New diplomas ‘not a soft option’

NEW work-orientated qualifications introduced in September have had a baptism of fire in the media.

The Government has been accused of creating an academic/vocational divide with its flagship diplomas in subjects from creative and media to society health and development.

Karen Doherty spoke to pioneering Oldham pupils about why they have opted for the qualifications, which have been dubbed a soft option and criticised for low-uptake.

THE atmosphere is more college than school as pupils make lanterns for Oldham’s recent Festival of Light.

Teenagers call teachers by their first name and next door young filmmakers work on a project inspired by a visit to Media City in Salford.

The students are among the first to sign up for the new creative and media diploma which covers areas such as interactive media, film, TV, creative writing, drama, music, computer games dance and art.

They include 16-year-old Crompton House pupil Jessica Smith, who is also doing GCSEs in English, maths, science, RE and drama. She admitted: “It is a bit scary because it’s new and I did deliberate whether or not to do it. But the first week I came it was excellent: we met all these new people and you just learn so much.

“I chose it because I like creative things. The kind of stuff we cover in this diploma, you can’t do all of those in a normal GCSE.

“I find it really hard to learn in an environment where you are stuck behind a desk. I need full-on, hands-on experience, and I think it gives you more freedom, what you would expect at college.”

Diplomas were conceived in a shake-up of 14 to 19 education and aim to create a work-orientated curriculum geared to the needs of employers.

Introduced in September, the five subjects currently available nationally will expand to 17 by 2013. They provide an alternative to GCSEs and A-levels and combine practical and theoretical knowledge, work experience, extra specialist learning (such as additional GCSEs or young enterprise schemes) and the “functional skills” of English, maths and IT.

Designed to give a broad understanding of industry, half of the learning has to be applied to a working environment.

The Government predicted diplomas would become the qualification of choice for young people and they were welcomed by business leaders, many of whom helped to draw up the courses.

Getting the scheme started has cost £65.2 million over three years, but only 12,000 students signed up this year, less than a quarter of the 50,000 ministers were initially hoping for and well under the scaled down prediction of 38,000 made in July.

Take up figures were as low as eight in Blackburn but Oldham has 75 students on the two diplomas currently offered in the borough, around what was predicted.

“They are not a flop”, insisted Janet Doherty, service director for learning, development and localities, who explained Oldham’s diplomas were part of a jigsaw of provision across Greater Manchester.

“The idea is they will be introduced gradually in different parts of the country and we all learn from each other.”

Her words echoed Schools Minister Jim Knight who said a “big bang” introduction would have put schools and colleges under pressure.

The scope of diplomas means collaboration is essential and Oldham’s creative and media course is currently taken by Crompton House, Kaskenmoor and St Augustine’s pupils.

A second construction and the built environment diploma is offered at Hathershaw, while more schools and subjects will come on board from next year.

A level one (foundation) qualification is equivalent to five D to G GCSE grades and level 2 (higher) seven A* to C grades. Level three (advanced) is offered by the Oldham College and Oldham Sixth Form College, and is equivalent to 31/2 A-levels.

It remains to be seen if university admissions tutors will give the qualification the same weight as A-levels, but Mrs Doherty insisted they were not a soft option.

“People do think when you get a new vocational course it is for disaffected and disengaged pupils. We have got courses for these pupils and if you are disaffected you are not going to manage the diplomas.”

Instead, it is about young people deciding what way of learning suits them, and she added: “People are understandably suspicious. It takes a while to bed in until people are convinced it is going to be right for young people.”

Speaking to creative and media students working at the borough’s City Learning Centre, it is clear they are intelligent, articulate and confident.

Jessica insisted: “It’s not a soft option at all. We do loads of written work. On the other side we do a lot of editing on laptops and it’s not easy.”

Classmate Larysa Lotockyj (15), from St Augustine’s, is also studying English, maths, science, German philosophy and English literature. She said the diploma had increased her confidence.

The highlight for Kaskenmoor pupil Craig Goodwin (14) has been meeting filmmaker Matt Bloom and “North West Tonight” presenter Tony Livesey. Craig said: “Tony Livesey said, ‘I want people who have first-hand experience’. This is what this course does, it gets you out there learning things.”