ABSTRACT
Prior to July 1999, the term ‘graduation certificate’ would have meant little to those involved in education and training in the UK. If it signified anything at all, it was most likely to have conjured up images of higher education degree certificates rather than awards pre-18. To those familiar with the United States it might have suggested graduation ceremonies linked to the High School Diploma. In the public mind this association would have been reinforced by the film (and latterly theatre version of) The Graduate. The publication of Bridging the Gap by the government’s Social Exclusion Unit (SEU, 1999) in July 1999 brought together these existing associations and connotations and recast them anew. At the same time, by juxtaposing the words ‘graduation’ and ‘certificate’ it rooted this new concept firmly in the context of the ‘overarching certificate’, a form of group award which was linked to, but fundamentally different from, more traditional forms of baccalaureate.
