When I recently heard that I had to film at a valves factory, I wasn’t exactly filled with enthusiasm. However, when I found out that the company were actually the brains behind Buddy – the world leaders in the coolest and most high performance SCUBA diving kit – I was quite a bit more excited….

What I am hoping is that the film we made with Buddy will also excite the students who will soon be studying the New National Diplomas.

The Diplomas will be available from September to 14–19 year olds. One of their key intentions is to bring the real world of work to life for students. And that’s where we at Twofour Learning have come in.

The Buddy film is one in a series of classroom resources for AQA that we have produced in conjunction with Nelson Thornes Publisher. These films will be ‘windows into the workplace’ for students who would not normally be able to experience the inner workings of some of the countries biggest names in Engineering, Construction, IT and Media.

In a hectic 3 weeks of planning, filming and editing we have produced the first 25 films. Our jam packed schedule has taken us to discuss top secret innovations with Dyson engineers, 2012 plans at an Olympic village, the production process of a super yacht and car maintenance on a Mini Cooper.

And that’s just for starters - in the coming months we will be producing 33 more films taking the total to 58.

Whilst making the classroom resources, the team at Twofour Learning have been following the rollercoaster ride the Diplomas have been having in the press. Controversy and teething problems aside, we are confident that a vocational, skills based qualification where young people learn what is really waiting for them outside of the classroom can only be a good thing.