National Evaluation of Diplomas: Cohort 1 - The Second Year

Gill Featherstone, Pauline Wade, Sarah Golden, Tami McCrone, Kelly Evans, Clare Southcott

30 June 2011

Available to download from the DfE website

The purpose of the national evaluation is to provide policy makers and practitioners with systematic and robust evidence which will enable them to make informed judgements about the outcomes of the Diplomas for different stakeholders and to make improvements to design and delivery, if appropriate.

The overall research design for the evaluation provides a complementary mixed-method approach to address the complex range of issues and aims associated with the implementation of the Diplomas. The study has three main strands: surveys of a range of stakeholders (including consortium leads, learners, teaching staff, parents, employers and Higher Education Institutions; a longitudinal programme of qualitative case studies; and statistical analysis of external datasets.

This report contains the findings of research as carried out in the spring 2010, which explored experiences of the second year of delivery of the first cohort of Diploma learners (who started their Diploma in September 2008) who were able to study any of the first five subjects: Construction and the Built Environment; Creative and Media; Engineering; Information Technology; and Society, Health and Development. It presents the findings from surveys of pre- and post-16 Diploma and comparison learners, a survey of Diploma teachers and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and Diploma learners in a sub-sample of 15 case-study consortia.

The national evaluation of diplomas

• Findings from the first stage of the evaluation
• Findings from the evaluation of the first year of delivery
• Preparation for 2009 delivery
• Gateway 2 lead consortium survey
• Information, advice and guidance
• Cohort 2 - the first year of delivery
• Cohort 3 - findings from the 2010 consortium lead and pupil surveys
• Cohort 1 - the second year
• Cohort 2 - the second year