IMechE chief slams government plans to downgrade engineering diplomas

The move to cut the value of the engineering course to school performance tables will block young talent entering the sector, he warned. Tetlow said:"It is vital that we encourage more young engineering talent in this country, but this decision does the reverse. Government must either urgently reassess this decision or say what it is going to do to instead to put engineering back on the map in schools." The government changes mean an engineering diploma will count for one GCSE instead of five. The proposal comes as part of plans to stop more than 3,000 vocational courses counting towards school performance ratings. The changes follow Professor Alison Wolf's review, which found that schools were putting performance table positions above pupil's future prospects. "It is welcome that engineering diplomas will still count towards GCSE league tables, but worrying that they will be downgraded to count for just one GCSE instead of five," Tetlow concluded. "An engineering diploma takes about 20 hours study time a week so this downgrade will deter schools from offering this subject."