A levels or apprenticeship

Ds1 was adamant that he was going straight to work. I wanted him to go to college/ uni. However I can't/ wont force my choices on him.
He went for an apprenticeship and it was hugely useful. He is 25 and the company are putting him through his degree. He us extremely well paid for our area and is doing well.
Ds2 was very academic and had always talked about uni. He started his A levels and I noticed a quick decline in his personality and state of mind. We gave him the option to quit. It was like a weight had been lifted. He too got an apprenticeship and it was the absolute making of him.

Interestingly, DH says he should do A levels and could then go into an apprenticeship. This is what DS says he'll accept ... but I'm not looking forward to two more years at school when he doesn't really want to be there!

Good. Do this if he'll accept that as an option. Why do you have to be looking forward to what he does - what difference does that make

He can still work in the pub.

The apprenticeship DS and I are considering is with a leading spa hotel; he'd get a level 3 at the end of the first two years and I'm told that they want to retain the apprentice and see them progress, possibly up to level 6 or 7.

That doesn't sound so bad.

Something he wants to do is better than being pushed into something he doesn't then not working / dropping out. He can always return to academics later.

(I can see your DH being disappointed though. You don't generally pay for private school expecting your DC to 'drop out' of the academic route at 16. Maybe reassure him there are routes back in if your DS changes his mind later.)

I did an apprenticeship when I left school then, when I was 22, I went to uni. I have no a levels but managed to get on to a vocational degree course on the back of the apprenticeship.

Yes A levels and then apprenticeship fine.

I'm not convinced a L3 done in a year would be equivalent to 2 A levels or recognised widely enough for uni - certainly not for anything other than a hospitality degree. I suspect he'd have to go back to college and do an Access course if he wanted to go.

Your DH is right. He's too young and inexperienced to commit to this. He's got his first job, it's sociable and he's enjoying it and thinks it's be a laugh to do it permanently.

He wouldn't get into a RG uni (if that matters) with a level 3 apprenticeship from a hotel. Unless he was going to study a degree in Hospitality

He's a bright boy! Why limit himself?

What kind of apprenticeship are you thinking of?

www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

You can find ones in your area using this link.

Engineering may be a good start for him. It will leave the option of university level qualifications open to him at a later time if he changed his mind.

You don't need qualifications in hospitality to work in hospitality.

A levels and part time hospitality work would be more flexible if he has a change of heart, either about uni or career.

However, you can only talk through the pros and cons. I think for 6th form it has to be his choice.

Hospitality apprenticeships are crap sorry. They're not worth the paper they're written on. They're just a way to get very cheap labour out of teenagers with poor academics.

Level 3 is equivalent to 3 A levels and doesn’t rule out Uni at all

I didn’t go to Uni but started working for a large organisation at the bottom, by the time my friends had finished Uni, they were all starting work at levels either equivalent to or below what I had worked up in the company (unless they we’re doing something specific like teacher, doctor, nurse etc).

I think the key thing here is what exactly does he want to do? You haven’t answered that at all.

DH says that if DS pursued an apprenticeship in hospitality - I've seen a local one that starts at level 2 but the second year would be level 3 - he would be narrowing his options too early

Completely agree with your dh!

Well he's ruled the apprenticeship option out hasn't he given that he needs to start in September. The only apprenticeships that will be left now will be crappy GCSE level ones in customer service in restaurants.

If he capable, which he presumably is, then A Levels followed by a degree apprenticeship.

I did an apprenticeship and still went to university (without a-levels) 3 out of the 5 university's I was interested in accepted apprenticeship qualifications without a levels so depending on what apprenticeship they wanted to do, there is still scope to change their mind about uni later.

As a PP said, you don't seem to be very clear on what your DS does want to do, as opposed to what he doesn't.

If you had come on saying 'DS really wants to do X apprenticeship' it would feel different from just 'not keen on A levels, doesn't want uni, not keen on BTECs'.

What sort of apprenticeship? What sort of career? Makes a huge difference.

tbh I think it depends what apprenticeship. They are not all equal. A quality apprenticeship in engineering at Dyson leading to a technical job is not the same as an apprenticeship in Customer Service at a company just wanting cheap admin and then chuck you out at the end.

I went to a private school, got good gcse,a went on to do a level three in childcare, then decided I should have gone to uni, got into uni with my level three. Just because you don't do a levels doesn't mean that university is ruled out.