What happens if a child repeatedly fails maths GCSE?

[OhArsebags]

Dd did his GCSEs last year. He did ok in most of them - even got level 9 in English and English lit but only got a level 2 in maths. Level 4 is what is needed for a pass (c grade in old money).

Because of the maths, he couldn’t do A levels so had to do a Btec, along with redoing maths GCSE. This year with everything being cocked up it will be graded on his work but the tutor had said that it would likely be a level 2 again.

I honestly doubt he will pass it next year either.

I bought a functional skills level 2 maths course for him to do from home (it’s the equivalent to a C Maths GCSE), but he struggles with this too.

He’s had a maths tutor for the past six years. A few in fact. He just can not grasp it. He’s never been able to right from being a small child. He excelled in English but maths has always been a struggle.

The tutors have been great. It’s really not them or the teaching, Ds just doesn’t get it. I’ve spent thousands on tutors and to be honest, I can’t afford to keep it up.

My Dh (Ds step dad) is an ex maths teacher. He spends an hour a night with Ds on the functional skills course, going though each question/example breaking it down, explaining it to Ds. He just can’t grasp it.

Have looked into discalcular - Ds was given extra time in his maths GCSE but to be honest, he could be given a year to do the paper and he still wouldn’t be able to do it.

He’s at the point now where it’s making him seriously depressed. He’s now saying he doesn’t want to go back to college in September because he can’t face more maths.

It’s a requirement of his course (or any level 3 btec) that he also does maths GCSE along side. He would need it for anything he wanted to do - he wants to pin the police but would need the C in maths.

I honestly don’t know what to do.

Has he been assessed for dyscalcula? there will be certain teaching methods the school and tutor can use that could help him work round this that might help?

Apprenticeship? Some people are just not suited to academics. DS stayed on at school until S6 and came away with a couple of Highers at B&C - he then did a year at college HNC which is confirmed as a pass but he didn't manage to achieve Nat 5 maths. He said the other day when the HNC pass was confirmed by college how happy he is that he doesn't have any more studying to do. He may go back in a couple of years but for now he is exhausted with trying.

I would be looking at other options now, even if it's just to get a job. GCSE maths isn't worth depression.

he wants to be in the police but would need the C in maths.

Is this for a police apprenticeship? or going straight into a job in the police force? it might be worth looking further afield, for example, herts police apprenticeships don't have entry requirements (that I can see) relating to GCSE or A-level results, they just ask that he holds a driving licence.

I think he needs to take the attitude that it is a necessary evil to do alongside what he wants to do . My DC has taken it 3 times so far. Currently doing a degree and the issue has gone - for now.

He’s insistent that he doesn’t want to do an apprenticeship. He spoke to the careers people all they had was building/practical apprenticeships which he’s no interest in.

He wants to join the police or military police. But he needs the maths GCSE or functional skills for that.

He hates his btec as well but has just had to get on with it so that will be fine. There wasn’t much choice - it was sports, health and social care or business so he had to do business out of the three. He finds it easy as he’s so good at English it’s just so, so boring to him.

His college offered him a choice of changing to a uniformed services btec but that would mean another two years of college and honestly, he’s so down that he can’t even think about that.

It’s all such a mess and he’s so unhappy.

Also doesn’t help that all his dads family are very high achievers, all went to Oxford or Cambridge, all his cousins are excelling and he feels so down that he’s not. I don’t make him feel like that but his father constantly makes him feel inferior or tells Ds it’s my fault and that he’s thick like me, or blames me for not bringing him up properly. It’s depressing all round.

@sleepismysuperpower1 we are West Mids.

This academic year is is kinda screwed really so I expect there will be quite a few 17 year olds 'starting again' come September.
Why is he doing a btec if he doesn't want to. You don't have to do them if you don't do A levels. Could he not just do the GCSE maths at college and either do some voluntary work or paid work? (so the only academic he has to focus on is one subject). He doesn't have to be in education full time. You can do a mix of college and job/voluntary work. There is just some rules about how many hours per week has to be in college and limits on hours worked/volunteering.

Maths is a condition of funding until a student is 19 on enrollment so unavoidable sadly.

I just checked on gov.org - he can work or volunteer for up to 20 hours a week while being at college part time.
He is not required to be at college full time.

Doing the btec mainly to get the level 3 qualification to get onto the police apprenticeships.

Would there be any way he could move to somewhere where the policing requirements don't include specific academic ones?

Not easily. We don’t have any family around the country or the means to put him up anywhere.

He’s not even started driving lessons yet, we were saving for them before covid mewed up driving lessons/finances.

Could he not do the Btec in Public Services as that would be a good option if he wants to join the Police Force.
I feel for him with his Maths GCSE as it is one of those subjects that you either get or you don’t (I spent more time with my maths teacher in the last year of secondary school than I did with my own parents just to get the pass!). Seems so unfair he couldn’t do A levels in other subjects that he did well in just because of the maths.

They gave him the option of changing to public services (we moved areas in jan, he changed college but he had to continue with btec for the remainder of the year) but that would mean another two years at college and he’s so down at the thought of doing that.

He had a week to chose and the pressure was on so he said he’d stick to business for next year.

It’s so hard to see him so down.

I had a similar problem. I was always top set for everything, GCSE and A levels all A* and a First class hons degree in English but I still cannot pass my maths GCSE as an adult. I also struggle with telling time on a normal clock and with phone numbers etc.

I had a few years out after school and worked, then did A Levels and my degree a bit later. At that point they were fine with me not having a C in maths. It has prevented me from becoming a secondary school English teacher and also from joining the Civil Service as I can't pass their math test. It is so frustrating

He doesn’t have any friends in our new area, we’re 200 miles from where we used to live. He was only at the new college for 7 weeks before lockdown so he didn’t gel with anyone yet.

@BarbedBloom it’s so odd to everyone that he could get A* in English but fail maths so bad! It really knocked him. All he wanted to do was A levels in English, history and politics but couldn’t as he did so badly in maths.

Why was he only offered a choice of 3 different btecs?

Posted too soon - so he’s so lovely as well and just sees college as another year (or two if he swapped) of loneliness. He’s got a different accent to the other kids and the first few weeks got taken the piss out of quite a bit. I feel so bad for letting him down, but we had no choice but to move to a cheaper area of the country.

@bookmum08 that’s all his previous school (before we moved) offered and he wanted to stay there for 6th form. But then we had to move across the country very suddenly due to my job loss three months later - I wish I could have seen that one coming.

*he’s so lonely, not lovely (although he is quite sweet when he wants to be).

He’d need to do Maths in an apprenticeship anyway - wouldn’t pass without it.

A friend needed a maths grade c for her chosen profession. She spent years trying to get it and has been unable to. She was getting slightly closer to a pass before she finally quit. I'm not sure she would have ever passed despite working so hard for it. She couldn't fully understand it and the exam anxiety made it worse.

She struggled with reading maps, working out prices/change, managing bus and train journeys, timetables, telling the time, following recipes and budgeting. I think these are all connected to dyscalculia.I think it's damaging to keep failing something repeatedly for years.

Bless him. Please stress to him that this is not a reflection on his intelligence at all and its not the end of the world. I have made it to nearly 30 without a maths gcse even though im always told i need one. Ive resat paid exams twice now and managed to get a d grade eventually. I still need to save up and resit one day to get a c and i supose your ds has that option as well its always open. Look up different methods of learning online and get ds to see what method works best for him. Like me. Im awful at maths yet weirdly being in class or having a teacher really makes me struggle even harder. My only method is breaking it down into chunks and rewriting the rules of each thing repeatedly and doing practice questions again and again. Everyone has their own methos of learning and sometimes its hard when people want to help as they sometimes push their own method of learning onto you making it more difficult.