Too easy or too hard?

The national press have picked up on a story from the AoC saying Diplomas are too hard and only for the brightest of students with good prior attainment.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that supposed to be the case. Functional Skills (the prior attainment that is being discussed) isn't a gimme qualification. It's demanding, rigorous and it means students and teachers have to work on the skills, not on passing tests.

What really gets me is that the Daily Mail has also jumped on the story - the same Daily Mail that runs stories saying that exams are too easy!

And of course Diplomas come in three sizes at level 1, 2, and 3 but this seems to have been missed. I'm quite pleased really, lets have more of this "its a worthwhile qualification" story.