Warning against New Zealand 'Lego'

Britain should learn from the mistakes New Zealand has made in modularising qualifications for 16 to 19-year-old education, says Alan Smithers, director of Brunel University's centre for education and employment research. He reports that New Zealand "tried to create a vast educational Lego" by bringing together all post-senior secondary school qualifications. But there is little consistency between education providers and components for qualifications have mushroomed from an expected 9,000 this year to 14,000 in 1998.