To think a 22 year shouldn't be doing this

[Livealifeyouremember79]

Studying a levels over two years instead of doing a one year access to he course. The person has an ehcp plan due to their Sen needs.

I didn't say it is harder than a levels. I meant it is hard when you are young to know what you want to do as an adult! Now that OPs dc has thought things through and has gone back to education, that can be harder with confidence levels etc but dc has bit the bullet and is studying.

No negativity in my post - maybe lacking in explanation!

A levels give him/her a wider choice of universities to apply for.

An extra year will do them no harm in the long run

Eminently sensible choice.

I don't understand your issue here. Your DS has SEN, he's doing A levels a few years after most others do them, one more year isn't going to make a scrap of difference. A levels will be far more use to him than an access course.

I think you should just be happy he's willing & able to do A levels.

I applied (and got offers for) graduate schemes in my mid thirties, and I certainly wasn't the oldest. A graduate in their late twenties is the norm, and nothing unusual.

Actually I think if they can manage it is better to do A-Levels. Unfortunately, A-Levels are seen as more 'academic' especially from Russel Group universities and A-Level subjects usually mean the student has access to potentially a very large number of university courses whereas access courses are all tailored for a specific few courses meaning you would be unable to do a different degree if you changed your mind about what you wanted to do. I would support them in doing A-Levels over an access course personally, if that's what they wanted to do. One year of extra study to do A-Levels will open up many more doors for them, it's definitely worth it and won't harm them in any way at all.

I agree that the extra year is neither here nor there. I have a DS 19 with ASD. He did not get very good A levels and did not not know what he wanted to do at uni so is now doing an extended 2 year diploma at a 6th form college. He is 19 compared with 16 and 17 year old classmates but he does not care and nor do they. He is far from the only "older" student the college has. He also volunteers in a charity shop at weekends.

I think the experience has worked well for him as he is now much more mature and much more able to deal with things on his own and the diploma gives him additional qualifications.

To be honest I don't think he could have managed university earlier but the additional couple of years have given him the time he needs to mature. I think he could handle uni by the time this course ends, but he has decided himself that he wants to have a paying job when the course finishes and we have a meeting with the careers service at his college coming up.

I think education and training are much less linear now and I agree with the PP who say that the A levels will give your DS a general qualification that he can use over his lifetime in many areas whereas the access course has more limited scope. I'd leave him to it.

Why did you write this as though it was a random person and not your child?

Sounds like he's made a sensible decision. A levels are more versatile than access courses.

It sounds like a good choice.

I think he should do A levels rather than an Access course. Much more flexible. Lots of mature students leave university until much older than your dc. I think perhaps you should be more supportive and encouraging

It sounds like a good choice.

I'm 45 doing a degree and its not for 'fun' I plan to apply for a graduate role when I finish.

My dd did college for 4 years worked for 1 then retrained and she is not 25 yet why is it a huge deal if your child takes a couple of years to do A levels especially if there is SEN surely longer is less pressure?

I'm in my early 30s, did an access course and was accepted by a huge range of unis (including a Russell Group one).

My point is that it hardly matters how you enter education. He's working to educate himself and to be honest, an access course won't suit everyone. Most of the younger people on my course either dropped out or really struggled with the work.

An access course is very intensive. Seems sensible to do the 2 year course as you can really assess at the end of Year 1 how you are getting on. Will he take AS levels then?

If they do the access course, that only makes that one course accessible. A levels can get you onto many different courses and degrees. That extra year gives more options in the future. Also they may favour what they'd be studyng in A levels over the access course, which might make them stick to the work better (if they found it more interesting).

When I did my degree in France, some of the pupils in the lycee where I taught were the same age as me. I was 20 and had my 21st there and in my 3rd year placement of. 4 yr degree. They were still in full time education but had been kept back 3+ years. Something we don't do in the U.K.

When I went to university, there was a young woman, who'd done lots of different courses to be able to get to do a degree course. She was 4 years older than me before she was able to start her degree because she'd had to do course equivalents and a foundation year.

I really shouldn't stress. Being happy in your studies breeds success.

It took me three years to get my 4 A'Levels (aged 16 3/4 until 19 1/2).

Then I got my degree in mathematics. Didn't make any difference long term, if anything it made me more confident.

The access course is not necessarily over one year, I did one that took 2 years.

I think it is up to the 22 year old, even though they are your 'child'.

I teach on an Access to humanities and social sciences diploma course and there are several pathways. The one I teach comprises English Literature, History and History of Art. Several students last year went to Russell Group universities to study English or History and one went to Cambridge. Another student doing humanities but on a different pathway (so not doing English) got into Cambridge to do law.
Having said all that, I don't see the problem with the A levels - you have far more choice over subject combinations for one thing! At my college if you want to do English you have to do history of art because there's only one English class. You couldn't swap history of art for sociology or anthropology, for example. So A levels may be the best fit depending on future plans and preferred subjects.

An Access course does not lead to just one thing. There are people from my course studying history, psychology, sociology, social care, English and even maths.