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Signing up for new diplomas
DORSET has been given the green light by the Government to offer five new diplomas to teenagers instead of traditional GCSEs and A-Levels.
South Dorset MP Jim Knight has announced that Dorset has been successful in its bid to offer to all 14 to 19 year-olds the new additional work-based diplomas.
They will be available from September 2009 in schools and colleges, and the subjects offered will be business, administration and finance, hair and beauty studies, manufacturing and product design, hospitality and environmental and land-based studies.
These new qualifications are in addition to the five diplomas already offered to students in the borough from this September.
In an effort to reform traditional qualifications all teenagers taking the new qualification will be taught job-based skills in place of traditional classroom lessons.
Mr Knight said that the new diplomas are going from strength to strength in Dorset which he says is a testament to the fantastic work that is going on at a local level.
He added: "I am extremely pleased that so many young people in Dorset will have the chance to study the new diplomas from 2009.
"We set the bar high so that only schools and colleges that fulfilled our assessment criteria have been given the green light.
"We are confident that young people who take a diploma in Dorset will have a high quality experience as they work towards their qualification.
"This is an exciting time for education in this country and I am pleased to see so many employers and universities coming on board and joining local partnerships to make the diploma a success."
Dorset was one of the first places in the country to offer the new-style diploma to their students from 2008.
The five diplomas that will be available in schools and colleges from this September include construction and the built environment, creative and media, engineering, information technology and society, health and development.
There are three levels of diplomas - foundation, higher and advanced.
A foundation diploma is worth five GCSEs grades D-G, a higher diploma is worth seven GCSEs grades A* to C and an advanced diploma is worth three-and-a-half A-Levels.
Each diploma has been designed to include English, maths and IT skills that students require for progression into employment.
11:51am Saturday 22nd March 2008
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CommentPosted by: maximus, Weymouth on 11:57am Sat 22 Mar 08
Will the diploma offer proof that the holder can read and write and has basic numeracy skills, especially as Jim and his gang think that classes of up to 70 pupils are acceptable. [quote]Schools Minister Jim Knight provoked teachers' anger this week when he said classes of 38 and even 70 pupils could be managed with teaching assistants.[/quote]
Will the diploma offer proof that the holder can read and write and has basic numeracy skills, especially as Jim and his gang think that classes of up to 70 pupils are acceptable.
Schools Minister Jim Knight provoked teachers' anger this week when he said classes of 38 and even 70 pupils could be managed with teaching assistants.
Posted by: Shy-Talk, Weymouth on 2:05pm Sat 22 Mar 08
Don’t knock diplomas got mine from a camel trader at the Gobi Desert School of Water Sports.
Don’t knock diplomas got mine from a camel trader at the Gobi Desert School of Water Sports.
Posted by: DingDonG, Wilds of Wiltshire on 11:12am Sun 23 Mar 08
Are they re-inventing the wheel?
Sounds a bit like the OND & HND qualifications common in the '70s.
Are they re-inventing the wheel?
Sounds a bit like the OND & HND qualifications common in the '70s.
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