HELP, y13 walked out wants to study A levels from home

My DD did one A level from home with no problem - in those days it was a correspondence course but I guess it would be online now. She was even entitled to benefits while she did it. It was a great success. She got an A* and enjoyed the experience of taking responsibility for her own learning, which stood her in good stead at uni.

Your "child" seems to have their head screwed on - good luck to them!

All the best @everybodystalking - my ds did the same last year, except he'd had about 60% attendance in year 12 and loads of teacher absence in year 13, which further de-motivated him. I think his attendance this term was probably 40% at best! He was way behind. School kept on at him about attendance, but he just decided he was going to do it from home! He basically started at the beginning and worked his way through the syllabus for each subject.

All in all, it went as well as we could have hoped for. He's an incredibly slow processor, gets 25% extra in exams, but really needed 50% (school said they couldn't apply for 50% as they didn't have enough evidence - he barely did any timed work for them!). So he ended up with BBC (the C was three marks off a B), having only got through 75% of every exam. Without any more extra time, I really don't see he could have done much better had he attended school every day! School weren't happy with our 'arrangement' but in the end I think they were pleasantly surprised how well he did. He got Us in the mocks!

Sounds like a great compromise. Hopefully school will get onside too.

Best of luck to them OP.

Fingers crossed the combination of being listened to and having some demands reduced will be just enough to see them over the line.

One of mine did one of her A-levels from home - worked out well for her.

There is lots of online stuff and if she is motivated I see no problem. She is old enough to make that choice for herself, but she does need to talk to the school/college about entering her for the exam - who does it/ who pays?

Sorry, I should have said I became an examiner in another A level, years later. I taught that A level for many years.

Yes, it will depend on the subject. I taught an A level and became a examiner because there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the marks given. Congratulations to your daughter!

There are private exam centres. Your first step is to locate a centre where he can sit exams. This could be a state or private school or college or exam centre (3A tutors for example) Check out costs for sitting the exam and which board. Also the deadline for booking. Next buy the relative syllabus from the correct board. Buy any workbooks linked. Finally go on a Facebook group and join something called home educating with exams (or similar) and ask for recommendations in terms of study material.

DD basically taught herself Govt and Politics A Level due to a lack of teaching at college and got an A*. She then tried to do an A level Biology via an online provider, she worked really hard and knew her stuff but got a D, she had never even had a C before in an exam so it was very shocking.
A poster on here when I mentioned it said that if you were going to do an A Level independently sciences are harder and Biology is REALLY Hard as so much of it is exam technique not knowledge.
So, I think it really does depend on the subject

I got myself through an A level without any lessons. I got hold of the last ten or so past papers. I was doing Govt & Politics, so I made a list of all the topics - trade unions, Labour party, Conservatives, etc. I didn't have a syllabus, so obviously that would help, but being familiar with the papers helped enormously. Then I wrote a model answer for each question on each topic. I got a B - it took me six months of working part-time and working hard at the A level.

If I were to do it now I'd get the syllabus as well as the past papers, but I'd also need to know when and how the syllabus last changed.

I'd also get a copy of the mark scheme for each paper (those weren't publicly available when I did this, decades ago). I'd write those model answers using the mark scheme and then get a private tutor to mark them for me. Given the vagaries of mark schemes I wouldn't trust myself alone on that.

The burden is so much harder as a single parent, but you seem extremely perceptive, and you have so much more experience than most parents would do in your position. Trust your own judgement.

I don't really see why you should withdraw their candidacy from school and fork out for the exam centres. That is an illogical conclusion for me, your DC being too black and white when a "smaller" response could address their feelings and actually meet their needs better.

I"m not even saying this is EBSA, but just for the record there are a lot of kids who don't manage to stay in school for their learning but do manage to take their exams there. Smaller exam rooms, breaks, adjustments are possible to help get them over the line. But Philosophy and English Lit A Levels are particularly tricky subjects to teach yourself from a book, mark your own work etc.

Will you have to pay for the exams if you withdraw from school?

One of mine missed yr 10 due to a MH crisis. She taught herself a short course GCSE, school saw her after school five times to mark her work, she became familiar with the mark scheme.

she sat the exam and got a 9, four marks off
full marks. For the right child, it actually doesn’t matter. And getting g a 4 or a 9 actually are great outcomes if their MH is ok.

Yes I agree I hope they do well.

I examine aspects of my subject (MFL) for GCSE and A level, private candidates who are often HE or taking the exam independently for whatever reason, and there is a real issue at times (not always) with lack of knowledge about what they need to do to do well in the speaking assessment. The kind of things that would be very much covered by an exam-experienced teacher or tutor (most if not all teachers are but alas not all tutors).

I knew quite a few people who quit just before the end of a course. they all regretted not sticking it out.

id talk to the school and work out a reduced attendance timetable on the basis of EBSA.

Thing is though - most people ‘grow out of’ school a term or two before the end.totally natural to want to move on, but there’s a need for the tuition (even poor).

Would a move to a different school or sixth form be possible? Is that allowed in a level year ?

Genuinely, I hope their exam results reflect that.
A lot of what is taught is exam technique.
i speak from experience (A level not GCSE though)

One of mine is self studying GCSEs and doing much better than they did in school.

Sitting a levels as an independent candidate is expensive, and if there are practical / coursework elements they may not be able to sit the same exam board / syllabus / access the a level at all.

I disagree with others here, in my experience self study is more efficient for many. And if teaching is poor, they’ll likely be doing it by themselves anyway.

I’d allow it, even encourage it… if you can afford it and sort the practicalities.

You may find that if your child is able, the school will want credit for their results and will keep them on roll, allowing them to sit the exam as a registered pupil.

Lots of people thrived.

A level teacher here. I’d be amazed if your child could do as well outside school.

It’s not the content - it’s understanding the mark scheme, practising under exam conditions, assimilating feedback, listening to class discussions, bouncing off ideas. Especially in subjects like Lit and History.

Teaching ends around Easter and then it’s exam stuff. Surely they can suck it up for 4 more months? Rather than allow them to ‘opt out’, put your foot down. Nothing to stop them studying hard at home too!

The poor teaching does need addressing though - get in touch with Dept Head.

I can guarantee if they opt out and it all goes wrong, they’ll blame you for allowing them to do it.

Don't underestimate the stress off sitting an exam with no peer support, in a strange place where everything and any staff are unfamiliar where you travel to a new place. All that can knock someone's confidence. There is so much that even a not amazing teacher knows about the course because they know it and the past papers and the trends and what to focus on that the even the most able pupil can't know. All the revision tasks and practices that a child won't know to do. The very fact that this was triggered by 'I'm 18 and I'm an adult now just smacks of childish arrogance and and underlying immaturity.

I’m sorry, I know it’s not a laughing matter but that did make me laugh- a PowerPoint detailing costs does scream smart arse sixth former 🤣 On a more serious note, it will be difficult to study to the required level from home, especially given that essay subjects require quite significant practice and feedback. I would try to persuade him otherwise or look for professional tutors (preferably teachers who are currently teaching or who have only left teaching recently)