Owers Lecture 2008

Can Diplomas Cure the ‘English Disease’?

Mick Waters's role at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is Director of Curriculum. The goal is 'to develop a modern, world-class curriculum that will inspire and challenge all learners and prepare them for the future.

Mick believes the curriculum should be treasured and valued and that it needs to be shaped to fit with children's lives. To make the curriculum work, people in schools need to set understandings of their children alongside the learning they should meet to create learning that is irresistible.

View some video clips of the speakers, read Malcolm Moss' report of the event and add your comments to his blog entry.

On 12th November 2008, the fourth Owers Lecture took place in front of an invited audience at Oracle's city office in Moorgate, London.

As an exciting new era in qualifications began in September 2008, we asked - Can Diplomas Cure the ‘English Disease’?

• Will they overcome the ‘English disease’ which sees vocational and practical learning as less worthy and improve the status, number and quality of recruits into industry generally?
• What can we do to help the engineering diploma overcome our society’s failure to recognise the intellectual and creative challenge demanded by careers in industry?

Dr Stan Owers' thesis addressed the reasons for previous failure and this lecture series is designed to maintain a focus on the action that should be taken to rectify it.

The inagural lecture was given by Dr Stan Owers in 2004, followed by Dr Ian Gibson MP in 2006 and Jeff Roche & Raj Rajogopal in 2007.

In association with:

The format this year included two short focused presentations by our guest speakers followed by a response from Mick Waters leaving ample time for discussion.

Jamie Tuplin of Barking and Dagenham local authority gave an oversight touching on all the diplomas programmes in his authority and explained the challenges of collaboration.

Pete Williamson of the Warren School, Barking and Dagenham, provided valuable insight into development of the engineering diploma and the challenges of teaching it.

Dr Stan Owers August 2008