new exam has halved, with schools, universities and employers all concerned that once again vocational education has been neglected.”

Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills David Willetts said:
‘Ministers are trying to make diplomas valued by universities. But they are making them more academic than they need to be. We are losing the idea of diplomas as decent vocational qualifications in their own right.

‘Diplomas are also becoming more and more detached from what employers need. We are losing sight of the idea that employers need people with better skills.’

Notes to Editors:

Concerns about the new diplomas have been widespread:

Ministers’ concerns

Jim Knight admitted last month that the number of students due to start the new diplomas in September has been ‘downgraded’ by nearly a quarter. He told The Guardian that original plans for up to 40,000 students have been scaled back ‘in order to maintain quality’. Knight told the Guardian: ‘The teaching that starts in September will take place in two-thirds of local authorities. It is a smaller number of learners than originally projected - the lower end of 30,000. That is because it’s on the basis of quality. We would not tolerate any sacrifice of quality in order to achieve numbers.’ (The Guardian, 18 April 2008). (Actual take-up is 20,000, just 0.5% of the relevant age group; figures from DCSF press notice, 21 May 2008: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0098)

In March 2007, Alan Johnson, then Education Secretary, expressed his own concern about running qualifications in competition with one another, saying: ‘Things could go horribly wrong, particularly as we are keeping A-levels and GCSEs’ (BBC Online, 9 March 2007).

Exam board concerns

The Government’s plans for diplomas were attacked by the managing director of Edexcel, Jerry Jarvis, who described the introduction of the new qualification as ‘a huge educational risk’. Mr Jarvis said, ‘We think it’s going to be quite traumatic to get through this… If the diploma doesn’t earn its spurs as a qualification, and that means respect from employers, pupils, parents and higher education, we face a serious problem. There is a huge educational risk to this country’ (Jerry Jarvis, The Guardian, 17 April 2008, p. 1)

Teacher concerns

Christine Blower, Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, agreed with Jerry Jarvis, saying: ‘Jerry Jarvis, managing director of Edexcel, is right in that he has highlighted the risks involved in introducing the new diplomas. The NUT’s own survey shows that even in the schools introducing the diplomas the majority of staff are unfamiliar with them. Neither have the majority received clear, unambiguous information about the diplomas.’ (NUT press release, 17 April 2008).
Business concerns
Susan Anderson, head of human resources at the CBI, has said ‘There is concern about the speed of the changes. The diploma has the power to be confusing to employers. A-levels and GCSEs are understood by employers. They must be retained. We understand them, we know what they deliver.’ (The Guardian, 18 April 2008).

The report, The Diploma: A Disaster Waiting to Happen? is published on 6 June by the Carmichael Press and is available on the Centre for Education and Employment Research’s website from 9.00 am 6 June 2008:
http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/education/research/ceer/publications.html#since2000