Why do most jobs require GCSE or equivalent?

You keep saying you have no capacity to learn, yet you are putting together decent enough sentences. I doubt anyone will ask for your certificates.

I agree with the posters who say start up your own business.

Self employed gardener would be good. People are desparate for lawn mowers these days - it doesn't have to be hard landscaping. Just lawnmowing would get you in the region of £20 an hour, a perfectly respectable amount.

OP have you ever been assessed for dyslexia? If that’s what’s preventing you from passing the exams you’ll need a very different approach to learning. Perhaps look to see if any local charities or the council have anything on offer to help with adult numeracy & literacy. There are also online programmes specifically designed for people with learning difficulties that could help give you a better foundation and enable you to go on to gain qualifications.

Because in this day and age employers want some people with basic competencies? For everyone person without GCSEs there'd be people with GCSEs.

Also good to have an incentive to work at school.

That's true - no one will check.

Most jobs need you to do some amount of independent work and critical thinking so GCSEs are a gage of basic levels. The person on my team without English gcse really struggled. He’s a bus driver now and loving it. My dept is mostly graduates so the gap was big for him and it did show.

It sounds like it might be worth you exploring if you have any disabilities that might make this harder for you, like dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD (or a combination) you’re able to write here so you obviously learnt that at some point, I agree with PP who suggests there might be a mindset issue here too

different people learn different ways. Maybe the standard classroom method didn’t work for you, but there are plenty of other methods and techniques. Or you might have a learning difficulty that can be addressed to help you. Try your local college and explain your worries, you might be surprised.

I believe you need 2 A Levels to join the police these days (or an equivalent qualification). You'll also have to do a hell of a lot of training afterwards, much of which will be pretty academically weighted. So if you think you're academically challenged, then this isn't the role for you. Do you have any skills or talents OP. Such as handy crafts. Could you create things and sell them online?

Have you tried learning with a tutor or online to see if it’s the classroom setting that really is the issue? There are apps aimed at children that make learning maths more like gaming if that appeals?

What kind of stuff do you find difficult in English? If you were a child we’d say read books, listen to podcasts etc to improve your vocabulary and knowledge. There are probably apps (maybe aimed at students overseas learning English) for mechanics like comprehension and grammar etc

What do you mean by doing something with your hands? Do you mean something creative, being a tradesperson or something like working as a barber or in hospitality ?

Yes, I though that. Or maybe OP has a partner, friend or relative who could help her out with that side of things.

What jobs are you applying for that require GCSEs?

For a lot of them I would just lie TBH, no one is going to check your GCSEs to work in a pub or a shop.

If you want to work for the police then yes you are going to need to be able to demonstrate basic maths and English aptitude.

Have you been diagnosed with a learning difference or disability that could be affecting your ability to process information?

I sort of agree. Certainly 30 years back there were jobs that you could get into without any qualifications.

I knew of a police officer who had no qualifications and did the community support for a while and then managed to get in. Not all types of policing requires a highly intellectual mind.

That said you have good spelling and punctuation- I would say that you should be able to pass GCSEs.

Police officers need to do a lot of paperwork, they have to write down what they did and why for courts.

jobs that you might find good - warehouse work, factory work, gardening and outdoor work.

lots of people who can’t learn maths or English can learn active skills such working with animals (horses, dog walkers, running a kennels if someone else does the paperwork) or practical skills such as bricklaying or plastering.

My BIL got basically no GCSEs (undiagnosed dyslexia and just not academic) became a bricklayer at 15, now owns his own company that builds entire houses. He’s an excellent doer and builder he just didn’t do school well.

But if you can't learn OP how would I train you to do any kind of job? Every morning would I have to remind you how to log in? Would you remember where your place of employment even was?!

You must have some capacity for learning otherwise you would not be able to string a sentence together. It feels like step 1 might be getting out of the mindset that you can't learn, and finding GCSE equivalent courses that are taught in a way that works for you.

This is a good plan as long as you can write letters/ promotional material / invoices / use payment software, budget and do your own tax return?

@nickinickers but police officers don’t just do the physical side of the job and that’s it!!! There’s so much they need to learn and know to be able to do the job correctly. It’s not just walking the streets arresting people!

Can you drive?

I think most require maths and English at that level. Though I'd argue few use GCSE maths in minimum wage positions.

If someone presented very well at interview and could demonstrate written, oral communication and basic maths in a test, surely they might have flexibility.

I know someone who worked as a head of department for a subject at an FE college and he had zero GCSEs or equivalent.

Could you do a government funded course to pass the functional skills which is equivalent? Or maths and English GCSE online?

50% of the work of any uniformed police officer is paperwork. It only gets worse as a detective. Lengthy witness statements, endless report writing, filling in forms and referrals, handling evidence in coherent logs and so on. You need to be a confident writer, a good narrator and able to work accurately at all times. Dyslexia is pretty common tbh, but you need a decent level of literacy to manage the scale of the work.

If you haven't got your GCSEs, you'd be entitled to do them as an adult for free - or do the Functional Skills equivalents which are considered to be the same standard as GCSEs.

DH did his math and English FS in his early 40s, which led him to do more courses - and now he has 7 GCSE equivalents. He flunked school and joined the forces where he's had a brilliant career but realised that on retiring he needed the equivalencies to get a new job!

Speak to your local adult learning centre or college and start to look into it. It only took DH 6 months to get his English one completed (a bit longer to pass maths!).

If you're active and good with your hands, learn a trade and work for yourself.

How about working for yourself?
Can you do cleaning, gardening, dog walking, childminding?