Why do most jobs require GCSE or equivalent?

A semi literate police officer? Mmm, can see that working well. Not.

Hi OP

I have a good friend who was in a very similar situation. She has some really good practical skills, but was unable to pass GCSE English and Maths. This has held her back.

I think schools etc are much better now at spotting learning differences than when we (my friend and I, and I suspect you may be a similar age to us!) were pupils. This does mean that there are people like you and my friend who want to work but are struggling to get off the starting blocks.

My friend got her dyslexia and dyscalculia diagnosed at an adult education facility. If you don't have any post 16 education you can get free 16-19 level education via the adult skills fund. Your local authority will have some providers - they often do craft based classes as well as further education classes. This would be a good place to start, because once enrolled they can help you access assessments - and make reasonable adjustments so that you can succeed in your chosen course to the best of your ability. My friend is now a project manager in the building industry, and she did well on her FE course despite still not having GCSEs 🙂

"even the few pub/ restaurant jobs I’ve had don’t last because I can’t remember where things are or what I’ve gone to get.
I don’t have a good short term memory so I can’t remember names and I can’t remember faces so I have no idea who I was serving"

How have you been able to be a SAHM - are you able to independently look after your children, cook meals, run the house? Are you able to do that because you've set up routines and know where things are and what you need to buy in the weekly shop and whether the kids have brushed their teeth yet today or grown out of their shoes? Or were you lost from day-to-day and never had any toilet paper in the house and would reach 6pm and realise you'd forgotten to cook a meal for the children? What level of challenge are you working with?

OP can't be a police officer if she can't learn or retain information. You can't arrest someone if you don't remember the caution, or the law they're breaking to say 'I'm arresting you on suspicion of x, contrary to section y of the z Act 1975' or whatever. She's also likely to struggle with a degree if she can't pass any GCSEs after multiple attempts.

Though I'm confused how someone who can write as articulately as OP is incapable of getting any qualifications.

Well, you can clearly read, write and spell so you can learn...

What is your basic arithmetic like? Can you manage money?

I wish this were true. I don’t mean to be disheartening, but a 4 in English is not about being decent at writing and understanding it, which I agree the OP is. It is pathetically tricksy and mean spirited. I know tons of perfectly articulate and literate kids who’ve failed it. It makes me really cross that it’s so hard - it should be called something else. It’s a different set of skills.

Level 2 is GCSE, you still need a pass ( so a C or a 4) in maths and English.

I really feel for you. You must have a specific learning difficulty of some kind regarding processing, short term memory etc. Most likely dyscalculia and dyspraxia, I would think. Your written English is very good. I think that, with coaching, you could pass English Language GCSE because not that much of it requires memory skills, it's more about what you can write in the moment. But Maths is a different case and, without it, not many employers will take you.

I do agree with you that it's unfair for some jobs. Farm labouring, fruit picking, security, shop floor work, care work, majority of catering/hospitality jobs and some other manual jobs have different essential skills/personality traits which can't be assessed by Maths and English exams. I wonder if it's the memory difficulties which are your real barrier.

I'm trying to think of something that might work for you. Maybe waitressing as you can write the orders down? Care work if you set alarms that tell you what you need to do when?

I'm really sorry, it must be so frustrating for you because you're clearly an intelligent person who wants and deserves valuable work to do. I feel like there should be learning aids out there to help you access the world better but I confess that I don't know specifically what they are.

Yeah, I can’t understand how your posts are so well written yet you say you don’t have the capacity to pass English GCSE. Something is off.

@Namechangetheyarewatching How inspirational…I’ll be sharing your story with my daughters friend who is dyslexic and wants to be a police officer.

You do in my local force and neighbouring ones. Also, first-hand experience, current and historic.

You're doing yourself a disservice. You write better than a lot of people on here...

I would just keep trying. What else is there to do? When I did maths GCSE at night school, I did the one where you do the module and then the exam for that module straight after so you don't have to remember the whole course at the end. It really helped me.

Your difficulties with formal education
your difficulties with processing information sufficiently to work in bar / cafe must be indicative of some disability /
seek assessment -
ask at job centre -
you must have some learning disability because u have clearly tried, and something is a barrier /
being able to understand the barrier will be a first step to working round it

I think you might be unaware of what’s involved in the job of police officers. There was a time when GCSEs (or GCEs as they were then) weren’t required (though I think even then they required you pass their own literacy and maths tests), but it’s become a lot more sophisticated over the past half century.

But generally, I get your point. Most jobs that can be done well without learning at least some of the surrounding theory are physical in some way - farming/horticultural, some trades, craft, or service (cleaning, nannying, etc.) within a relatively stable environment. The more male dominated jobs (gardening, handyman, trade) tend to pay better. Do you have any skills like that? You’d have to set yourself up as self employed for most of them and get out there and find clients and run the business (scheduling, insurance, marketing, accounting, maybe stock management, etc.) which an academic understanding can help with but isn’t entirely necessary if you can learn by doing.

If you wrote your posts they are so articulate to many many people I have met.

Employers want to be sure you have basic literacy and numeracy skills - essential for reading instructions, writing emails, understanding and writing reports etc.

However, not all jobs require this basic standard. Many hospitality roles don’t, also construction/labour roles or cleaning and some warehouse work.

Who told you that you can’t learn? We can see that you’ve got good literacy skills and ambition but lack confidence and worldly experience.

Do you need your next step to be financially successful or would voluntary or unpaid self employment (a hobby job!) work for you to gain some experience perhaps with a view to getting a paid job later on.

I think your real problem is that you’ve never been in employment - by your forties gcse maths and english are not as important as you think. I don’t think any employer ever asked me about my school exams after the age of about 25 - they want to see what else you have done, not what you haven’t.

What can you do? What do you do all day now?

I’m in my fifties and in a similar position atm having been a long term sahm but have an arts degree (no maths qualifications at all though, but it never mattered for anything I went for as I made sure I made up for it in interview with other things).

The best thing I did was see a careers advisor in my local town - it made me see that employment at this point would not be the right thing for me to pursue and I am working towards self employment in a hobby that I’ve done for many years. Whether it will go on to ‘pay’ is doubtful but its giving me experiences and a sense of purpose that would be extremely valuable for future employment if I were your age and looking to move into employment.

You don't need A levels to join

Just level 2 in English and Math

Look at functional skills - maths and english, they are different to GCSE and may suit you

I left school with no qualifications and volunteered with the police, as staff, for a few years, I then got a full time job and have been there 26yrs. I have been diagnosed with dyslexia, dyscalcula, ADHD.

Volunteer first and work your way into work

There is a huge amount to learn; it is paperwork-heavy. Case files to build, that's after learning the law in training school and passing an exam on it. There are many portfolios to write to demonstrate your competency and the ability to think critically under immense pressure.
Whilst you certainly dont need a degree, a decent level of education is most definitely required.
Currently, you need A levels to enter - previously, whilst you didn't need any at all, you needed to pass entrance exams in numeracy, literacy, critical thinking and observational skills - it was certainly possible to fail them.

If you are good with your hands can you start a small business teaching a skill? For example knitting or card making? A craft that is.

I think you could guess what I teach from my user name! Small classes at my home.

OP cannot apply as she doesn't have Level 1 or Level 2.

She also states she has such a poor working memory that she can't learn, doesn't recognise faces, has no short term memory to speak of. How is someone with such poor processing going to work full time in a stressful frontline job and manage to study for a part time degree?

I agree with this. It's a massively tough market at the moment for employees.

I posted an admin job and had over 200 applications in 48 hours. I'm always going to choose the person that's most qualified for the job, so I'm afraid to say, you wouldn't make the first cut.

Have you tried temp agencies, even to do factory work? It's been such a long time that I think you might just have to accept anything to start building experience and confidence.

I would definitely push for some sort of diagnosis though because the struggle with maths and English GCSEs would definitely suggest some form of learning difficulty like dyscalculia or dyslexia (or both).

At least then you might understand why you struggle compared to others, and it might open up pathways for support or guidance to help you find a path.

You write well enough on here to show that you're capable of corresponding and communicating with people.

As a PP said, if you were to look at yourself, what would you say you're good at? If you were to ask your closest family and friends the same question, what do you think they would say?

Can you make an appointment at the job centre to discuss things? Or the Citizens Advice Bureau? They might be able to give you some other ideas.

A police officer will have to have a decent level of education. Needs to have critical thinking skills , fill all the paperwork in meticulously etc