Alternatives to Spanish, History and English A levels

[TeenAndTween]

My DD is in y10 and we are thinking about 6th forms.

She is interested in doing Spanish, History and English (Lit or Lang/Lit) A levels (not sure on choice 4).

But we are a bit ambivalent as to whether she is academically up to it. She has to work very hard at school to get B grades. A Levels may be a step too far, we're not sure.
She has no idea of what career she wants to do.

So if she didn't do A levels, what would anyone recommend instead?

Would she be better at A levels with more coursework? Some B/C students here seem to do English language rather than lit and Media or Business and then one more hard core A level such as History or Spanish.

I know there is a bias against media and business but they do suit some students who would end up with better grades in this combo rather than forcing them to do 3 facilitating subjects.

Ocan she do international baccalaureate at any local schools/colleges? Might be good choice

The IB is harder than A level in many subjects and you have to take Maths so unlikely to be an option.
Some schools and colleges offer vocational A levels such as Health and Social Care which may be an option for your dd.
Some sixth forms allow a mix of both BTEC level 3 and A levels. The BTEC level 3 is equivalent to A level, but has more continuous assessment. Travel and Tourism is one option that may fit with alongside Spanish A level. Other options may be child-care, Hospitality and Catering.
HTH

Thanks, all.

crazymum She has said if she was doing vocational she would probably go for childcare, but only because she quite likes playing with little children iyswim? She really didn't fancy any of the others.
The colleges do do vocational H&SC A level, which I think would be a good 4th choice for her, but she is not so keen.

The trouble is, on the one hand the vocational courses send you strongly down a career path, which she isn't ready for yet, and tbh she doesn't think they look interesting; whereas the A levels are more general which would suit her better, are more interesting, but might be a bit hard.

TheWave The English syllabuses (syllabi?) are changing from 2015, so I don't know what will happen to coursework then. We'll have to recheck in the autumn. But I hadn't considered that some may have more or less coursework than others. More would suit her probably.

I was hoping someone might come up with a magical in-between solution! The best bet almost looks to be only do 3 A levels, rather than starting with 4 and dropping one after a year, as that would give her the time to really come to grips with them. But I don't even know if that would be allowed.

History is extremely difficult. Geography or economics? RS is well thought of and most syllabi are at least mainly ethics/ philosophy, so even if she's not interested in scripture she could well enjoy it and do well.

Helpys
She was delighted to drop Geography at the end of y9 when she did her options.
RS she loathes and finds very very hard. She has just this week done a compulsory 0.5 GCSE in it, she will be lucky to pass. Too many personal opinions in it, too fluffy.
Economics I would imagine has too much of the wrong sort of maths (percentages and graphs). She does OK in maths but only because I can give her 1-1 tuition before tests but there are some aspects she struggles with every time.

Why do you say history is difficult? She finds it really really interesting. She would be fine doing 'reading around the subject', but would find structuring essays hard - that is her weak point which I hope to help her improve on before end y11. Is there something else I should be thinking about? I'm a maths person so Spanish/History/Eng is all a bit new to me.

I teach English and sometimes tutor A level. A level English is really quite tough academically for lots of kids. It is much harder than gcse ime. I know lots of yr 12 and 13 who drop it like a hot brick including my own very able daughter who is in line for a first at uni. Talk to her teachers.

What do her teachers think? You say she has to work very hard to get B grades as if it's a bad thing, there is nothing wrong with B grades. She will only work hard at something she is interested in, not something chosen because it is supposedly easier.

FWIW I studied English Language at A level, and two languages. English Language was fascinating and there was a lot of coursework (although things might have changed a bit in the last 15 years...) I also found it complemented the languages quite well too.

It's the structuring of the essays that is hardest at A Level History. Have a look at the syllabus and some practice papers. It's very far from GCSE level.
I can see that Geography and RS are non starters! But do look at the syllabi
Ancient history?

overthemill yes I will talk to the teachers, though I'm not sure when we will get the opportunity. We've had y10 parents evening, and I think the y11 one may be a long way away. I will find out whether they have a special post16 evening.

avocado I agree there is nothing wrong with B grades, we will be delighted with them. But I also realise that B grades from a lazy student mean they have more to give as it were for A level. People (like Helpys ) talk about the big step up from GCSE to A level, so I want to make sure that my works-hard-to-reach-B daughter would be able to cope with the step.

The tutor at out preferred 6th form college implied that Classical Civilisation (aka Ancient History) was no easier than History; DD is more interested in Early History.

At least it seems there are no obvious alternatives we have missed.
Thanks all.

Modern languages at AS are a BIG step up from GCSE. I would say if she doesn't get at least an A at GCSE Spanish then she will struggle. (I'm an MFL teacher. )

Biscuits That is what I keep reading on here, you need the As.
but then the 6th Form College said that a B is absolutely fine.
So then I don't know what to think....

Those are 3 great A levels in what are known as "facilitating subjects" and leave the most options open. Most of our family tend to do English, history and a language actually. The 3 go well together. I think she should stick to them. However A levels are hard particularly in proper subjects like this so she will need to work hard.
Perhaps do those 3 plus ancient history AS.

A level English Lang and lit have changed lots over 15 years! Unrecognisable from the subject I took at a level and at degree!
You can just ask to see teachers outside of formal opportunities to do so. Send an email go head of year asking. Many teachers will stay late most days to meet parents for this kind of discussion. Or a phone call?

The school I teach in would also allow someone with a B at GCSE in a language to take AS. But I personally dispute the wisdom of that. If they work hard they shouldn't fail outright, but they could end up with a D or an E, when they could have got a better grade in a less academic subject.

Yes I agree with biscuits, MFL A level is a big big step from GCSE which can be very controlled and supported (coursework with teacher input to learning etc).

I teach MFL too; we say you need a B as a minimum but really an A-level candidate in my subject should really be A-grade material IMHO.

over When we saw the SFC recently they said we need to wait until autumn for news of new English A levels - they are one of the first to be altered in the new round of 'improvements'

Jane I think these are 3 great sound subjects too. But I'm not sure they are right for my daughter, but they are definitely the ones that actually interest her. I'm not so worried about 'facilitating subjects' as I don't see her going to an RG uni, (or quite possibly not uni at all).

Biscuits and Clary this is my concern really. What the SFCs actually say compared with reality. I guess there is also a difference too between predicted-an-A-just-missed-so-B and predicted-and-achieved-B

Say she ended up with 3 Ds at A level would that be a disaster if she didn't have her sights on university?
Or if she did 1 year of A levels, and struggled too much, could she then change and do another 2 years of a vocational qualification? (Then at least she would have tried?)

I have looked up A level options at dds school and there are other subjects such as World Development, Film Studies which look less academic. Pyschology can also be a good A level if your dd is considering a people-oriented career.
D grades at A level or CDE etc. are not disastrous if you're not wanting to go to university.
At the moment it's possible to change direction after the first year (AS levels), but there are changes coming which will move all A level exams to the end of the course. So it's more than just a syllabus change.

crazy The thing is, she is actually interested in her three choices. She loves being able to speak other languages, and would like to be better. She enjoys learning about history, going to places of historical interest. She has always been an avid reader, and has been really enjoying the creative writing aspect of her English GCSE.

The only other one she likes the look of is Drama & Theatre Studies. Now I'm being an intellectual snob here I think, but her lowest prediction for GCSEs is her Drama, her highest is English. She enjoys drama but is struggling with it. So although it might be easier in theory, I think it may be better to take the risk of the 'harder' English rather than the 'easier in theory but maybe not actually' 'lower status' Drama & Theatre Studies.

What I was really hoping for was that someone would come on and tell me about a fantastic Btech that I didn't know about that would suit her maybe Spanish and History entirely coursework based for example!

The whole changing from AS-A2 to something different is confusing me too, it isn't at all clear to me what is actually going to happen.

I guess I need to 'park' all this, see how she gets on in her end y10 exams. Also make sure she applies for vocational as well as A level so a decision can be made later.

I did History , Spanish , Economics and wished I had done English instead of the Economics. I would have used it more at Uni I think , where I studied Spanish.

Classical Civilisation is 'easier' than English. Talk again to the teachers because your impression is wrong about this. She is only in year 10. Give her a bit longer to see how she grows I to her GCSEs.

Slipshod We are definitely not going to jump into decisions! I know she doesn't need to make a final final final one until after GCSE results in 15 months. (But they do need to apply in the autumn so it would be good to have a reasonable idea). But yes, I had the impression that CC was easier than History, but that's not what the tutor at the sixth form said ...

What's confusing me is the differing advice, not helped by the fact that DH and I are both scientists so find it much harder to 'judge' the subjects she likes. Also the 6th form not being at the school makes it harder, as obviously her teachers don't teach A level, but the A level teachers don't know DD.

At the end of the day, I just want to try as far as possible to ensure that DD gets the right advice so she can make the best choice for her as to what she does next. I want her to do something she finds interesting, that is challenging enough, but not impossible.

I expect it will all work itself out in the end.

Have you looked at any BTECs? Possibly travel and tourism?

English A level doesn't contain any creative writing, just to warn you. People who got Bs at GCSE tend to really struggle with the leap in my experience. There's a huge focus on analysis, evaluation, independent thought, criticism, research etc. Just to give you an example, I had an A level class a few years ago where the only student who had got Bs at GCSE struggled enormously to get a B at A level. All the other students got A*s at both GCSE and A level so she was very much at the bottom of the class and struggled with that too, though it was beneficial for her to be in a class with much stronger students.

Why Yes we looked at Travel and Tourism, DD not all that impressed, it didn't look very challenging or interesting to her. She was particularly unimpressed with spending time in a travel shop or learning to be an air stewardess which she is too short to be anyway .

Antoinette I think Lit&Lang has creative writing, doesn't it?
This is where I like asking questions. You had a student who got B at GCSE and struggled to get B at A level.
If DD1 could get Bs for her A levels I would be surprised delighted, I would actually be very happy with Cs.
But she may struggle with being at the bottom of a class, and this is one thing she needs to consider and to check with the colleges.