What can a 16yo do with no qualifications?

[CollegeConcern]

My stepdaughters, though delightful, are not very academic or hard-working. Despite my best efforts, they have been slightly behind expectations throughout their school years and the eldest (year 10) is now predicted to get mostly 3s in her GCSEs.

Their dad went into a hard family trade they have no interest in, and their mum, stepdad and I went to university. From what I can see A-Levels and most technical courses at college require five GCSEs at 4+. She has no interest in childcare or beauty, and seems to be vaguely assuming she’ll get into A-Levels because that’s what her friends plan to do.

What options are there for her if she doesn’t get high enough grades for Sixth Form? Shop work or hospitality?

look into apprenticeships
some colleges also have a lower grade boundaries as well for different subjects

often they have different requirements and will allow retakes of maths whilst completing it
she’s going to have to do some research with her dad and get a plan

She goes to college and starts with a level 2 course, or even a level 1. Then the following year moves up a level.

College to do foundation level English and Maths GCSEs and/or retakes of other subjects.
That will be one year.
She will still be able to 2 years at college or school afterwards if she wants to or could then look at apprenticeships.

College to retake gcses. Even apprenticeships need qualifications although she may be able to do one at the same time .

she has to be in education until 18 so she can’t just do shop work.

Hospitality is a great industry and despite being educated to PhD level I wish I'd worked in coffee shops and tea houses instead of my boring academic career! I'd have ended up with my own chain of coffee shops by now and been thoroughly happy!! You don't need qualifications to work in a coffee shop, but she will need food people skills and some basic maths and English.

If she's not into hospitality, she could consider apprenticeships in something she enjoys? One of the trades (plumbing, brick laying etc...)

Does she like sports? Personal training? Swim teaching?

Does she like art? Drama? Something she could do in that field?

What are her interests? Surely what she is interested in is the key, and she can then follow her interests??

Technically not true.
If a job with "training" is happy to employ her then she can. She would need to be employed for a minimum of 20 hours a week.
(if she's in England..if in NI or Wales she can just go and get a job)

Kids must be in school/training until they are 18, so there has to be something out there for the pupils who don’t pass. Have you contacted the school to see what pathways there are?

The 6th forms around here require a 4/5 minimum in Maths and English Language, plus a 5/6/7 minimum in whichever subjects they wish to take.

Is she predicted to get 3s at the end of Y11, or currently getting 3s in Y10 mocks? Two different things, really.

Colleges have accessible courses for all levels of ability.

If she doesn't get a 4 in maths and english she would be encouraged to retake the full gcse if possible, or there's a lower level "functional skills" version which is better for those who struggle with the full syllabus. There's also various non-gcse qualifications aimed at those who don't get on with academic subjects. Does the school have a careers service? If she can identify a thing she'd actually like to do she might be inspired to start working harder. It's ok to take a few extra years about this, there's no rule that says all GCSEs must be done and dusted by 16.

Btec diploma, some apprenticeships. There's definitely FE out there for those with poor, low or few GCSEs. What subject A levels does she claim she wants to do? Then look at different type of study for that subject or similar.
Hospitality, you need experience. And it's pretty physically challenging. I wouldn't assume she'd easily be able to leap into work in that or retail. She'll be competing with people with lots of work experience. In fact under 18s can't serve alcohol etc so that's another barrier.

She’s predicted 3s at the end of year 11.

To be honest, she’s not very motivated by any form of work. I’m not confident that she’d pass resits either, especially in maths. I’ve been trying to get her skills up but she’s not interested at all. Her mum is very kind but also very relentlessly positive about her results and it doesn’t really help.

She’s said she wants to work as a dog walker (but doesn’t want to pick up poo) or a cake chef (but doesn’t want to get up early or work on weekends).

The A-Levels she wants to do are Art, RE and PE. These are the subjects she finds easiest and will probably pass.

Some key facts you need to/should know- does her school have a sixth form, what do they require in terms of GCSE results? What local colleges do you have, what range of courses do they do, what is their requirement?

Conditional offers for next year college places have been released already, are you saying she is in Y10 at the moment? If so, I would spell out her local options for her more specifically and also probably access some more support to try and get to 4s.

I would search local (non-6th form) colleges—find out what the minimum art/RE/PE requirements are. To be honest, I would be surprised if RE doesn’t require a 4/5 in English.

Sit down with her and discuss entry requirements—perhaps this will light a bit of a fire? At the start of Y11, DC and I looked at what the entry requirements were for the degree he wanted at several universities, and we brought it up several times over the year, for example, at mocks. Just to keep him focussed on what his goals were, and the minimums he needed to achieve to make it happen.

You could take her to the open evening at the local further education college.

Sounds like she has unrealistic expectations about attending 6th form. Has anyone actually sat down with her and said, “If you want to do A Levels, the school website says you need a 5 in Maths, a 5 in English, a 6 in PE, a 6 in RE, and a 6 in Art”? The adults in her life are letting her down by letting her think she’ll be going to 6th form if she has no way of passing. It’s cruel and will be really horrible on Results Day when she doesn’t get a place. Get her excited about what she CAN do, and working toward that.

I’d look at local colleges, BTEC Level 1, maybe an Access course?

I have twins in the same boat - sort of. They do try, but even with support they struggle (mild SEN).

Mine have signed up for technical courses at a local college, we're lucky we have a good one pretty close. One is going to be doing Motor, and one Bricklaying (shame they didn't want to do Electrical and Plastering, would have been helpful! ) - they might try for an apprenticeship (preferred) or just the course and maybe get a p/t job round it.

They have to get at least a 4 in English and Maths, but if they don't, then they retake at college. I'm happy with this, they're happy with this - and their dad and I have been very clear that doing nothing is not an option. It's either college or work, and if they want to earn enough money to have a soft life as they get older, then we both recommend they get themselves into a trade.

One of them isn't nearly as motivated as the other btw, he chose bricklaying as he couldn't think of anything else really. I would impress upon her the fact that she's not going to be supported to just loaf around and please herself until she decides what she wants to do - it's fine to change her mind later but she needs to have something to do.

I agree with this. Their parents are doing them no favours by not being clear about this - in fact, I'm surprised that school haven't basically said that Sixth Form won't be an option at this stage.

I agree with you both. My husband isn’t particularly academic either and thinks she’ll find something, and her mum just sings her praises and says she’ll easily pass enough for Sixth Form despite the grades and teachers saying otherwise. She’s quite quiet and a bit of a daydreamer so I don’t think she gets much attention at school.

Her mum is self-employed making greeting cards and selling them on Facebook (realistically she gets a lot in UC as she has four kids, one of whom is disabled) and I think she’d like that kind of life, just pottering around at home and working a bit when she feels like it. But I don’t think that’s very fulfilling or optimistic for a teenager!

She has mentioned several times that maybe she’ll move in with us when she’s older and help with her younger sibling… But I’m not really game for that if she’s not working or studying full time.

Sounds like the first thing you need to do is sit her down and drum the reality of life into her so she stops living in a fantasy land.

Minimum wage work in retail/hospitality and when she matures a bit she can consider getting some additional qualifications or training.

She needs a bit of tough love.
She has to start paying her way if she isn't staying in education but that realistically she isn't going to get to a 6th form college. Tell her to research entry grade requirements for local 6th forms.
She can't just wonder aimlessly and with new crackdown on NEETs coming she won't be eligible for benefits but will have to find a way to put a roof over her head + food on the table.

Art A Level is very hard work and time consuming. You have to be both very talented and motivated to get anything out of it. It's not a doss.

This is what I’m worried about - surely she can’t just get benefits if she’s choosing to work part time?

I suspect when her mum stops getting benefits for her and maintenance money, it’ll be suggested that she moves in with us. Whilst we have room and she’s no bother, I don’t want to fund another adult indefinitely.

It's not only the less academic kids who don't know what they want to do at this age, but it is much harder for them. My youngest is still not really sure where he's headed and he's halfway through his degree course ...

Good on you for trying to find out what she needs to understand about her options going forward. I hope it works and she can both be more realistic about her own next steps, and feel more motivated for whichever GCSEs matter to her own path.

Then make it clear that she can't and won't be moving in with you.
If she chooses not to do anything then she is on her own!

As others have said look at different 6th form options. Our local college does loads of different types of courses from level 1 upwards. My daughter is doing level 3 but you can do the same course at level 2 and then progress onwards if appropriate. Also if you don't have maths and English at grade 4 you retake, or do Functional skills alongside your course. Getting a part time job and/or some work experience around college would be no bad thing but I wouldn't be encouraging her to quit studying quite yet.