If your dc did BTECs, do you say they have A levels?

[Milsonophonia]

My nephew did a BTEC in Media and a BTEC in Music production. He passed them all, which is fab. But my BIL keeps telling everyone he got 4 x A levels. My dd got 3 x A levels and I'm starting to feel a bit fed up with him saying dn got 4 x A levels. We were at a bbq yesterday and someone was congratulating dd and he interrupted and said well, dn got 4 A levels!

I think he may have got the equivalent of 4 A levels, so a great achievement whatever, but its beginning to annoy me. I know I'm being petty. But ds1 did BTECs a few years ago and did really well in them and ended up at uni but I am pretty sure I always told people he'd done BTECS!

Well - why on earth didn’t you correct him then? If you had an issue with it - there and then, correct them? My understand is, one is more academic and one isn’t. I presume you feel your child is more academic and worked harder? Why not say something - rather than stewing.

I think this post clearly shows that, in general, people are clueless about what a btec is, which explains why he’s used A level to describe it rather than “ a btec which is equivalent to an A level”.
My ds has just finished 6th form and did a double and a single btec, he had quite a lot of course work and a few exams, but no final exams so he was finished by mid May. I am not sure that the btec course was to his advantage as he’d probably have done well in exams. If anyone asks how he did in his A levels, I say he did btecs and he got dmm and they say “what’s that mean?”

No that is odd. They are two different things.

Do they?! That’s hilarious..

Massive well done to your Nephew and DD. They have both done incredibly well in qualifications that clearly were well suited to their learning styles. Great achievements, be proud of them both.

YANBU. One of my DC’s did a level 3 extended diploma and got a distinction, this is equivalent to 3 A levels. My other DC is doing 3 A levels, they are very very different and not at all comparable. I never say that DC has A levels, as they don’t, they have the equivalent of 3 A levels. BTEC entry requirements are often much lower. My DC wouldn’t have been able to do A levels as they didn’t get the GCSE’s required to do A levels, that doesn’t mean that I am not proud of their achievement. I think it’s fine to say they did a BTEC which is equivalent to 3 A levels.

I have A Levels

I have a BTEC

I would say that I enjoyed the BTEC more than the A Levels & the teachers were much better

I also have a degree

While your BIL went about it wrongly I think he is trying to protect his son and celebrate his son for doing so well. It’s a great achievement for both your dd and your nephew

there is a lot of snobbery around BTEC. I feel this is the better option for ds his school do not offer them and he won’t entertain the idea 😟 I wish he would change his mind

@Milsonophonia no I don't say that she has A levels because she doesn't.

Or more to the point why didn't you pull him up on the interrupting?
That was rude and unnecessary. People are snobbish about btecs, even when they don't even know what they are. Why knows which child ' worked harder'? Btecs involve 2 years of coursework. If you don't work hard, especially at L3 throughout the 2 years, it is extremely difficult to pull the grades around. A child may be able to coast a year of A Levels then work really hard revising for the 2nd year and pull it around. They are different skills. In any case, this is we dont tell results in my friends and family ' Yes, he did well/ he did OK but he's a bit disappointed' to avoid all the questions. It doesn't make one child better than the other. Unless DN is a little shit who doesn't deserve any praise for his achievements.

I don't think it helps that BTEC can be a Level, 2 or 3 qualification... so some are more like GCSEs and some more like A levels.

I agree with those saying it doesn't matter. BTECs are equivalent to A Levels for uni points, and some 6th Forms combine BTEC and A Levels - Heath & Social Care, Engineering and arts are taken as BTECs in my area and kids are combining. They are adding T Levels in some specialist colleges, which will add further confusion! It's rude of your BIL to cut in about his dc when people are talking to yours, and you need to pull him up on it. He sounds like an insufferable competitive parent.

What uni is that? Even Oxford takes btecs and most medical schools...

Yes they take the Science BTECS I mentioned up thread BUT they are very fussy about the modules they accept so you have to find a college offering that exact combo of modules (which we found nigh on impossible)

Because that would have been insanely rude and its not up to me or dd to do that work for him.

Although lots of unis accept.btecs,.they are not as readily acceptable as A-Levels. For very competitive things it is either very specific modules or a contextual offer into a foundation year. Don't get me wrong, I think they are fabulous and much of the time.just a different vehicle to the same destination. However, they just aren't as demanding which is why the entry requirements to btec are much lower and students with lower gcse grades are much more likely to pass or get a merit/distinction compared to if they did A-Levels.

As someone who has taught BTEC all the way through to HND I would say what qualification they have, not the name of the awarding body.

BTEC stands for the Business & Technology Education Council, it is not the title of a qualification.

The qualification being discussed here is a National Diploma, there are a whole range of BTEC qualifications up to Level 5 Professional Diplomas

We have twins doing a levels. They are the equivalent of A levels for entry - so no it wouldn’t bother me. It’s more he prob doesn’t understand the system. To be fair the papers all say ‘A level results out today’ they don’t say ‘BTEC results are out today’.

I think what is annoying you is you like to think a levels are harder / more academic than Btecs so you feel he is saying his child is more successful than your child especially since they have completed ‘four’.

personally if he feels he needs this validation to make his life happier than I would just let it go - does not distract from your daughters achievements

They have become a way into university, but that was not their intention. There is a whole separate BTEC tree to climb, all the way up to a degree level diploma if you want.

The idea was (and is) to progress from ND to HND, which is in of itself a final qualification giving you access to work.

I did GCSE, back in the 90's, then ND and HND before starting work as a junior lecturer on the 1st Diploma (GCSE level) courses and studying for a Cert Ed, gaining QTS, becoming a lecturer, then course leader of HND before moving over to be a head of department in a secondary school.

I still have no degree to my name, nor would I want one, nothing wrong with them, but I'm a passionate believer in the BTEC route, and that it is complete in of itself.

Ds just gained his btec. It was the format that best suited his chosen subject. In many ways it could have been easier to study for A levels as he could have just got his head down in his books and got on with it.

Some of the btec meant working in groups, managing different personalities, expectations and skill levels, while being graded as an individual. As a perfectionist he found this stressful and we had lots of conversations about how it was a good thing for him to be doing collaborative work now as it would provide him with additional soft skills. On a practical level, he often had to work to a short time span in front of a room full of strangers doing something quite technical. Having done the physical work, he then had to write it up to demonstrate his understanding, explain his process and justify his decision making. I was surprised at how academic his btec was and when trying to shoehorn something that's creative, practical and technical into academic writing it can feel a bit of a strange hotchpotch to the kids who wonder why they're having to write about it when they've already done the work!

I'm proud of him. He had to work consistently across 2 years for his grades. He didn't let any of his projects come back without the grade he wanted. I don't think he'd have obtained those grades of he hadn't lived and breathed the subject outside of college too. His choice of btec vs A levels didn't close any doors to the universities he wanted to attend, including a place at a RG university without interview. His work has already featured in some university projects though.

It's not A level, it's very different and in his case was the better option in arming him to the teeth with skills.
It was a big plus that he didn't have the anxious wait for results as he knew his grade by the end of term subject to modulation so he knew his uni choices were confirmed.

It's hard to guage whether it's not understanding, a bit of one upmanship, or feeling your nephew was left in the shadows. It sounds like your daughter has done incredibly well and I hope that's she feels very proud of what she has achieved. My children and their cousins all have very spiky ability profiles - absolutely smashing it in some things and really struggling quite worryingly in others. So we celebrate then as individuals and try not to compare.

Everyone knows BTECs are less academic, and so easier than A-levels. You should have just made a confused face and said 'Oh I thought she did BTECs'.

I don't know why this route has disappeared or is not as popular. I suspect its something to do with certainty of funding for 3 years as opposed to 1, then 2 then 3. But when students come out of University with not only eye watering debt but they have usurous levels if interest heaped on top these can't be promoted.

As other's have said it the issue more is the trying to upstage. If DN had achieved 4 A* levels it still would be annoying for your BIL to be jumping in to "reduce" your daughters achievement.

Don't focus on whether or not A-levels are "better" than BTECHs they are different.

@Beth216 they're not always easier. That's a snobby thing to say.

My DS with learning disabilities is doing an extended Sports BTEC. We are delighted he has found something he can do. If he completes it he will have 3 x BTEC's.There is no way on this planet he could do an single A level. If people ask us what he is doing at college we say Sports BTECs. We are proud he is doing them. My elder DS and DD have A levels. They are completely different with different pressures. A levels are all exams but BTECs have pressure from never ending coursework assignments. As soon as two are handed in the next two are set.