Ministers scale back diploma plan

The government has confirmed that the number of pupils taking new diplomas next year will be scaled back following concerns about the quality of the qualifications.

Schools minister Jim Knight said original plans for up to 40,000 students have been "downgraded in order to maintain quality".

The news follows a warning from the head of the Edexcel exam board, Jerry Jarvis, who told Thursday's Guardian that the diplomas for 14 to 19-year-olds could be "worthless" unless flaws in the courses were urgently corrected.

Jarvis said there were a number of problems which needed to be addressed urgently.

"We think it's going to be quite traumatic to get through this. The issue is about schools being able to cope," he said.

"If the diploma doesn't earn its spurs as a qualification, and that means respect from employers, pupils, parents and higher education, we face a serious problem. There is a huge educational risk to this country."

A spokesman at the Department for Children, Schools and families dismissed Jarvis' comments in the interview as "an absurd misrepresentation of the truth".

But Knight told the Guardian: "The teaching that starts in September will take place in two-thirds of local authorities.

"It is a smaller number of learners than originally projected - the lower end of 30,000. That is because it's on the basis of quality. We would not tolerate any sacrifice of quality in order to achieve numbers.

"In some cases there were initial estimates and local consortia have downplayed that in order to maintain quality. The numbers are lower for all the right reasons rather than all the wrong reasons."