Diploma?

In a recent conversation with the headmaster, I was asked. "What do you know about Diploma's?". My (not very eloquent) response was along the lines of having read about them in the news. This of course, was a lie. I hadn't heard about them in the news at all. I had however, heard about them -and I haven't the slightest clue through which medium. I don't read articles in the TES and nor do I (does anybody?) watch Teachers TV. That I suppose is the mysteriously memorable yet elusive nature of these things. People get wind of new ideas and suddenly they aren't ideas anymore -they're set in stone -until the next idea! I don't recall seeing a single advert on TV or on the back of a bus either! How did the labour government do it?

What's in a name?

I'd love to know the history behind the development of Diplomas. Who, for starters, came up with the name? In certain developing countries diploma's are the word you give to qualifications that aren't quite degree's but aren't quite utterly useless! I remember doing a diploma in web centric design run by NIIT. It was a short fast track course to learning a few web design essentials. A quick fix, if you like. I learnt a little -a very little -but it was a Diploma, what did I expect? So what's in a name?

The first question any able minded person might ask is: Why not simply revamp the existing qualifications (A levels and GCSE's) and adjust specifications and learning plans to cater for the current gaps we find in education? What on earth was the need for a new name? After all, no body likes change, least of all overstretched Educators who having finally got their heads around the current qualifications have to now abandon them to this wonderful new option that nobody really knows anything about. Not yet anyway.

I looked up the word "Diploma" and this is what an online dictionary (http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/diploma.htm) chucked up.

Diploma is:
1. a generic term for a formal document (certificate) that acknowledges that a named individual has achieved a stated higher education award.
2. an award for a specific level of qualification– diploma level – which in some countries is between a bachelor and a masters-level award.
3. a term for any award beyond bachelors level up to but excluding doctoral level awards, including continuing education certification.


Explanatory Context
Diploma is an imprecise term whose meaning is context-dependent and varies from country to country.

Analytical review
HEFCE (2003) defines a diploma as:
A qualification awarded for a course of higher education.

AEC (2004) defines diploma as follows:
The term ‘Diploma’ can mean a number of different things. The following three examples cover most cases: 1. a document which functions as proof of a qualification having been obtained 2.the qualification obtained at the end of the first cycle 3.a qualification with professional meaning or status. For example, in some conservatoires, all qualifications, including those given at the highest level, are called ‘diploma’

For HEA (2004), a diploma is an:
Award usually granted to students upon successful completion of a two or three-year course at undergraduate level. Postgraduate diplomas, generally lasting one or two years, are also available.

All in all, along with the fact that it doesn't sound as jarring as BTEC, the name itself (Diploma) is perhaps intended to draw people's minds to thoughts of higher level learning. So will the Diploma in IT do justice to its name or are we just renaming an amalgamation of A levels and BTECS something to pull the wool over people's eyes?

I started skeptical, but my views have changed drastically. If things were perfect, and they were never meant to be on earth, nothing would ever be in need of change. As it happens, the delivery of IT in current specifications is far from perfect and hence... (either because they really cared or simply had nothing better to do with their well paid time), someone decided to do something about it.