To think that 4 G.C.S.E's needed to do business studies is ridiculous

[magicalmadmadamim]

My eldest DS is 16 and been at college since September. He has 2 G.C.S.E equivalent certificates in English and Maths.
I'm sure back when I was in college business studies was always a foundation course?
He really wanted to do business studies and they have put him on some really rubbish courses that he is super bored with.
Is it me or is education getting much harder now?
Hardly any of his school friends passed any g.c.s.e's :(

The best thing you can do for your son right now is to relocate to the Uk and be a hands-on parent to him. See him every day. See him working, understand his course content. Work with and support his tutors. Let him know how much he’s disappointed you but also make sure he’s aware that all is not lost if he changes his ways immediately.

He can be a positive contributor to society, or he can continue to be someone who mocks others, disrupts and disrespects peers and authority figures, blames everyone else for his own behaviours, doesn’t take any accountability, thinks the world will simply deliver all he needs if he carries on with his hobby.

you’ve let him down. As has his father. But from what you’ve written, you don’t see yourself as responsible.

The thing with business studies is that most people who run their own business would be told they haven’t the qualifications to run a business

Top post.

Business studies covers a number of different topics, requires essay writing, accounting etc. and is normally a step up from GCSE's.

Being expelled for being a racist bully is not an overreaction on the schools part. You and your child should be very glad the police weren’t involved.

my son faced racist bullying from a ‘ friend’ he went to a very dark place for a while there, it was terrifying as a parent.

seeing ignorant parents dismiss it as horseplay seriously makes my blood boil, stop minimising the vile behaviour of your child.

You are deluded.
Let me explain again. It is part of the funding agreement between the government and colleges that all students must retake English language and maths as part of their main course if they haven't already achieved the necessary grades - usually a grade 4.
Functional skills is not equivalent to a gcse. If it was it would be called gcse. Please go and Google functional skills exam papers, Google gcse papers and compare them. There is no comparison.
The average 12 year old can pass functional skills. Yes really!! They are simple.
There is no way this boy will ever be able to tackle A levels. He lacks the application, he lacks the motivation and he probably isn't clever enough.
His parents have neglected his personal development and education for years. I am afraid he is a write off.

I think the school were completely in the right to remove him. That's not 'horseplay'. He's a racist bully. Let's hope he's learnt a lesson from the schools actions as he's certainly not learning them from either of his parents who seem to be minimising the seriousness of his behaviour.

Yes. All of this.

I don’t know many children now (without SEN’s) that haven’t got 4 GCSE’s. I think it’s always been a requirement for a lot of courses but yes ‘business studies’ was pretty easy to get into when I was at school, but I think GCSE’s were harder to achieve when we were younger.

Could your dc do some resits to get into a better course?

Apprenticeships are very competitive to get - he’s need excellent grades and a good work ethic to get onto one.

@HarshbutTrue2 I am not deluded thank you.

Once you have Functional Skills Level 2 pass you do not need to resit the GCSE because GCSE is a level 2 qualification so at the same level as the functional skills one you have.

Normally you don't get the option to actually sit the functional skills, but in this case the DS has done so.

I don't need to google FS papers as my DD did FS English and I also looked at FS maths as we were wondering about her doing it too. FS is not the same as the GCSE but includes the useful bits without the more esoteric bits.

My DD took FS English privately. Once we had formal notification she had passed she was able to drop the English resit lessons at college.

Of course for some courses, especially A levels, FS would not be deemed sufficient but for a number of purposes they are sufficient.

Where did you get that stupid idea.
Functional skills is a completely different qualification.
Grade 1-3 gcse is a fail. I repeat, a fail.
Grade 4 is a pass. The student will not have to resit. Grade 4-9 are passes.
However, many courses ask for a grade 5 which is considered a Good pass. A level courses usually ask for a minimum of grade 6 at gcse as an entry criteria

Grade 1-3 gcse is a fail. I repeat, a fail.

No, they are level 1 passes.

Grade 1-3 GCSE is a level 1 pass.
Not a fail. I repeat not a fail.

A bunch of Grade 3 GCSEs is enough to get on to a Level 2 course at college which can then lead to a Level 3 course at college.

The only subjects that need to be re-sat are English and Maths until you get a Level 2 pass.

There is more to life than A levels.

You need to change usernames to HarshAndWrong.

So education costs the institution money so they want to invest in people who can and will pass the course if DS is only capable of 2 GCSEs then he may not have the ability to do well on the course.

However if in his friendship group many got non and he just got 2 AND hes been expelled it may be the situation is also impacted by his behaviour. Id be focused on helping him address his struggles opposed to directing my energy towards the business studies acceptance standards

Maybe because I used to teach both.
Please Google exam papers for both

What are your teaching qualifications and experience?

A woman I worked with applied for and got a new job. It required maths and English GCSE grade 4 or above. She said on the application form that she had both. She didn't, she had functional skills level 2 in both - it was a genuine mistake, she too had been told they were the same thing. After she'd been offered the job they asked her to provide the certificates of her academic achievements and when they saw she had functional skills the job offer was withdrawn. They are very different qualifications in their content and rigour.

I'm not commenting on anything else in this thread because it may get me banned!

They aren't exactly the same of course.
But for government funding purposes they count as an 'equivalent qualification' which is why if you have FS Level 2 you don't have to resit the GCSE at college.

I don't see how that's relevant.

My experience is having a DC who has been through GCSE Resits and Functional Skills in the past couple of years. So yes I know the contents. I know they aren't the same. But I also know that having got the FS you are not required to resit the GCSE.

While a majority of students will pass at least some GCSEs, the system as it stands is designed to ‘fail’ a third of entrants: grades 1, 2 and 3 (equivalent to the old pre-1988 CSE grades 3, 4 and 5) no longer count as passes.

Even at our local school which is in deprived area the majority get at least 5 GCSES only SEND don’t. A course asking for 4 GCSES isn’t aimed at academic students just basic requirements.

Getting 4 GCSEs is not necessarily about the certificate at the end, but more about proving that he can apply himself and be consistent and committed. In business, he will need tenacity, determination and commitment.

It's a similar thing to some jobs asking for a degree or equivalent, not because they need the qualification but because it can show employers (the ones who find it important) that the person has the ability to knuckle down to work, as other posters have said.

Expulsion is a different problem, and that will blight his efforts. It sounds as if he needs to start taking learning seriously and to realise how competitive the world of work is. I would say to him that if he can prove himself by passing these 'boring' courses, he will find himself back on the right track.

We all have to do boring things sometimes, to get to another point where we'd like to be.

They are the equivalent, that doesnt mean the same qualifications, its akin to when I was doing my nurse training in the early 90,s when they asked for GCSE,at grade C or above or Olevels
Mumsnet does like to sneer at the less academic kids for some reason.

My son has Autism, diagnosed aged 5, now Y13. He just scraped into level 3 business and level 3 travel/tourism courses with 4 GCSEs - English, Maths and 2 Sciences, all grade 4 passes. This is at a sixth form doing btec/ctec qualifications. There is lots of research/writing/presentation for coursework and the exams are quite different to GCSEs. My son didn't do well at GCSE due to doing almost no work in Y9/10 for many reasons and leaving it all to Y11. He is likely to pass his level 3 courses but it's not been easy. The entry requirements are realistic.