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New diploma in Engineering - dry lightening for young learners

Electrical engineering is not all circuit boards and soldering irons. It encompasses every aspect of the generation of electricity, from hydro-electrics to telecommunications to microelectronics.

Electrical engineering includes a wealth of career opportunities, which are vital for our world to exist and prosper. However, to date, young learners have not been given the opportunity to combine the development of their practical skills with a theoretical and technical understanding of the subject.

QCA and its partners, DfES and the Skills for Business Network, are working to develop a new specialised 16-19 diploma in engineering, which will be available to learners from September 2008. This is a radical new way of ensuring that the educational needs and choices of young learners and employers are met. The new diploma in Engineering will offer new routes into higher education or employment and provide an industry-recognised credibility for applied learning. The diploma will allow for independent learning and it will provide very real opportunities for the learner to practise the skills he or she acquires.

Mary Curnock Cook, Director of Qualifications and Skills at QCA said: 'The introduction of the new diploma in engineering in September 2008 will act like dry lightening in the promotion of engineering skills to young people. Learners will have the opportunity to acquire skills, knowledge and understanding underpinned by excellent educational practice and supported and measured by recognised industry standards. This country needs a literate and trained work force ready to meet the challenges of the future. I am sure that the introduction of the diploma in engineering will meet these needs.'

The diploma, which puts the academic in context by combing it with vocational learning, will be available in three levels: at level 1 it will be comparable to a programme of four or five GCSEs; level 2 will be comparable to five or six GCSEs; and at level 3 the comparability will be the average length of study for three A levels. For learners there will be a minimum of ten days' work experience at each level to ensure they receive first class, skills-based understanding of the subject. Whilst the diploma will be different from an apprenticeship there will be clear routes between the two and the diploma and apprenticeship may share units.


For further information please contact:

Jon Waldren
Communications, Qualifications and Skills Division
QCA
83 Piccadilly
London
W1J 8QA

Tel: +44 (0)20 7509 5535