Ofqual announces changes to regulation of the Diploma
Friday, 04 November 2011 09:10
Ofqual can today (Friday, November 4) confirm that it is to go ahead with changes to the way the Diploma qualification is regulated.
The changes are necessary because of the Government's intention to treat the Diploma the same way as other qualifications, without special support. This will lead to the closure of the government operated Diploma Aggregation Service (DAS) in 2013. DAS is the system which is currently used to bring together all of the component qualifications needed to get a Diploma.
Ofqual has also previously identified concerns with the complexity of the administration of the qualification.
The changes will have no effect on learners who have already started a Diploma course. They will come into effect for new courses starting in September 2012.
Under the changes, regulations will no longer require Diploma Awarding Bodies to use DAS, and instead allow them to put in place suitable arrangements of their own to aggregate the different component qualifications.
As a result of these changes, awarding organisations which offer Diplomas are reviewing the lines of learning they will offer in the future, and at which levels.
Centres are advised to liaise directly with their Diploma awarding organisations for more information.
Diplomas are made up of a number of component qualifications. These include Principal Learning, Functional Skills (maths, English and ICT) and a project. Learners can presently take the different components with different awarding organisations.
The changes are designed to introduce a regulatory approach that:
- Allows for continued delivery of the Diploma without a requirement to use a government operated results service, where suitable proposals are put forward by awarding organisations
- Retains robust regulation of all Diploma components
- Allows for development of new qualifications based on existing Diploma components
These proposals received broad support in a consultation run from June 13 to September 5. Full details of the proposals consulted on and the responses received are available to download.
View correspondence between the DfE and Ofqual on the future arrangements for the Diploma.
