Devaluation of qualifications

There has been much press coverage within recent months about the government move towards devaluation of vocational qualifications.

I agree that it is wrong to devalue vocational qualifications. Not everyone is academic and the world would be a sorry place if we were. For what it's worth I have had no difficulty in finding people to deal with medical, legal and financial issues in life, however, whenever I have needed a tradesman I have been sorely disappointed.

One of our windows suffered storm damage some months ago and the insurance company have requested quotes for the repairs. To date two firms have failed to show when they were supposed to come to look at the job, the third showed up and assured me the estimate would be with me in a few days, yet here I am still waiting. It may be a regional thing but in my experience we're desperately short of skilled manual workers.

Having said all that, I was even more dismayed this week to hear Hermione being actively discouraged from pursuing the broad meandering path she had carved out for her Arts Award. Seemingly all that is expected is that you tick the boxes. Work carried out over and above that just clutters the boxes and presumably may take up more of the moderators time. I understand that moderators have time constraints and perhaps it's best that they are not overwhelmed with an onslaught of youthful exuberance for learning, but hey, I thought that learning and qualifications were inextricably linked; in a positive way!

What an absolute tragedy that formal qualifications seem to be operating, (and I say that having now queried this kind of practice in other national qualifications too) in such a way that they are curtailing curiosity and depth of knowledge.

I feel so thankful that I'm here to ensure Hermione ticks her own boxes, and expands her knowledge to her full capacity rather than being dumbed down by someone else's checklist.