Morning:
6°c
Diplomas 'will fuel divide between state and private schools'
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent3 Sep 2008
A new range of diplomas for teenagers will fuel the divide between state and private schools, a leading headteacher warned today.
The diplomas, combining work experience with academic theory, will be taken by 20,000 teenagers in England this year.
As the first pupils began their courses today, Frances King, headmistress of Roedean in Brighton, warned that independent schools were likely to shun the new courses.
She said many private schools were considering tougher alternatives to A-levels, such as the International Baccalaureate.
Mrs King told the Standard the girls' school was looking at the engineering diploma for its supposedly highly rated maths course.
"My school will be taking a very serious look at 14-16 qualifications," she said. "But I'm pretty sure my maths teachers will say, 'actually we think the maths we offer is brilliant. We do further maths at Alevel. We think we have got maths sorted, thank you.'"
Other courses such as the Cambridge Pre-U and the International Baccalaureate are gaining ground in private schools, she said. "What we are seeing already is a division between the qualifications on offer and the types of schools."
Schools Secretary Ed Balls was promoting the new courses on a visit to Newham Sixth Form College today. He believes they could replace A-levels and GCSEs as "the qualification of choice".
The first five diplomas starting this month will be in the subjects of engineering, construction, IT, media and health. Eventually, 17 will be offered, including in the traditional academic areas of languages, science and humanities.
Mr Balls said: "I want to see a situation where every young person has a range of interesting, exciting and challenging options ahead of them at every stage of their education, so that they never feel tempted to drop out or give up.
"This year will see some of the biggest steps towards this goal yet."
The diplomas were beset with problems in the run-up to their launch. Ministers predicted 40,000 teenagers would start the courses this year, but later admitted half that number had signed up.
Teachers and exam chiefs warned that schools were not ready to run the courses while MPs said diplomas were being rushed in.
Business leaders questioned the need for them in academic subjects such as languages, as A-levels remained the most widely understood qualifications.
