Posted By PhilP
Morning all

I know it’s not Friday but…….

On my drive into work this morning I was listening to the radio, to be told that the GCSE results were out today and yet again it was going to be a bumper year. But the worrying announcement was that it was the first year for the new ‘Diploma’ qualification.

This has set alarm bells ringing with me so I just had quick look at what the diploma entailed and how it faired against the version a lot of safety professionals study many years for. To my astonishment there are apparently three levels and on they are at the following levels:

You can study a Diploma at three levels: Foundation, Higher and Advanced.
• The Foundation Diploma is the same as 5 GCSEs at grades D to G (Equivalent to Level 1)
• The Higher Diploma is the same as 7 GCSEs at grades A* to C (Equivalent to Level 2)
• The Advanced Diploma is the same as 3.5 A levels (Equivalent to Level 3)

I am really still trying to work out how you can call two qualifications at different ends of the education spectrum (level 1 to level 6) can be called the same thing. To be really honest I must say I do feel slightly better about going down the NVQ route now.

I hate to sound slightly political but is this dumbing down of the current examination system or the up-selling of failing education system. What ever the reasons some may now find youths coming for job interveiws saying “Yeh, I got me a diploma”.

Sorry about the meandering thread, but I don't where to go with this; it is just one of those scenarios that makes you wonder how decisions are made sometimes.

Phil

Posted By Hazel Harvey
Phil,
The 'Diplomas' referred to here are part of the Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF) which should be completely in place by the end of next year.
The Framework aims to introduce a 'transferability' element into the system. What this means is that qualifications will have a credit rating at a defined level on the framework which goes from 1-8. Depending on the number of credits a qualification warrants either an Award, a Certificate or a Diploma can be given. However all of them will have a level attached so that it is easy to spot higher level qualifications so a Diploma at level 6 (equivalent to a degree) is clearly much higher than a Diploma at level 1 (equivalent to a GCSE).
In simple terms the name of the qualification is determined by the breadth of the qualification whilst the level qualifies the depth of study.
Once the whole thing is operating it should, in principle, clarify things. In the Health and Safety world there have been a number of 'Diplomas' that were already at a fairly low level and didn't meet IOSH accreditation requirements like NEBOSH and BSCA so confusion about nomenclature was already quite widespread.
If you want more information have a look at the OfQual site (probably quite good for insomnia as well!).
This framework is for England, Wales and NI, Scotland is different as it has 12 levels.

Hazel Harvey
Professional Affairs Director