Very interesting to see the engineers fighting back and arguing to keep their engineering diploma in face of the race to academia currently underway in English schools.  If you missed the article it’s here.

Engineering was in the very first phase of diplomas that were introduced, at huge expense, by the last Government and sadly wherever I go I hear of schools and colleges dropping them and learners not wanting to take them.  The diplomas were complex, weird, government designed, unusual, and new, not a single redeemable feature.  Except, well, they were a breath of fresh air, they had great sector support, full employer buy-in, university progression, a modern approach and were a genuine alternative.  It’s only natural, therefore for them to get squished.

Now, full disclosure, I was the director of a diploma development project and although ours never even had the opportunity of being launched, it had all the positives in place and was well on the way to being a great addition to the rather staid and bland A level curriculum.  There was much talk of rescuing the bulk of each diploma and turning it into a separate stand alone qualification, we even had an offer from an awarding body, but the government now own the IP and it’s going to be stored in Warehouse 13 for evermore.  Right next to the Ark of the Covenant and Edgar Allen Poe’s pen.

The diplomas were a wonderful first step, version 2, which was already being planned, would have been better still and version 4 or 5 could have made a real impact on education in England.  So I salute the engineers and look forward to a similar response from the other 16 sectors.

No? Anyone? Dust….?