AIBU - DS1s BTEC Course Rant - Help!!!!

[FunkyFlanFlinger]

DS1 is coming to the end of his first year of a BTEC level 3 course, he will be moving onto year 2 to work towards his extended diploma, then onwards to uni.

The only issue is that when asked to choose which option to take for next year he is the only student to have chosen one particular option. Every other student has taken the other option which means his choice is unlikely to run.

There is no way he would be able or want to take that option, in actual fact this is the first year the college have offered "options", as when he started the course the option everyone has opted for was not available, and the topic that DS1 has chosen was going to be the main part of year 2. So at enrolment DS1 was advised to take the course because it was the only way to study this subject at that particular college and in our locality, no other colleges near us offer the same course.

If he stays on the course for next year and takes this option it will not be recognised by the uni he wishes to attend as it will not be in the right subject.

So does anyone have any advice as to what may happen, or what our choices could be? No other local colleges offer this BTEC local to us. In actual fact I have found out today that if he was to take the second year at another college it would not count as a BTEC Extended diploma but as two separate BTEC level3s and would not count as adequate entry to uni.

I am furious, I cannot lie, but trying to be proactive about it all, am I right to be angry or AIBU?

The college will be calling me tomorrow, would appreciate any ideas as to how I can move this forward....

Sorry I have not been more descriptive about the course, this is for persec reasons...

Many thanks

FFF xxx

If the college complaints do not work you can go here

It is rare for colleges to give students options, in BTEC there are some core units and then options.

OP I'm going to try to rephrase this for my own subject.

I teach health and social care (HSC), so in my subject students can get BTEC HSC, but with a different combination of units they could come out with BTEC HSC (Social Care) or another combination would lead to BTEC HSC (Health Sciences)

Now if you want to do radiography the uni might only accept BTEC HSC (Health Sciences), so the core units are the same but it's the 'options' that give you the title in brackets.

OK OP talk to the college but go with solutions, if most students want an option then that is what will be taught. Would your son be happy to home study a unit? Even if he wasn't happy would he be capable of that?

It is far from ideal to study solo but it can be done. If another college do this unit he could possibly go there but have work assessed by the college he is registered at, even if 'his' college employ the teacher from the other college for 1/2 a day to do the assessing.

I have written an workbook for a student who had missed a lot of lessons, the workbook covered an entire unit and could be completed in her own time with tutorial support.

If you have written documentation to prove what was originally offered to your ds I think you need to kick up a stink. I might even be inclined to threaten going to the local press. Hopefully you won't have to but realising how it would appear to future potential students might help them understand your point of view rather better

Would they consider doing the units as open learning?

There is a rule at my place that if you sign up to a course they HAVE to run it even if its just one student doing it in the subsequent years. Can you look into this? Perhaps the establishment is trying to save the staffing costs by trying to railroad your ds into taking the other option. If I were you I would be going berserk in this situation. Get all you documenting evidence (if any) and complain very loudly. You may well find they run the option after all.

Are you sure they won't run the unit with just one student.My Dc's school do that regularly.If they offer a course they deliver it even if there is just one student.
However I think your DS is putting all his eggs in one basket.He has only got one place to apply even if he does the module-it sounds like he is setting himself up for disappointment

Surely a BTEC is made of a number of modules and cannot think of any subject so specific for a uni to require a particular option or offer a course itself in first year. Are there alternative entry qualifications for this uni course or could he look at other unis ? Is there any possibility the same module is being offered to new first years, so take up may improve, or are they deliberately phasing it out in favour of the other option?

Call the universities and ask for THEIR advice - make sure you speak to the relevant department, though. They may know of a workaround.

Sounds as if the uni is not that happy taking entrants from the BTec course.

Is it not possible for him to simply do A levels?

It is really annoying to have a course no longer offered, but equally plenty of students don't get into their first choice university course through UCAS each year. And he can always try to change courses once he is at university...

Not sure how it's not understood that this new option won't get OPs son into uni. I did a BTEC in art and design, specialising in 3D design, I went into the school of built environment at uni. If they took this option away from me at the end of year 1 and only offered say fashion, I could not have went onto my chosen course. A BTEC may be made up of units etc but if they're specialising in a completely different subject like that then you would be down shit creek.

A huge thank you for all the responses and also to update on the thread. I didn't want to not post the outcome as I am now pretty certain that we won't be the only family with this issue between now and September.

I had a meeting with the college on Monday, they will not run the option for just one student. Even though when he signed on the course in September for two years and the modules were set, they are standing by the fact the students have voted and they have chosen the different pathway to my son.

Therefore, they have given us the following choices:-

Stay on the course (not an option as he won't be accepted onto a degree of his choice) or jump across to an Access course, seeing as he will only have just turned 18 he will be the youngest on the course by quite a few years.

Or, he could start a fresh 2 year BTEC course and under the circumstances the college will waive the fee for the second year as he is ASD and therefore classed as vulnerable and entitled to stay until the age of 23.

The only college that is running the same course is not offering the pathway we want either. It is not really an option as it is 30 miles away and logistics would be a nightmare.

We have until the 1st September to make our decision.

Once again, many thanks for your responses.

FFF x