New diploma, but A-levels remain
Updated on 23 October 2007
School children in England who today are faced with a barrage of exam options; GCSEs, GNVQs, BTECs, HNDs, International Baccalaureate and the so called gold standard - A-levels, now have yet another one.
No acronym this time, but a good old fashioned diploma. A new over arching course that may in time put paid to all those alternatives. But until it does - with more choice - could it just end in more confusion?
Sir Mike Tomlinson challenged Tony Blair and then education secretary Ruth Kelly back in 2004 to introduce a single diploma to bridge the vocational / academic divide. But traditionalists claimed it would undermine the very building blocks of English education - and Kelly and Blair dumped the idea.
The long promised review into A-levels was delayed until 2013
With reform still badly needed and vocational diplomas starting anyway next year, today the new education secretary backed three new academic options. For the Tories - it's the beginning of the end of the A -level.
If they prove popular, A-levels would indeed become just one of many way of getting a diploma. Teaching unions have long welcomed the idea - and blaming political pressure, accuse the government of hedging its bets.
It'll take 10 years to overhaul the education system, one reason why there was another announcement today, the long promised review into A-levels was delayed until 2013.
The education select committee said in April "we would urge the government to consider rescheduling the review... after more is known about how diplomas are working in practice..."
So from September next year teenagers in 900 schools will have the option to study yet another kind of course - starting with Construction, Media, Information Technology and Health. The first academic options - Science, Humanities and Languages - won't start until 2011.
Any end to A-levels is a long way off.
