Student: The Diploma in Society, Health and Development is easier than GSCEs and A levels.
The Diploma in SHD is no easy option!
Level 1 is equal to 5 GCSEs, Level 2 equals 7 GCSEs and Level 3 equals 3.5 A levels.
You can combine Level 2 with additional GCSEs or other qualifications and Level 3 with an A level or other qualifications to keep your options wider for higher education and entry for certain occupations.
The breadth of the course means you'll be able to show future employers that you have useful independent thinking skills, gained in the real workplace, which you can use to solve real work challenges.
At Level 3, you'll be able to show universities and employers that you are a high achiever with the necessary skills to help you go even further.
Student: If you change your mind, you can cut off a lot of options.
No. The beauty of SHD is that it's been designed to help you keep your options open for many different occupations and job roles.
Although you can choose options as you progress further along the Diploma, before this happens you'll have a good grounding in key areas.
Being able to opt for additional specialist topics at Level 3 encourages you to think carefully about what you want to learn. After all, if you can choose options that interest you most, you're more likely to do well in those topics.
Whatever you choose, you can be sure that you'll get an insight into the areas of the children and young people's workforce, health, community justice and adult social care.
Parent: My teenager won't be able to get to college or university with the Diploma in SHD.
The Diploma in SHD is designed to set young people up so they can progress as far as they want to go, whether into higher academic learning or employment.
Diplomas have been developed very carefully with employers who want to captivate the brightest talent.
SHD has the academic rigour of other qualifications but also has occupational relevance, which means your son or daughter no longer has to choose between an academic or vocational route.
This is blended learning at its best, giving young people real skills and a challenging academic curriculum. It's been designed to be flexible, ensuring young people can refine and tailor their learning as they progress, whilst getting a good grasp of core academic skills and knowledge that will stretch them.
If young people progress to Level 3, they will have a qualification that matches 3 A levels. As part of the Diploma, they can choose to take additional learning in either an A level subject or specialised topics. For example they might choose A level Maths or Science to support entry into certain health or caring professions.
Employer: The Diploma in SHD is just another new qualification in a long line of learning fads.
It's not a fad.
The Diploma in SHD content has been developed in partnership with many employers. It combines a traditional education curriculum with disciplines needed by employers and it's been written in a language employers will understand.
It features numeracy, literacy and ICT skills with occupationally relevant topics to give young people an insight into what occupation, future training or learning they may want to take up.
Crucially, the Diploma develops skills such as independent thinking, team working and the communication skills needed for life and work.
Work-based experience provides useful transferable skills gained in a real workplace setting. At Level 3, young people will undertake 20 days of context placement, in two sectors.
Teacher: This is yet another example of education being tinkered with and isn't any different to past initiatives.
The Diploma in SHD is no accidental ‘add on' to other forms of learning. It is completely new.
It has emerged thanks to a strong partnership approach between employers, schools, colleges and universities and other experts to produce a robust qualification.
There's no doubt that SHD will need to be taught in a different way. A typical weekly timetable for a young person aged 14 might involve two days learning for the Diploma in SHD in a variety of different settings dependent on the syllabus, the other three days studying the core subjects of the national curriculum in their base school. Across the two years of study this will involve 10 days with an employer for work experience.
It will call for a flexible approach to delivering learning, and a new and radical change to the way employers, schools and colleges work together. No single learning provider will be able to deliver SHD on its own. You will need each other to ensure the delivery of each topic is robust and well-rooted in a positive and challenging workplace environment.
Whilst SHD promotes the idea of hands-on learning, it is not a curriculum that has been ‘dumbed down'. Hands-on learning is just as suitable for the very able and it challenges the distinction between academic and vocational learning.
SHD has all the components required to stretch the most able of learners, so they can show their independent learning and study skills through an extended project. This will match an AS qualification in terms of teaching and learning time but follow a subject relevant to SHD that is chosen by the learner themselves.
There are already examples of leading partnerships that are set to make the Diploma in SHD a success. (Link to case study about SHAPE consortium 5.1 The Diploma in education and case study about Capital Skills Project)
: The Diploma in SHD doesn't complement other qualifications.
The Diploma in SHD has been designed to fit alongside and complement other qualifications and learning programmes such as GCSEs, A levels, Apprenticeships (including Young and Advanced), and occupational-based qualifications.
Learners following SHD may step off the diploma at a given level and progress on to any of these other routes of learning.
It has been designed to be flexible, with the aim of drawing more young people into education and work. With such an attractive level of flexibility and the fact that learners can keep their options open, SHD will be a strong offering for any school or college that delivers it.
HE Tutor: A student holding the Diploma in SHD qualification won't have what it takes to succeed in higher education.
We believe they will.
Universities have always wanted to attract the highest calibre of students. The Diploma in SHD at Level 3 is the academic equivalent of 3 A levels, and young people can opt to include a specific A level such as Maths or Science as additional learning to support their entry on to particular higher education courses.
SHD will receive a UCAS tariff rating, and young people will have developed strong personal learning and thinking skills which will help in their transition from school or college to higher education. The development of research skills within the Diploma in SHD project provides a platform for HE progression.
The occupational-related learning will also enable young people to make a better-informed choice when it comes to higher education. Early indications from young people who have followed academic learning combined with occupational work experience show they are much better-prepared learners when entering higher education.
Careers Advisor: I want to be sure that my students will be able to follow a rewarding career.
SHD follows four occupational areas. Young people will have gained a wide range of skills and knowledge directly relevant to further study and employment in the children and young people's workforce, health, community justice and adult social care sectors.
Learners could, in time, progress on to a number of roles such as art therapist, nanny, counsellor, children's nurse, educational psychologist, youth offending worker, nurse, therapist, police community support officer or children's social worker.
The opportunities really are huge, and that's the idea - SHD can help young people access many rewarding and challenging occupations in a wide range of sectors.
