Diploma in Creative and Media - Gateway FAQs
We've compiled a list of Gateway FAQs which should prove very informative for centres when preparing their application to the selection process.
What are the DDP looking for in your Record of previous delivery in subject lines?
How does the Creative and Media DDP define Employer Engagement and Work Related Learning?
What is the difference between Work Related Learning and Work Experience?
Where can I find the curriculum for the Diploma in Creative and Media?
How do the 4 themes relate to the sector related disciplines?
Why are Personal Learning and Thinking Skills important to the Diploma in Creative and Media?
Why is the Extended Project important in the Advanced Diploma?
What are the progression opportunities into and out of the Diploma?
Q) What information is available as preparation for writing your Gateway application for Creative and Media?
A) The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has produced guidance for centres applying to Gateway. This guidance includes Core Advice from the Diploma Development Partnership (DDP) explaining the requirements for each line of learning. Gateway applicants should follow the DDP's guidance when preparing their applications.
The Creative and Media DDP has also produced a Companion Document for the Diploma. This document aims to help understanding on the content and spirit of the Diploma in Creative and Media and comes in addition to the guidance. Please download a copy below:
Companion DocumentQ) Is the Diploma a vocational qualification?
A) The Diploma in Creative and Media is not a vocational qualification. It does not train students for a particular job or prepare them for work with a narrow sector focus. The Diploma is a broad qualification that seeks to develop creativity and confidence in a young person's ability to think, question, explore, create and communicate.
The Diploma is intended to provide breadth in learning and depth in the application of the practical and transferable skills. It combines academic and theoretical knowledge with practical skills and essential attributes.
The aim is to give young people a learning experience where the focus is on the process. Learners will be able to apply their skills and knowledge in a range of contexts, be it in higher education, further education, training or future employment.
Q) How do I present the Diploma in Creative and Media to my colleagues within the consortium and to other key stakeholders?A) Have a look at The Big Picture PowerPoint below. This presentation gives an overview of the Diploma in Creative and Media and it is designed to communicate its key ideas quickly and effectively to a variety of audiences. Download a copy here:
Q) Our consortium would like to offer a Visual Arts Diploma and concentrate on the Art and Design disciplines - can we do this?
A) Although this may be technically possible, we would not recommend this approach as it goes against the spirit of the Diploma in Creative and Media.
The Creative and Media industries promote cross discipline working for the Diploma. This approach reflects more accurately the range of skills and disciplines a creative practitioner uses in their work.
Cross discipline working also enables students to explore a range of disciplines and avoid specialising too early, as the creative process and the 4 themes apply in different contexts.
Q) What are the DDP looking for in your Record of previous delivery in subject lines?A) Examples of delivering Creative and Media subjects, such as Art and Media, are useful.
However, we are also looking for experience in delivering teaching and learning programmes related to the Diploma such as:
- Examples of applied learning;
- flexible learning;
- courses spanning different Creative and Media disciplines; and
- courses offering wider skills development related to the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills.
A) The Creative and Media DDP has produced a Toolkit for consortia and employers, which includes ideas and definitions for Employer Engagement and Work Related Learning. You can access the contents of the toolkit here
Q) I'm concerned that we don't currently have many employer links to support Creative and Media. Will this affect my application?A)The make-up of the Creative and Media industries and their geographical spread would make engaging relevant employers to support work related learning harder for some consortia than others.
Because of this, the DDP have never been prescriptive about the number or type of employer consortia work with. The Diploma has been designed to be flexible around the types of work related learning, including simulated and remote work related learning.
If you are concerned about employer engagement, the DDP's recommendation is to perform an audit of employer links against sector related disciplines, and prepare an action plan to meet any identified gaps.
Consortia should be creative and think laterally about ways to meet these gaps. Using the consortium to provide creative and media solutions to non creative and media employers; setting up local arts festivals to showcase student work; working remotely with online learning resources and e-mentoring; etc.
Q) What is the difference between Work Related Learning and Work Experience?A) Work Related Learning is defined as planned activity that uses the context of work to develop knowledge, skills and understanding useful in work.
The Toolkit above sets out a menu of various Work Related Learning approaches and activities. These enable young people to see the relevance of their classroom learning to the world of work and to engage with industry practitioners.
For employers, Work Related Learning provides flexibility to get involved in teaching young people about their profession in a safe, structured and manageable way. It also ensures the time and expertise of an employer is used to benefit as many students as possible.
Work Experience is one aspect of Work Related Learning, which provides students with an immersive experience of the workplace, carrying out tasks and duties in much the same way as an employee, with the emphasis on learning from the experience.
Creative and Media students are required to complete at least 10 days work experience at all levels. However, these 10 days do not need to be completed in a continuous block.
Placements related to the creative and media sectors are desirable, but are not a requirement as it is recognised that this might not always be possible.
Q) Where can I find the curriculum for the Diploma in Creative and Media?A) There isn't a curriculum for the Diploma which lays out what is to be taught as with other qualifications. Instead, consortia will need to design a range of activities and projects to deliver the requirements of each unit in their chosen Awarding Body's specification.
Edexcel, OCR and AQA/City and Guilds have developed specifications for the Diploma in Creative and Media:
Edexcel specification for the Diploma in Creative Media
AQA - City&Guilds specification for the Diploma in Creative and Media
OCR specification for the Diploma in Creative and Media
The Creative and Media DDP has produced indicative content for the 20 sector related disciplines, for each of the 4 themes and each level of the Diploma. This content can be found in the Companion Document.
Q) How do the 4 themes relate to the sector related disciplines?A) The 4 themes are aspects of the creative process and the essential content of the Creative and Media principal learning. They encourage young people to think about their own creativity and its relation to the wider world, as well as the business side of creative work.
The 4 themes equip students with a range of tools to stimulate and develop their creativity, along with the practical skills and processes to actually create.
The sector-related disciplines are the means by which these 4 themes are delivered, and the emphasis should be on teaching the creative process rather than a specific subject or specialism.
Activities and projects should combine varying disciplines, partly to give students a wide-ranging experience, but also to demonstrate that the creative process is broadly the same across the disciplines. With this knowledge, young people can begin to recognise how they can easily transfer the skills and knowledge they have developed to other contexts and industries.
Q)Why are Personal Learning and Thinking Skills important to the Diploma in Creative and Media?A) Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) are part of every Diploma programme and include:
- team working;
- independent enquiry;
- self-management;
- reflective learning;
- effective participation; and
- creative thinking.
Those skills are integral to the Creative and Media Principal Learning and very closely related to the creative process of planning, doing and reviewing, as well as to the project-focused approach in delivering the Diploma.
PLTS also represent the kind of transferable, employability skills that our industries and higher education highlighted as desirable in the development of the Diploma. Both industry and education have identified these skills as highly beneficial preparation for creative and media courses and careers, but also for higher education and work generally.
Q) Are there any technical specifications for the facilities and equipment a consortium needs to deliver the Diploma?A) There are no specifications for facilities and equipment as every consortium is different and will have different facilities available.
However, when filling out the facilities section of your Gateway application form, you should consider undertaking an audit of your facilities and equipment to ensure you are able to support all of the sector-related disciplines.
It may also be helpful to enlist local employers and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for advice on appropriate facilities. And remember to list facilities your students will have access to, whether through an employer or HE partner, rather than just those 'on site' for delivery institutions.
Q) What is the role of Additional and Specialist Learning?A) The Additional and Specialist Learning (ASL) component of the Diploma in Creative and Media allows for the broadening or deepening of study. They enable learners to choose qualifications to add to and complement the principal learning. Or, depending on the choices made, they can be used to deepen the specialisms selected within the principal learning component. Learners may opt for any qualification contained within Sections 96 and 97 of the National Qualifications Framework.
There is a vast range of qualifications that would complement the principal learning, including GCSEs, A-Levels and other general qualifications in a range of subjects, such as English, Maths and ICT, or a science, language or humanities subject.
The emphasis is on providing students with opportunities to pursue interests outside of Creative and Media, with the aim of supporting their progression into a range of further and higher education courses, or future employment.
Specialist learning should provide further depth in Creative and Media specialisms, without duplicating the content of the Principal Learning. Examples of qualifications that would extend and deepen specialisms include graded examinations in music, dance, speech and drama, BTECs or other vocationally related qualifications in Creative and Media subjects, and the Arts Award.
A full catalogue of qualifications available as ASL can be found at the National Database of Accredited Qualifications website.
Q) Why is the Extended Project important in the Advanced Diploma?A) The Extended Project is a single, stand-alone piece of work which requires students to use a research plan and work on their own. Worth half an A Level, the project is a compulsory part of the Diploma, or can be taken alongside A Levels as a qualification in itself.
The Extended Project will allow students to develop their critical reasoning, analytical and project management skills among others. Learners will have the opportunity to demonstrate their enthusiasm and commitment to a subject or activity whilst getting a taste for the kind of stretch and challenge all universities expect their students to engage with and achieve.
Teachers will deliver learning on a particular subject combined with research skills and advise on project management. They will also supervise and support students as they carry out their project. Projects will be marked internally to strict criteria.
Q) What are the progression opportunities into and out of the Diploma?A) Learners achieving the Diploma in Creative and Media will benefit from a broad range of opportunities, including progression into further and higher education and future employment in or outside of the Creative and Media industries.
The skills and attributes gained through the Diploma will enable young people to become critical thinkers, effective communicators and creative practitioners. These are the skills universities and employers look for, regardless of the subject or sector.
Progression into and out of the three levels of the Diploma is flexible. Learners may choose to progress through all three levels, or enter and exit to and from other qualifications. For example, a learner completing GCSEs may choose to take up an Advanced Diploma. Alternatively, a learner completing the Higher Diploma may choose to progress into A levels.
Learners can also progress into different Diploma lines of learning, moving from Creative and Media to IT for example, where the entry requirements permit.
The Advanced Diploma is designed to provide progression opportunities into further and higher education via both academic and vocational routes. Consortia should ensure that learners are aware of the progression opportunities available to them, both within and outside of the Creative and Media disciplines.
Centres should provide learners with information and guidance relating to their chosen progression path. This is in order to allow a full choice within the additional and/or specialist components of their Diploma; and also to ensure that these components are best suited to the further education or employment opportunities the learner aspires to.
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