A Levels combination for languages at university?

Will ERASMUS exist for British students post-Brexit? I doubt it

School A sounds better. Three good A levels better than diluting grades.

Things to think about are Erasmus and year abroad support.

Content and style of the course - outs decided against Oxford because of course structure. She wanted to primarily focus on the spoken language rather than literature and culture.

The language choices and potential usefulness post degree if she wants to use her subjects. Friends daughter did Mandarin and jumped into GCHQ. Her year in China was far more challenging than our daughters in Italy. Our daughters friend in Russia was unable to come home or have friends out to stay - some cope better than others with full immersion.

If it's any help, DS got into a combined English-Lit-plus-MFL degree without any language A-level at all. (Does have the gift of the gab, though!)

Also, as an oxbridge languages graduate, I'm slightly offended at the idea that it's easy to get in

Depends what university they are aiming for; I expect competitive ones will prefer history to drama. More research and essays.

I'd bear in mind that the government can change the rules on paying back the student loan any time they want, and have done so in the past even when they weren't the current load of corrupt fuckers.
As a rule of thumb I reckon student fees are £10K a year and living costs are another £10K.
There's no sign of the Erasmus scheme surviving for UK students.

Not £90k that’s very high. Of course the Erasmus grant might still be around in some guise for Y3. As a teacher you won’t be earning lots for some years so the grad tax is very low for teachers. Some pay virtually nothing for a few years. In fact they probably will never pay it off. So what you “owe” is utterly meaningless. Hopefully new teachers understand this!

DD as a barrister is paying far more. Training costs were £30,000 on top of degree plus living expenses for her. But awards/bursaries are available if you are good enough and poor enough. There are plenty of options regarding what you do as a MFL grad but thinking about the grad tax isn’t worth it. Do what suits you.

Plenty of science grads don’t enter teaching or don’t stay in it. The bursary and teach first were designed to encourage teachers to join the profession but they are not retention schemes.

I've just checked the bursary. It's currently £10K. That just covers the 1
year PGCE course. You will have a minimum £10K debt on top of that for living costs, plus the debt incurred for a 4 or (in Scotland) 5 year modern languages degree. So will start your working life with a debt of approximately £90K.

What is the reasoning in going into teaching for just a couple of years? Was that planned?

That’s true but it’s still decent enough. Also teachers don’t have to stay long in teaching and it was £25,000 before. I assume someone worked out it wasn’t value for money. Friends DC did 3 years. Maths.

There's just been a big cut in the bursary for trainee teachers.

DD didn’t find any downsides to MFLs. What could they be? You have to accept you are not a scientist but it’s easier to get into uni to do MFL than most humanities. Afterwards you can apply for what you want.

I think with the golden “hello” for MFL teachers they want teachers to teach the languages schools want. Italian is wonderful but few schools teach it. Private schools do but Spanish and French are the ones to go for if she wants to teach. Also DC change their minds about what they want to do when they meet others at university. And go to careers fairs.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4059924-can-you-explain-epq-is-it-good-to-have-it-or-leave-it

I posted a question on here about EPQs recently - I’ll try find it! I had some good replies and one that highlighted that it doesn’t have to be an essay - it can be an artefact. Check with school A but EPQ is usually timetabled into their week, helping them keep in track. My DD1 hadn’t done it and DD2 will choose core maths instead, so I can’t speak from experience.

An EPQ finished in 1 year, or 1 year of English Lit (to AS level) would both be ok. Or work experience assisting language tuition at a school.

EPQ is kind of a bonus subject. You can get extra UCAS points and schools and unis like it as it evidences that student can research independently. I think it's a real bonus.
I studied Leaving Cert in Ireland but have heard that language A-levels are tough in the UK and the content is quite high level. So one to two languages A-levels and a humanities subject would be good uni I think. Languages are time-consuming to learn so do factor that in.
There are many downsides to language studies but the personal rewards of learning them and the ability to live abroad are worth it. I would just advise your DC to keep their choices relatively broad for now.

The Italian point is that barely any schools teach it, so it'd be tough to get a job. French and increasingly Spanish are both sought after tho.

The extra option is certainly not unusual.

One school local to us does just what you describe, choice of EPQ, core maths etc, and another insists on 4 choices and you drop one at end of Yr 12. Plenty of schools just do three A, levels tho, with optional EPQ.

Depending on the languages course, there may well be linguistics, literature and/or history as part of it, so I think A-level subjects like English language, English literature and history are helpful alongside languages.

I would go with school A for the better results, better history syllabus and easier commute.