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Forums > Diploma 2009 - Sheffield Eng Diploma oversubscribed
 
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Mike

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Registered: 02/23/08
Posts: 25

    01/05/09 at 09:49 PMReply with quote#1
The TES teacher forums have been a challenging arena for views about the progress of the Diplomas.
However the latest posting to a thread entitled 'The Diploma - inside news that it is failing' provides the following, highly encouraging news:

Posted by: tecteach 04/01/2009 at 21:02

I am involved with two diploma consortiums who are getting ready to deliver this September. We have already had a huge amount of interest and are going to have to turn numbers away. The diplomas are the future whether we like it or not, employers are interested in them as a lot of the diploma is about employer engagement. This enables pupils to look at real life companies and their products / services.

You have hit the nail on the head by saying many  D & T teachers dont want to teach engineering as they have no experience in it whatsoever. They have come straight through the education system to teach in the education system as you said. That is why it is important for the consortium to have members on their team who have industrial experience. Failing that, join the diploma suport forums and ask for help, it is out there as many people have the same issues and are finding answers collectively.

Sheffield LA has taken the diploma in Engineering, worked hard at it and have a huge number of pupils ready for starting their second year 10 mob this September. Their's is a diploma  success story.

.................................................................................................

There are several characteristics of the Sheffield Consortium that have lead to this success.
It has been given a high profile lead by the LA Diploma Champion, Gary Drabble, with a series of conferences geared to addressing the common challenges of setting up the Diploma, forging links with industry partners, setting up networking etc.
There have been monthly meetings for all teachers and headteachers involved in the programme.
There has been a high commitment from Sheffield teachers to making it work.
This week Sheffield opens their new, state of the art Engineering Centre to provide a centre for teaching and industry liaison, and for showing the best resources for teaching the Engineering Diploma.

There is much good practice to see in Sheffield.
Contact Gary Drabble at Shefield LA if you would like to find out more about the success behind the Sheffield approach.
Glyndwr

Registered: 10/16/08
Posts: 5

    01/06/09 at 02:16 PMReply with quote#2

I can see why there is a lot of negativity about the diploma. I am currently involved in the Leeds roll out and am surprised at some of the things I hear.

 

Personally I feel that those passionate about the diploma will get on with it and do a good job. There is a lot of opportunity to deliver an excellent qualification to pupils.

 

However a half hearted attempt is going to end in disaster. I feel the only way forward with this qualification is all or nothing.

 

I can see why a lot of places are waiting to see what happens. If I was unsure of it all I would do the same.

 

If you’re not going to support it, then wait until it fails and then you can say 'told you so'.

 

Until then wish us luck.

 

G.
Mike

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Registered: 02/23/08
Posts: 25

    01/06/09 at 11:34 PMReply with quote#3
I think you are right in your analysis Glyndwr.
The Diploma represents quite a big professional and structural change for schools.
If you have been teaching for some time and getting good GCSE and A level grades, it may look like a lot of change for no great benefit.

But I believe that it is important to look beyond exam grades when judging the success of a course. A key queston is how well does a course prepare a student for their professional life after education.  One reason that Diplomas have been introduced is that our traditional GCSE and A level courses are not meshing well with the employment opportunities in our wealth-generating industries. The country depends on more engineers and people who can turn their ingenuity to manufacturing and product creation, rather than the peception that you can make money by chasing financial bubbles.

You are right that there is no sense in starting a Diploma if one doesn't believe in its purpose, or are not prepared to work with others, or learn from those with engineering experience. It is just antiprofessionalism to not do the best for the students that place their confidence in those delivering new courses . There will be enough consortia areas like Sheffield that will get the formula right, and provide the right level of central momentum and support to make it a success for students. The model can then be studied and reproduced.  There is enough good will and support out there to make the Diploma work so that over time students will be able to know that if they choose this route into employment there will be some excellent centres around to support their choice.
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