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DIPLOMAS TO HIT A-LEVELS
Released 14/08/2008
Numbers set to deplete as new courses take off
A-level numbers look set to drop as diplomas are launched for the first time, attracting around 20,000 students.
It is hoped that diplomas will become the qualification of choice, after they are expanded into subjects such as humanities, science and modern languages.
For now the diploma courses will run alongside A-levels, for at least the next five years.
The government has refused to guarantee the future of A-levels beyond a review of qualifications in 2013.
Diplomas are not the only new course, with up to 50 state and independent schools offering Cambridge University's Pre-U course, with hundreds set to follow in coming years.
There is also an expected increase in the number of students taking the Swiss-based Baccalaureate.
Sir Mike Tomlinson, former chief inspector of schools, said: "The A-levels and, indeed, the GCSEs... will be the building blocks of the diploma itself. So they are not disappearing as such. They are being incorporated into the diploma structure."