To be really confused about post 16 education?

[InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream]

Ugh. I have a son in year 11, doesn't know what he wants to do, the only things he likes are art graphics and IT, no idea how he's going to do in his GCSEs, although he is predicted c's and d's, maybe a b in art graphics. He would quite like to go to college, but I'm having a hard time wading through all the online prospectuses, and he himself can't even be bothered to think about it .... Grrrrr!. What are everyone else's not-particularly- academic kids thinking of doing post GCSEs?

BTEC isn't necessarily a full time course - it depends what level it is and how the college / school are delivering it, eg over one or two years.

Cricket, I was holding that back as extra info once InSpace had had a while to soak it all in. It is confusing enough with just the basic choices, isn't it?

3 or 4 choices could be AS levels, pick 4 drop one in year 2.

But, some of the short BTEC courses, Awards, Certificates etc, could be run alongside other courses and sixth forms in schools have quite different set ups from FE colleges. Things that are every day in college are impossible in sixth form and vice versa.

Best advice is to go back and speak to someone on your own. Tell them you need to understand their structure, what courses they offer and how they fit together. There will be someone who will be happy to have a chat and explain what they specifically offer.

Don't worry about the Open Days being over, that doesn't mean they are closed to applications. Good luck.

Thankyou. But his tracking arrived today predicting mostly c's and d's and an e in maths.
At this rate he'd be lucky to get a job at McDonalds. I'm thinking about private tuition.

DD is quite a shy child who's very socially anxious. Her school didn't have a 6th form so her options were very large colleges all 2 bus rides away. We didn't realise at first that our other local school who does have a 6th form will take students who didn't attend their high school. This was ideal for DD as they also specialised in the art subjects she wanted to do.

She started in September and loves it, I think the structure helps her as even though she has free periods she isn't allowed off site between 9 and 3pm so she is working in those free periods. She took 4 A Levels but because she failed Maths (D, a few marks off a C annoyingly) is having to have extra maths tuition in preperation for a retake of the GCSE next year. She isn't mathematically minded (neither am I) and I really do wish they would let her just drop the subject to concentrate on the ones she is doing but sadly they can't.

I think had she gone to a regular college she'd have felt overwhelmed by it all.

Incidentally, the school 6th form also does BTecs. Don't just look at the big colleges, sometimes the smaller school 6th forms are much more 1 to 1 and much better for kids who struggle academically.
DD had been in part time school for 2 years due to illness, she just scraped the 5 GCSE's she needed to get in, but they assured her had she not they would have taken her and found something for her to progress with.

Thankyou sisters that's really helpful!

Sisters I am totally with you regarding the maths aspect. I really do wish the powers that be would stop harping on about it so much and making it virtually compulsory to get at least a C and to stay at school for as long as it takes to do that. That assumes that all students are of equal ability, which just isn't the case.

I'm not saying it isn't an important subject. Just that parents and schools ought to be allowed to recognise the ability / aptitude of each student and act accordingly. If a student has a pronounced preference for and leaning towards arts and humanities type subjects then they should be allowed to pursue that in peace once they get to 16+, rather than always being badgered about maths or any other core subject.

For two out of my three daughters (eldest and youngest) the academic requirements will be no problem at all (indeed, eldest is already at uni). I think that must make it all the harder for the middle one, who is definitely my non-academic. I think she runs scared of things, and hence her resistance to discussing it.

Oh Tops... it isn't virtually compulsory to achieve that D in English and maths it absolutely is compulsory, as of this year.

You are right, we teachers don't think the GCSE is the right focus. Ifi tmust be compulsory well, we love Functional Skills - well more than the GCSE anyway, the Key Skills were pretty good too. Basically anything that is vocationally based and has real life relevance for those students for whom algebra, complex punctuation and other such impenetrable stuff are both, well, impenetrable and not needed for their life choices.

At least at home you only have 1 of them, running scared and sulky because they have no self confidence. We have class fulls of them, 5 times daily

C not D a C.

the whole D thing is another hoop we have to jump through.

From next year if they have a D they MUST do GCSE. This year we can pop them on to Functional Skills - which at least can go some way to increasing confidence levels. But not next year! Our ability to stream and support students to success is so very, very bad the government have issued its own edicts! Aargh!

our DS is not very academic, however he is well rounded- he does sport, does a paper round every morning, goes to cadets, youth club, has already done his bronze d of e and just started his silver.

He wants to do an apprenticeship and all those things show that he is a good worker, team player, reliable, can follow instructions, gets on with people etc. and will hopefully help him to achieve.

He is predicted c and d grades but he has worked hard so far, so not taking that much notice.

our friends son has just got an apprenticeship as an accountant earns over £100 a week and goes to college once a week and will be fully qualified at 21.
so he is getting experience and pay with no debts- quite tempting and he only got b in maths, rest were c's and d's

Nomama, what you say totally resonates with me. My parents were teachers (long retired now, and boy are they thankful for that). They were always saying how they wished they could just be allowed to get on with their jobs.

Governments can legislate and set ridiculous "targets" all they like, but nothing they do can change the fact that for students like my 15 year old daughter subjects such as maths can be, as you rightly say, impenetrable.

Obviously I would be delighted if she made sudden and miraculous strides forward and got a C, but if it doesn't happen (and it is very unlikely) then I have absolutely no clue how anyone (teacher or parent) will ever get her through a resit without making her life a misery.

Successive governments have set these sorts of targets. None of the ministers concerned have ever taught in their lives. They don't live in the real world and they haven't a clue of the effect they are having on a sizeable number of children, their teachers and their families.

They have now gone a step too far, and made an already difficult situation just about impossible. Teachers who have to manage class after class of such students do have my sympathy, as do the students themselves.

Actually, I think I may have had a thought.

Email your MP and ask if they know what the success rate is for GCSE resits.

I think that information should be more widely available, so everyone can see just how tall a mountain kids are expected to climb.

A quick challenge for you... can you find that stat?

Ahhhh, you got me there! Only just logged in for today. Haven't been able to find that stat yet. Tried googling GCSE resit success rates, but it wasn't obvious from the list. Also looked on Department for Education website, and still looking.

Errr, I am not very good at this, am I??

Anyway, somehow I doubt that the results for enforced resits for children who have struggled with a core curriculum subject they have little natural aptitude for will be great.

It is not you. Really. It is not that you have suddenly lost the ability to choose appropriate search terms, honest!

They are so bad that you won't find an official stat! They are simply not measured (officially). Having said that, this November's results should interesting... as they are resit only. However they will be for schools, loads of hours per week and Learning Support to die for. So we still won't have much of an idea.

Unofficial stats range from 5 - 8 % - I say unofficial, LLUK and some FS hubs all quote within that range for FE colleges and Sixth Forms - anyone outside that school framework.

And my salary, promotional prospects, Ofsted rating relies on that Achievement rate, as measured against God only knows what pie in the sky government measure! Obviously without any official stats they can make up whatever benchmark they choose, can't they?

Bitter? Disillusioned? Moi? No, it's just half term itis

That is sort of what I thought. They won't publish the results because they will blow a hole in their own case here. In fact, they are much more likely to pretend that no such record of the results exists because then they can do exactly as you suggest.