I would just like to say I he recently embarked on a childcare diploma, with the hopes of becoming a primary school teacher. Now if I had of wanted to do a-levels I could have, but what good would it of done me? Before starting this 3 day a week at college course and attending a local primary school for 2 days for my work placements, I had no idea what being teacher involved, working alongside and at times as an equal to a teacher has given in my personal opinion a huge advantage over students which have chosen the academic route, I have learned about their time management, how they structure and plan lessons and so much more just through observing and shadowing. what I’m trying to say is that work base diplomas, offer something completely new to post GCSE students and that’s real life hands on experience which ultimately is crucial for when we enter the world of work. Aswell as work placements the vast majority of the course is actually theory based anyway it's the best of both worlds

Kelly, Suffolk, Englnd

Unbelievable for the government to be so naive. They're just about to change the structure of GCSEs and A Level again so teachers will now be struggling to get grips with new mark schemes and assessment criteria. These will take time to bed in after the inevitable two years of poor administration etc. A Levels are fine - why change them?

The most sensible suggestion in this debate so far is to remove education from government and instead have it administered by an independent body. What the education system needs is stability - not another 'here today, gone tomorrow' idea. A recent report argues that despite spending half a billion on literacy schemes, literacy has not improved. Seems as if we'll be saying the same about diplomas in ten years time.

Mark, Wolverhampton,

Afer witnessing the destruction of the best education system in the world by politically inept and educationally challenged ministers, the real question is " Should Education be removed from the ambit of the government".

DaveP, Beverley, UK

I was at a grammar school outside London in the sixties. I thought at the time you had to be a genius to get to University and as I had been programmed into accepting the fact that I was not, I did not even consider staying on for "A" levels. I did some technical training and my life turned out to be far more exciting, challenging and fulfilling than many of my peers with University degrees under their belts and little else.

We need to teach children that they can do well from the start and to believe in themselves and if we can ensure that true talent is discovered in time and nourished then we will have done our duty by them . Teachers on the other hand need to be penalised for bad teaching and putting children off learning. There are alot of "personality" clashes that kill the teacher/pupil relationship and spoil development. I would make sure our teachers are performing properly and if not, send them in for recycling! They can make or break even the brightest of students!

maddison, london, england

I totally agree with Richard Armstrong. Well said! Some people could be good at other skills and not academic subjects. It doesn't mean they are not intelligent. Nowadays, a plumber or builder could have a better earning than a degree holder as well.
The government should increase the academic standard by not manipulating the passing rate mark. It is totally wrong! Otherwise, the UK degrees will gradually lose its quality.

JY, Livingston, West Lothian

Does it matter what you call them, qualifications mean nothing other than to represent the level of EDUCATION a person has received and their personal ability and apptitude in those subjects.

If the level and quality of the education is not improved, and the focus continues to be on league tables and artificially inflated grades (acheived by lowering standards) it all means nothing.

The simple answer should be obvious, focus on the quality of the EDUCATION children are receiving, not on the headlines and statistics and choice. I'd rather have no choice, but be assured my child got the best education!

Improve the education and the rest will follow - or am I missing the point somewhere?

M Jain, Edinburgh, Scotland

A few years ago, I recall Gordon Brown say that we should model the Emerican system of tuition in England, a stupid idea because here (in the U.S. where I live and work as a school teacher, many, students never go to college/university because they can't afford the tuition and those who are saddled with huge loans that take years to pay off.
Abolishing A levels and instituting a diploma will do what the diploma system does here in the US -qualify students for vocational training or admission to liberal arts colleges which a basically 4 year institutions of further high school education. AP (Advanced Placement) examinations taken at the end of high school are the rough equivalent of A Levels -although a little harder than A Levels. These are the courses that give American student the best opportunity to be accepted at the hugher quality colleges and universities.
Mr. Brown dismally fails to understand American education and its failures -and he wants to implement these in the UK.

Bill Channon, Francestown, New Hampshire

It does not matter what the system is. We still have the same examination boards, dearth of fully qualified examiners and slave pay for marking scripts.
Also too many educationalists adhere to the latest jargon and untried methods, often to further their career.
Hence, any new diploma is dogged with these inherent problems.
Rather than awarding grades why not release the raw candidate mark but then again sections of society often attempt to make mountains out of molehills.

Rob McAuley, Belfast, Northern ireland

A Levels, O Levels, Water Levels! Just for once why can't politicians not try to fix what isn't broken. Leave things as they are! Stop Balls Ballsing about. A new system could very well work but how much is it all going to cost? A fortune is probably the estimated amount then three or four times that because we did not take this and that into account and the consultants well...We have seen it and heard it all before.

D. Foster, Nottingham, Notts

This guy has only been in the job for 5 minutes and already he is tinkering with the system. Why can't the politicians leave well alone and leave it to those more qualified.

Dacidf, Peterborough, UK

Having just entered my first year of university, I would like to think I've got a good opinion about the education system.

GCSE's could and should be a lot harder. Why are we content with having an ever rising pass rate when some students (myself included) just hit a complete brick wall in some subjects at A level. Ineffective and poor teaching only marks the transition harder.

What is so wrong about failing people academically? I think the vast majority of students with 'poor' results know themselves that they prefer menial or practical work so why is tailoring a education system to lessen the blow of their bad marks helping anyone?

Stop widening subject areas in the vein hope that people who are clearly not cut out or not interested in further education suddenly have a change or heart and decide it's for them because the government throws money at them and makes it easier.

I think when basic literacy is a enviable skill to leave school with, there is something terribly wrong.

Richard Armstrong, Newcastle,

It is wrong to maintain that all have the same potential ability and capability. This has led to the aim of making vocational skills equal in status to academic ones when no amount of pretence that they are the same will make them so. People value intellectual skills more than practical ones because they are rarer, more valuable and have more potential. Whilst there is overlap in some subjects there is no point in pretending that a hairdresser is of equal status to a chemist. It is just a fact of life we need to get used to.

R Mason, London, UK

The IBO has a better structure which broadens rather than narrows year 12 and 13 minds. Coursework is the cheat's charter. Parents, friends, helpful computer geeks and the internet make coursework a boring doddle. It has very little educational value and rarely prepares students for University life. Often dashed off at the last minute by weak, disorganised students, it drags grades down, or, if fiddled by Boards which are in competition, unfairly inflates grades. A Levels as they were taken in 1960s Grammar Schools were very demanding but set me up for life. Make them study Latin instead - there's an intellectual challenge ! Why must everything be about mechanical work ? Labour must hate creative thinking, I suspect.

Eric Paul Lishman, Cockermouth, UK

Universities are for clever people, the less intelligent ones shouldn't be allowed to go. Lowering the entrance qualifications would degrade the standard of graduates and university would be less prestigious. Diplomas would also allow less intelligent people opportunities which intelligent hardworking people try hard to achieve.

Judith Barnes, Cornwall, England

My concern is the thought of children as young as 14 choosing a work based diploma and later wanting to change their mind but being already too embedded in their first choice to be able to change.

L Johnston, BANGOR, CO. DOWN,

Hooray, someone with some sense at last. Europe(which we are part of by the way) has been using diplomas for some considerable time and it is about time we followed suit in order to raise the standards of our graduates. It is not about getting 50% 0f the population into universities, it should be about getting our clever children through a degree course so that they can not only help themselves but this country as well.

Robbie McAndrew, Marford, W

Come, come, come how do you expect to get 50% of the population into univrsities if you don't lower the entrance qualifications?

Red Tower, Dunoon, Scotland

Only one thing is certain viz -: These proposed diploma results will be manipulated so as to justify the promoting minister's predictions.
Until all such exams are set,managed and judged by independent experts (this excludes, by definition, any present or past civil servants from the Department of Education). the true assessment of academic ability will remain tainted.

S P Green, Correns, France

It seems to me that the current government is continuing with its one size fits all ideas first seen in the comprehensive system. When will they ever learn that some people are academic and need an exam based system while others have more practical skills and need a more vocational based system of learning and assessment. Neither is better or worse than the other, the education estabishment only needs to accept the fact that children/adults have different capabilities and therefore differing educational requirements.

John Miller, London

JOHN MILLER, Eltham London,

This has obviously come from another attempt at "Blue sky thinking" or maybe it is another version of the "third way" . It would be far better to educate rather than produce another generation of people who cannot read or do basic mathematics and communicate with grunts and telly language. The people who are dreaming these ideas up do not understand the real world. They do understand that they are creating a state of morons who they can control.

Philip Hodges, Nottingham UK,

"...calls from the education Establishment to scrap A levels..."

Why don't we just throw out exams and have school kids hold hands and chant in a circle; after sharing their experiences, their Marxist teacher can decide who's been the most disadvantaged and send those kids to Oxford. There they can decide who gets firsts by making wind-chimes or something.

Ben Kotzee, Hitchin, Herts,

It is hard to believe that any employer can be familiar with the value of the various exams that have been used over the last ten or twenty years other than to think they are worthless. I once interviewed about twenty would-be typists. Although qualified on paper only two could type a one page letter without corrections.
With University entrants often requiring extra tuition the existing exams obviously are not valid.

Brian Gilbert, HAMPTON, Middx

It is completely untrue to say that the Diplomas have specially designed content developed by "leading employers".

They are largely a rehash of vocational qualifications like BTECs and vocational GCSEs.

Have a look at the specification of, say, the Creative and Media Diploma on the Edexcel website and then weep for the future of education in the UK.

George Formby, Blackpool,

Time for another change of standards in case the sad situation becomes too apparent. As with determining base rates, education won't be safe until taken out of the hands of meddling politicians. The Baccalaureate is the only one to trust.

R Bowden, London,

Just what is wrong with the A-Level system? I'll tell you what.
It has been tinkered with to such an extent that it has been de-valued beyond belief. If you take a UK A-Level student & put them side by side with say a German, Spaniard, Dutch, Danish or any other student from the EU of the same age & level of education then the UK student would be bottom of the pile.
So UK gov thinks they can sort this out by spending money on "a new" exam system!

Mike, Warsaw, Poland

Germany did something similar in 1923 when it replaced the hopelessly inflated Mark with the new Rentenmark. Like the Mark, 'A' Levels have been destroyed as a measure of worth through bad policies that were designed to please. Let us hope people have confidence in the new diplomas, as they did in the Rentenmark.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Let me guess!, to be replaced by a 'EUropean' style 'Baccalaureate style diploma?'.

This will be Labour yet again meekly implementing EU legislation into England on behalf of their masters in Brussels.

Steve Simpson, Leeds , England

you can change the name of the education system but if the teachers are still poorly trainied, as they are now, the children will continue to end up as numb as they are now.

luke, perth, australia

We also have fiddling and muddling with the education system over here. I wonder what the purpose of schooling is? Maybe someone can tell me.

mjc, perth, australia

How bloody ridiculous - they scrap GCSE coursework because no-one believes it is credible and then they introduce it to these diplomas - this is just another ploy to have more students in higher education when they would be better off learning a trade and getting an apprenticeship for practical work.

JA Hilton, Slough, UK