Vocational diplomas - but A-Levels and GCSEs stay

Wednesday, 23 February 2005 12:00 AM

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has today rejected calls for a complete overhaul of the qualification system and said A-Levels and GCSEs will stay.

The recent Tomlinson Report, from former chief inspector of schools, Sir Mike Tomlinson, suggested that the qualification system should be radically overhauled into a diploma system that included both vocational and academic qualifications.

But, although Ms Kelly said she would introduce diplomas in 14 work-related areas A-Levels and GCSEs would be retained.

Four such diplomas, in information and communication technology, engineering, health and social care and creative and media studies, would be available by 2008, with all 14 planned to be introduced by 2015.

The plans drew praise from employers, but criticism from leading teaching unions.

Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, the Education Secretary said the Government would "move from a system of comprehensive schools to a genuinely comprehensive system of education in every local area".

She told the House that the 14-19 systems had to meet the needs and aspirations of young people and to address the historic failings of the system.

The package of reforms would place the same emphasis on vocational education as on academic education, she said, asserting that, "all teenagers should have the opportunity of a place in education, training or on an apprenticeship".

She rejected calls for GCSEs and A-levels to be abolished, arguing that scrapping what was good would not improve what was bad.

Ms Kelly said that there would be an increased focus on numeracy and literacy with all young people required to master the basis and maths and English GCSEs would be toughened so no-one who failed to master the basics could get a high grade.

But the plans came under fire from opposition ministers, with Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins accusing Ms Kelly of "burying" the Tomlinson report rather than "celebrating" it.

"She will now not go down in history as a great reformer," the Conservative spokesman said.

"This was her first test and she has flunked it."

The Institute of Directors (IoD) said that they backed the decision to retain the traditional exams and focus on basic skills but questioned whether new diplomas were necessary.

Director general Miles Templeman said: "The Government is right to reject the Tomlinson proposals for a diploma to replace existing qualifications such as GCSEs and A Levels. Rather than initiating an upheaval in the qualification system we need better standards and results in schools. In particular, businesses expect pupils leaving school to be literate and numerate."

He added that the Government must insure that the new diplomas really reflect the needs of business and suggested that determined action to improve apprenticeships and vocational GCSEs and A-Levels would be more useful.

But, the Secondary Heads' Association said that the Government had wasted a key opportunity for reform.

General secretary, Dr John Dunford, said: "The White Paper is a lost opportunity to create the coherent, unified qualifications system that this country needs. The Tomlinson diploma, carefully crafted with the support of employers, universities, colleges and schools, has been strangled at birth.

"A levels and GCSEs should remain in the short term as the building blocks of the new system, but in the long term they must be absorbed into a diploma if we are to have a qualifications system that gives due value to both academic and vocational achievements. Only through a diploma framework can this country overcome the historic undervaluing of vocational qualifications.

"Electoral tactics, it seems, have taken precedence over educational logic."

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