BTECs Your views

I teach BTEC Performing Arts. My Year 13 students have all had offers for university and/or drama school. Those going for the "big" drama schools have had more success than any of the A Level students I have taught in the past. One boy has had 6 offers including one from Oxford School of Drama. Even those not wanting to go on and do drama have had success - one girl has an unconditional offer to study law.

For certain subjects I strongly believe that BTEC is more appropriate than A Levels. Since starting the course with me, my students have performed in public, commercial theatres and have had to meet exacting standards. The assessment is pretty much continuous, which is much more like "real life" than A Levels.

The newer BTEC specs (updated in 2016) include external assessments. The one my Year 13s have just done includes tasks more suited to university. Absolutely not the easy option.

DD did 3 BTECs instead of A levels - got Distinction * in all 3. Got into her chosen career (not interested in university). There is no way she would have got high grades in A levels - she just couldn't cope with exams due to multiple mental health problems.

I’ve been looking at Bristol and they accept Btec for their music degree (it’s composition heavy which might suit ds as an alternative to music tech). They just ask you have either A Level music or Grade 8 theory alongside so I’m going to put him in for Grade 5 in the summer and then get him up to Grade 8 standard by year 13.

It sounds like you’ve done plenty of research and she is happy with her decision which is the most important thing. She will then enjoy the course and get the most out of her study. My DD has never once regretted her decision. Good luck to her

As my DC is studying the same as the OP enquired about, yes you can do an A level alongside the Extended National Diploma. My DC is and finds it perfectly manageable and many students at her college are. I don't think any one of us is in a position to advise OP as to whether her DC should study an A level, we can only comment on how our own students have found the workload as it will all be dependent on the subject being studied and the individual student. I know of students at sixth form doing 4 A levels as the college think they are capable so this scenario is no different.

The OP did say that it would be the BTEC extended diploma, i.e. the 3 A level equivalent.

Btw, avvording to posts on TSR, Durham is now making offers of BBB to get some candidates to firm for Geography and Psychology. The average BTEC entrant might not seem quite so underqualified, after all. Perhsps they'll actually demand their own table in the dining room.

That would depend on which Btec. if its the Btec Extended Diploma then that is the equivalent in size to doing 3 A levels and to do another A level alongside that would be too much.

However some colleges offer the smaller Btec Foundation Diploma which is the equivalent in size to doing 2 A levels and in that case it is usual to do either a 2nd Btec or an A level alongside.

My daughter's school also offers the smaller Btec certificate as an alternative to A level music and that takes up 1 option block.

Agree with @marchingfrogs, it will be very much down to subject choice and chosen degree/uni. In some more “practical” degrees the opposite is true re entry requirements, in that the BTEC allows you to skip the foundation year whereas A level entrants can’t (Fine Art degree is one example of this at one uni I know). Every course/uni/degree is different and assumptions can’t be applied across the board that the BTEC on its own is not good enough.
@blessthekids my DD is doing an A level alongside and finds it perfectly manageable if that helps (and before anyone then thinks that this proves they aren’t hard work, plenty of A level students do 4 A levels).

Tbf, looking at the 'alternative' section on Durham's website (isn't it lovely how one of the newest members of the club has become the jewel in its crown, btw?), they do ask for an A level alongside the full extended BTEC where the requirements for the particular course are up at the A*+ end. But even at Durham there are courses which only ask for AAB (e.g. BA Music) at which level, there is no automatic requirement for an accompanying A level. So even there, some students may find themselves having to slum it with those 'with not very good GCSEs'. But perhaps they would be confined to a separate section of the dining hall, or something, or be made to wear a badge saying, 'BTEC entrant. Feel free not to sit next to me'?

(I've nothing against Durham, was just prompted to look at it after the suggestion that even though the universities I'd quoted were RG, they weren't the right sort of RG).

And Dds btec is worth 168 ucas points, the same as 3 A* at Alevel.

You won’t get into a Russell group uni, but if that’s not your ambition the BTECs at a good college are a fine alternative to A levels.
My dd is at Cardiff with a btec, her friend has got an interview at Kings College with the same btec.

Hi, in answer to the comment regarding university entry requirements, a DDD in the BTEC Extended National Diploma is equivalent to 3 A levels at AAA. My DD was in the exact same position last year as your DC @Blessthekids and I checked with some universities that her choices wouldn’t be limited. Both Uni of Birmingham and Oxford confirmed the BTEC was accepted without the requirement for any additional A levels to study Music as long as she had ABRSM Grade 8 theory. A review of uni websites will confirm this as MarchingFrogs has found out.
Yes other BTECS, depending on the level or maybe even the subject studied, may need other qualifications but not the Extended National Diploma to study Music.

A full BTEC national diploma, often counts as a single A level at universities with a more competitive entry. I’m afraid.

You won’t get into a Russell group uni, but if that’s not your ambition the BTECs at a good college are a fine alternative to A levels.

Is that a specific issue with the Music one? I got bored after googling 'university of btec' four times, but Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Manchester all say BTEC usually acceptable for a related degree subject.

DD is in her second year of a BTEC in performing arts. She is absolutely loving it and has done so many things including making films ,producing recording a song, played two major roles in a Shakespeare festival (she'd never shown any interest in Shakespeare before) she is planning on applying to Thomas cook next year to be an entertainer in their resorts.
She might do some further education in a few years but for now she wants the experiences.

Erm... I really don’t want to out myself saying what I do for a living but I would disagree about having to work as hard. In 5 years checking BTEC certificates, I have only seen one pass (I honestly thought they didn’t exist), a handful of merits and hundreds and hundreds of distinctions.

BTEC graduates seem to struggle somewhat more in academic settings than those who get A levels, as the style of teaching/assessment at university is closer to A levels than BTECs.

With this in mind.. I confess I made my best to ensure DS stayed away from BTECs, but then... he wants to read science so I thought that doing a BTEC would force him in the direction of a foundation year which would come at an extra £9,250 and that is before considering an extra year of living expenses away from home.

It is not that BTECs are bad, but before taking a decision, I think you need to consider your DD’s plans for the future to ensure she takes the best route to get her there, well prepared to tackle the challenge.

I'm a teacher not a parent.

BTECS are fab for practical subjects. I taught Health and social care, most students went on to be nursers or other jobs in healthcare, they started uni with work experience, knowing how to reference and knowing how to pace assignments / work continuous assessment, these were their advantages over A Level students.

I would much rather be treated by a student nurse with a BTEC than one with A Levels.

I would have thought for Music then the uni admission process would include an audition or two. BTEC allows for exploration of more 'subjects' giving a broader range than those who take A Levels who tend to have a deeper but more narrow range of skills.

BTECs have been around in one form or another for many years, I did A Levels in VI form and BTEC as day release, my grandfather did an HND in the 1950s.

Another advantage of BTEC is that if you go down the HND/HNC route and then top up to a degree you are already used to the marking system and the way the course is set up.

Hedda, depends on which A-levels and which BTEC. The OP's dd is thinking of a BTEC in Music which is likely to be quite hands-on/teach a slightly different skills set from an A-level.

My dd did A-level Drama and a BTEC in Acting; she definitely felt the BTEC demanded more work and has been more useful to her since.

And it's not every gifted student who finds less academic students tiresome to be around or demanding patience. Dd who was identified as gifted at an early age couldn't give a toss as long as they are hard-working and engage with the subject.

If (as the OP's posts suggest) her dd is thinking of a career in theatre production, I wouldn't have thought only being able to work with people exactly like her would be much of a recommendation (though have to say, OP's dd doesn't sound like this at all).

Obviously, all the mess in my spelling is not due to English being my fifth language but to the fact I should be sleeping rather than posting in Mumsnet at this crazy hour. Night night 🙂

BTECs are designed to evaluate students in a more practical than academically way. It is the best choice for some people but perhaps not if you are aiming at more reputable universities were a full BTEC national diploma won’t be accepted or will be given the value of a single A level.

I worked in FE. BTECs are absolutely not as challenging or well-regarded as A levels. She will be working alongside students who didn’t get high GCSE grades.

She’s not going to get into the high-ranked universities but it sounds like you’re doing your research and she’ll be OK with a BTEC for the courses she is interested in?

BTECs assignments are graded Pass, Merit and Distinction and the overall result (depending on the specific qualification) will be something like DDD, DMM down to PPP. UCAS points will depend on the grades so check that out for her desired courses. If she’s an able student she should be aiming for all Distinctions. She will be in a class with a wide range of abilities including some students who will be struggling to reach the Pass grades. She may find this tiresome. She will need to be patient and independent.

On the other hand, FE colleges can be much more relaxed than schools and sixth form colleges and students often enjoy the freedom to pursue their specialist interest in an environment which is nearer to the university experience than school.

Dd did a mix: 2 A-levels (3 AS levels) and one BTEC (in acting). The BTEC was at least as challenging (though she did extremely well.

Ds is doing the Uniformed Services BTEC programme, which seems to be good for him. Won't lead to Russell group entry, but then ds doesn't really want to go to uni anyway, so hardly a problem.

My friend’s DS started with A levels including music A level but hated it so much after a year he was in tears when his parents suggested he finish them. He’s a talented drummer and he transferred to a music BTEC. He then went on to a college in Guildford to do a degree level drumming course and is now making a living as a drum tutor while drumming in a couple of local bands.

My DS2 also did an extended diploma in software but he has ASD and very little work ethic so was happy to just cover the pass material with a few merits. But he still did better than he would have at A level.

One of his friends did an engineering BTEC, put the effort in and got D D D and is now at Portsmouth uni doing an engineering degree.

You won’t get into a Russell group uni, but if that’s not your ambition the BTECs at a good college are a fine alternative to A levels.

My biggest problem has been the quality of the tutors/teachers has been variable. Funding in further ed, sixth forms and colleges, is absolutely dire. Sixth form and further ed colleges separate from schools are in a very poor financial state.