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.

Might be worth thinking about switching to the Public Services Btec as there is quite a bit of Politics in there so he might enjoy it more. Plus it would open up a whole new group of students he could hopefully gel with.
What have the college said about his Maths GCSE, have they got any plans for how he can achieve a 4?

@PenguinIce the college haven’t been great so far. The seven weeks he was there at the new college the maths teacher didn’t turn up to five of the seven lessons. He’s been no help since lockdown, had ignored emails and just said “Look at the online work”.

What’s set Ds back even more is that since lockdown he was happier at home not having to go into college. He did so much work. He did all the online maths, took the mock exams, studied with Dh for four hours an evening to complete the coursework. After all that, we got an email from the college a month later saying that only work done before March 20th (three days before he started the online work at home) would be used for grading.

Ds was gutted, hours of hard work six days a week for nothing. He can’t seem to retain anything so all that work hasn’t helped him for future maths studies - and it’s not helping with the functional skills maths he’s doing from home along side.

The college knows that he’s doing functional skills at hi one but as it’s a funding requirement he still has to do the GCSE again next year as well.

Does his new college offer more variety of subjects? More btecs, extra GCSEs, other qualifications likes City and Guilds? Could he do an extra gcse or two in subjects he didn't do at school. Has he got sociology or psychology? Subject wise they may be useful for the police force.
He would probably have to study the gcse maths along side a different btec (or whatever) but not passing it wouldn't cause him to fail the other subjects (as far as I know). He could take GCSE maths along with a level 3 qualifications but when he finishes at age 19 (having done an extra year) if he didn't pass the maths he is under no obligation to keep taking it. He needs to look at the routes he wants to go after this and find out exactly what qualifications he needs. As someone upthread said some police apprenticeship schemes don't require having gcse maths and English.

My eldest daughter had always really struggled with maths, to the point that you could ask her 2+4 and she wouldn’t instantly know it. It was as though any thought of numbers would put her in panic mode instead of thinking about the question. Dyscalculia was mentioned, and she was in the bottom set for maths, and not expected to pass her GCSE.
Then at the beginning of year ten a new maths teacher started at her school. Not sure if this is relevant but he was African and didn’t speak very good English. It could be that because he spoke more slowly and in quite simple words, or it could be something else, but she started to improve, to the point she got a C grade in her GCSE. It felt like a miracle. She still hates anything to do with numbers, but she passed the exam.

Perhaps the tutor your son has doesn’t work for him. No disrespect to the teacher, but we all respond differently to different approaches, and even different voices.

If he was to do an L3 apprenticeship he would have to pass L2 functional skills maths so it's not a way around it unfortunately.

I haven't read the whole thread but my friend had really good a level sciences but couldn't get o level english , ( he was not english ) so took as many extra lessons as he could and reentered the exam spring and Christmas as many times as he could ( different exam boards ) until he passed with the required c

Alternatively would they accept another subject ie logic ( if it still exists as an exam )

Op, you could have easily written about me. It took me many,many tries to pass GCSE maths, and even then I'm still surprised I did. Anything that involves writing maths down on paper and I'm stuffed. In my case it's in part because of some really bad teaching when I was at primary school (long story)

What finally helped me enough to pass the flaming GCSE was go right back to basics and find a tutor used to working with adults with learning difficulties (I dont have LD). When I say right back to the basics I mean starting with reception maths. After 2 and a half years I finally scraped through with a C. And I've never used pythagoras, algebra or measuring triangles since.
Would it be possible if you could get the schemes of work for reception, y1 e.t.c and work on it slowly from there with your DH who sounds like he knows what he's doing?

I agree he should get assessed for dyscalcula as the huge disparity in his results could be a sign.

Back up here, OP - what has the SENCO said about all of this? Has DS had an Ed Psych assessment?

It really sounds like he has some difficulty with Maths, whether dyscalculia or something else and if he fails again this academic year, I would definitely be pushing the SENCO/LEA (assuming they employ Ed Psychs in your area) to be looking into what's going on with DS.

The fact he's had so much extra help and is still struggling suggests that something else is going on and it's important to get to the bottom of this while he's still in full time education as it could cost him a fortune if he ends up having private assessments later (not to mention all the mental health and self-esteem aspects of this that are already starting to come into play).

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

No, it is avoidable! You only have to study it for a number of qualifying weeks and a college has some leeway for around 5% of the cohort not to be taking it (which is obviously sometimes less than one pupil so not always helpful). It's something that really needs to be discussed with the SEN department at college.

Plus, if he's not achieved higher than a 2 on Maths GCSE, he's allowed to study functional skills at college instead of GCSE maths and this will still meet the funding requirement.

I can’t understand why he ended up doing a Btec he doesn’t like. He obviously did brilliantly in English, what were his other grades. Both ds’s school and the college he will go to would have allowed him to take A levels in English/essay based subjects as long as he had at least 5/6 Grade 6 and above.

Maybe he will feel better about having to sit through the maths if he’s doing either a Btec or A levels in subjects he enjoys.

@OhArsebags this really sounds like my DS. He is in Y11 and although strong in other subjects, has always struggled with maths.
I have had to fight since primary for any help but he's had SENCO involvement and they tested him for dyscalculia- not a formal diagnosis but showed highly likely that he did have dyscalculia.
Has been hit and miss with maths teachers but biggest breakthrough was getting a reader for him for exams. His score went up 2 grades.
He has had tutors and again, it's been hit and miss.
Part of problem is his unwillingness, as a shy teen, to be honest about his struggles/lack of understanding.
He has same career ambitions as your DS.
I think you really need to get him tested and push for extra help - extra time is not much use as you have said. A reader and opportunity to sit exam alone is much more effective.
There are also techniques with colour and page layout that can help.
If he can get 9 in English, he's a very bright boy and I think the school and college have let him down.
With SENCO backing, my DS was told he can do A Levels in his stronger subjects or a Level 3 BTEC without a 4 in maths.
I would say though that I have had to be VERY persistent on his behalf to get the help. Good luck.

@OhArsebags I have always struggled with maths, always. I'm in my 50's. I now have a child who struggles with maths and I've found an amazing tutor by word of mouth. She lives in Gibraltar. She teaches maths her way, but follows the Foindation syllabus.

For the first time ever I understand! She just teaches in a different way that's clicked.

I've had 6 maths tutors over the years and I can honestly say she's brill. I have hopes now after 35 years of getting foundation maths as I can work through work books with ease.

My step son is the opposite - fine with maths but poor in English.

I recall he was told he’d have to pass the resit he did in first year college to return for the second year - there must be some lenience because he failed again and has been allowed to continue.

I don’t have any advice really but just wanted to share experiences in case it’s of any help if you or he need to speak to college.

My daughter has dyscalculia. She’s really good at English but maths baffles her.

I think it would be worth getting your DS assessed. It was the disparity between the results in the two subjects that made her teachers think dyslexia/dyscalculia.

My DD has a tutor who specialises in dyscalculia and she had lots of tips and tricks to help DD.

It’s really pricey but so worth it.

I really feel for you OP

@EstherLittle thats interesting. Op is tutoring is a possibility?

Sounds like my DD, she failed her maths three times but managed to go to University without it (I don’t know how) but it wasn’t a requirement of her course. I do realise it may be needed later on in life and will need to be addressed. Excellent english skills are far more important imo.

Maybe worth a look at different college courses/campuses? Unless there’s a real need to stay local to your area?
The College my son attends offer a Public Sevices course, aimed at those wishing a career in the Police/Military etc.

He didn’t get enough grades above a 6 to do A levels at his school. They were very strict on the requirements for A levels and only offered three btecs as no one really did them there. So there wasn’t much choice if he wanted to stay at his school.

They did let him do A level English along side the btec at his school but when we moved the new college wouldn’t.

We’ve tried many different tutors over the years to no avail. He’s had tutors from the age of 8 to 16, the thousands in debt I’ve racked up.

Discaluclar was looked into but they didn’t think that was the problem.

I’ll have another word about changing courses. The only trouble is we may have to move again next summer. So if he did another two year course we’d have the same trouble of changing to another college in the middle and finding a college he could change courses with as they all do different modules. The college he’s at now is 45 mins away from home as the closer ones wouldn’t take him as the business Btechs they did were either different exam boards or there were problems with the modules he’d already done and they hadn’t. I’d hate to go through all that again having to change half way through a bother course.

@RyanBergarasTeeth I can’t afford more tutoring. I’ve maxed out loans and credit cards paying for tutoring for over 8 years. There’s nothing left and not with the situation we’re in since we moved. Luckily Dh is ex maths teacher so that’s a help.

@Char1ey he’s already 45min/1 hour away due to the problems we had moving him and continuing his course. I’m loathe to move colleges again as we may have to move to another area next summer, which would mean another college move if he changes courses and has to do an extra year.

I’ve let him down so much having to move. At least he had friends where we were before and he liked his school.

I thought he would find the L2 functional skills easier which is why I paid for the course to do at home but he’s struggling just as much with that, even with Dh input every night.

It's hard my DD has never managed to pass her GCSE maths. She went to college at 16 did a btec and had to do math again.. can't remember what course was called maybe functioning maths. Anyway failed that but did well in btec got into university. Uni said she would have to do another maths course but failed that. They didn't kick her out and she ended up with a 2.1...maths isn't the be all if you can find an understanding uni.

@teenagetantrums. I fully agree with that. Apart from maths which i now know has a name! I was top set in everything else including science and english and i went on to get a degree. I still dont have a maths qualification and only want one now as a personal acheivement. He can still go on and do what he wants. Has he joined the cadets if he is interested in military policing? Thats great experience they will look into.

You keep taking it, til on the 7th attempt you secure a pass