What do Diplomas involve?
There are three levels of Diploma available
Foundation, Higher and Advanced. Diplomas can be studied at any age.
Each Diploma will involve a mix of:
Principal Learning
Principal learning focuses on developing the knowledge and skills that you'll need for the Diploma subject you have chosen, with an emphasis on 'learning by doing'.
Generic Learning
Generic learning is the same for all Diplomas. It will help you gain a good standard in English, maths and ICT skills – as well as giving you a good grounding in the personal, learning and thinking skills which you will find useful at university or college and in the workplace.
Additional and Specialist Learning
Additional and specialist learning allows you to choose extra subjects to study. These subjects could be related to your Diploma, or simply ones that reflect your interests and ambitions.
You will also get the chance to do at least 10 days work experience and to work on a project to put into practice what you’re learning. For example, on the Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment, you might complete a project designing a new structure.
Diplomas are assessed through a mixture of exams and work marked by a teacher, to reflect the practical nature of the learning. The different parts of the Diploma are assessed separately and the results combined to make the whole Diploma.
This means that you will get credit for each part that you achieve as well as a grade for the whole thing.