6th form college - vocational courses

[TeenAndTween]

My DD would ideally like to do A levels, but we're not sure she's going to get the necessary grades, or that actually she'll be suited to them.

So we're looking at vocational courses as a Plan B.

I know very little about studying these so would like to be a bit better informed before we go off looking. Some of these questions may be a bit 'how long is a piece of string', I'm not sure really.

For context, DD would probably go for one of Child Care, Travel&Tourism, Health&Social care. So once she has finalised on which of those 3 she thinks sounds most interesting, what else do we need to know/consider?

a) Presumably the 'standard' for essays is less than it would be for A levels? I'm thinking more pre-given structure and less analysis?

b) Is there less need for 'independent' study? i.e. More clear cut requirements as to what has to be done?

c) Are the total hours around the same as doing 3 A levels, or noticeably different?

d) Are the details of a course with the same name going to be different from place to place, or can we broadly expect that Childcare at one place is the same as somewhere else?

e) Are people doing vocational courses at 'academic' 6th forms likely to be 'looked down on' by the 95% doing A levels? Would it be better to choose a true vocational college?

f) What on earth do we need to be looking for to find out what doing a course at a particular college would really be like?????????

Thanks for any insight you can give.

Depends entirely on what she wants to do next. A level 3 BTEC extended diploma in, say Health & Social Care would get her onto some courses at some universities, and in some cases would be a more relevant course than doing A Levels. You can see details of the courses if you check the edexcel website.

Health & Social

Travel & Tourism

Vocational courses are heavily coursework based. Learning is assessed through structured tasks set by the teacher involving the use of information gained in class and independent research using a variety of sources. These tasks can take the form of reports, the production of information sheets or leaflets, annotated diagrams, presentations, group work, practical activities, analysing case studies, conducting interviews, tasks and research carried out in the workplace etc. Traditional essays and tests are less likely to be used. There are no exams. The work experience can be extensive, sometimes one or two days a week.

The standards are not 'less' than A levels just different. All learning including performance in work placements counts towards the final grade. I would say vocational courses reward hard work and interest rather than academic ability. The higher grades ie equivalent to A and B at A levels require good analytical skills.

Class contact time is usually the same as for 3 A levels although some of this will include independent learning or practical activities and group projects. There is also the work placement.

These are nationally recognised courses and therefore will follow a similar format and demand the same standards wherever they are studied. Like A levels there are several exam boards so the contact might be slightly different according to the board. Schools and colleges also have some choice in which units they decide to offer. There are core units that must be followed so the qualification is broadly similar nationwide.

It is true that vocational courses are sometimes looked down on by some who study A levels, this is because they are less academic, they are however, very challenging in their own way and very relevant to the workplace.

Vocational courses are a real alternative route to university. The higher grades are require and students tend to choose vocational courses eg nursing.

Try the Edexcel website for more info.

Evil The problem is she doesn't know what she wants to do later in life.

Apple Thank you for your comprehensive answer. DD works hard but struggles with analytical thinking. She is confident verbally and is personable. At the moment I think there is a high chance she will 'sink' with A levels rather than swim, and that even though interested she will get swamped by the difficulty of required essays. You've given me some better ideas of things we need to be asking about.

Any more views / insight on how vocational courses run and what to ask at open evenings much appreciated.

She might want to have a look at Apprenticeships too - she could get a qualification while working which is a good motivator.

Odd yes, we have looked at these, but I (at least) would prefer she got a wider based qualification (though I may not be understanding them right) given she doesn't really know what she wants to do.
And I'm not sure she's mature enough with enough common sense yet for a mainly work-based role.

Agree with odd boots, apprenticeships are a good alternative, there are usually quite a few available for childcare, less for health and social care, not sure about travel and tourism but I'm sure there are some. Lots of colleges also deliver apprenticeships so you could discuss this at interview.

I wouldn't be too worried about your DDs difficulty with analytical skills. One of the real advantages of vocational courses is that they relate well to everyday experiences and all learning is applied to real life situations. This might suit her better, being personable and good verbally are valuable skills on this type of course.

Most colleges ask for 5Cs at GCSE to study level 3(A level) and many require Maths and English to be included in this.

Good luck!

Thanks.

She should easily meet the 5Cs criteria, but the school predicts she will do much better than I think she will.
(There is form for this, she gained 2 grades lower than predicted in a short course RE despite revising hard and doing practice questions. She got what I was predicting her).

She likes the idea of childcare (but I think that is because it is more 'known'). I think her skills and interests would suit T&T, so we're looking at both in more detail to see what they really entail.

Just one final point to consider teen and tween.

The childcare qualification leads directly into employment as a qualified early years practitioner (and at higher grades can lead into degrees for early years teaching) but you must really like children and want to work with them.

The others do not lead to any recognised workplace qualification and so further training/education would be needed (although this can be on the job) but generally they are less specific.

Thanks. It's a minefield really. If we were confident she could cope with A levels we'd be able to ignore all this for another couple of years!

www.eastleigh.ac.uk/all-courses/all-courses/course/3964/FT151/RETTE2.aspx

www.totton.ac.uk/courses/service-industries/childrens-play,-learning-development,-btec-level-3-national-diploma-43000000420246.aspx?search=childcare

all of the colleges will come to the school for the open evening thingies and the people are really helpful

Thanks Talkin . I just want to be prepared, we visited Eastleigh last year and DD and I didn't like the T&T course, but having looked into things further I'm thinking that may be because of the options they focus on. From the brochure the Brock one seems to have different emphasis.

So I think we need to ask:

• details of the course
• what is 'core' that will be the same elsewhere
• what 'compulsory options' that they make you do that somewhere else may not
• what 'optional options'
• where leavers progress to, and opportunities for advancement.
• what the mix is between placement, classroom, homestudy, individual, group work etc
• how many tutors/teachers they may expect to have over the course

Anything else?

Brock is a 'nicer' option than Eastleigh tbh

Ah well, yes Talkin, that may well be true, but see my question (e) in my OP. I will be asking when we go back there.

It might be worth asking how they limit disruption too - a friend's dd is on an NVQ in childcare and is struggling because a lot of the other students are not actually interested in doing it they just ended up on the course so they muck about.