A levels Vs Scottish highers

[everydaysaschoolda]

Looking for some advice regarding A levels Vs Scottish Highers please

We previously lived in Scotland, my 3 children were born in Scotland. We moved England just over 5 years ago. All 3 children now attend a grammar school (no grammar schools in Scotland). We moved originally for my husbands job, I work from home so can live anywhere, my husbands job has significantly changed and he can mostly now work remotely, would need the odd day in the office , maybe once a month.

We always planned to move back to Scotland but time passes so quickly we just haven’t gotten around to it All our family & friends are there , although we’ve made some lovely friends here too.

My DD 16 will be taking her GCSEs next year, she is expected to get 7, 8 & 9s. We have now been looking into A levels, the problem is she has no idea what she wants to do. With A levels she can only take 3 which I feel really limits her. In Scotland she could do 5 highers in one year then more highers or advanced highers the following year.

She would like to take 2 science in case she decides on a science based uni course, she loves languages plus English Lit and also really enjoys PE & Art.

The uni course we’ve discussed include Law, Dentistry, medicine, physiotherapy Graphic design, animation, the list goes on & on!

I realise the career she thinks she’d like at 16 could completely change. DH and I aren’t a great example as the uni course we completed pigeon holed us for a specific career, it’s also 30 years ago we were at uni.

All 3 children (DS twins 12) are happy to move, they have kept in touch with friends and have lots of similar age cousins where we’d be moving to, but are also happy if we stay where we are. I think DD would struggle to choose 3 A levels though, and she does agree that highers might be a better option.

Has anyone been in an similar situation and can offer any advice please? Is it really a huge mistake if she chooses the wrong A levels?

Hi @everydaysaschoolda I've not been in your situation and no knowledge of Scottish Highers so my help may be limited.

But I was struck that "she wants to take 2 science in case she decides on a science degree" – that's kind of the wrong way round really. Does she want to study biology or med or dentistry at uni? If so then great. If not then 2 science A levels "just in case" (apols if I have read that wrong) seems unneeded.

Does she love science and maths? Does she want to be a doctor? I would expect a 16yo to have strong views on that tbh – it has to be a passion as it is such a hard road to travel.

If you can eliminate the science aspect, I would also not take A level PE – it's a great A level, DS took it and loved it, but you can keep up your sport outside school (and inside) without the A level. Ditto art tbh and it is such a thief of time unless it will be your career.

That leaves eng lit, history or geog, phil and ethics, MFL, or maybe a new subject like sociology or psychology or gov/pol. A bit easier to choose there I suspect. Or ofc if she says a strong “yes” to the medic etc route then great, bio and chem and one other.

I am being very glib here and I would like to restress that A level PE is great, as is art. But a decision for your DD is certainly possible. Ideally she neds to make the right one tho.

Another option is to look for a school that offers IB. Or yes, for sure you could move back to Scotland – and post-16 for your oldest and I guess year 9 for your DTs would be a good time. Also it sounds as tho you all want to do it so why not? What are the negatives, in your view?

Sorry if this seems to be a) a bit bossy and b) not very helpful but sometimes spelling out what you can do helps make a decision.

Thank you @clarythat’s actually a really good way to think about it. I hadn’t thought about the just in case part. I did say the same about PE as she does lots of sports outside school.
I think art may be one she’d like to do but as you say it takes up so much time.

sorry what is an IB?

Sounds like a good time to start to mature and focus on the differentiation between hobbies and studies. Things you like doing, and what you chose to take exams in aren’t necessarily quite the same things.

I’d suggest poking right into the details of university entrance requirements for some courses and university’s she’s potentially interested in. England and Scotland. Preferred / suggested as well as essential. Higher are done to a lower level than A levels. Advanced highers sometimes go slightly beyond A level. Going to an English uni with just a higher in a relevant subject will put her on the back foot in many cases.

It’s also worth thinking about the younger two. Curriculum for excellence is really failing to deliver for a growing number of school and pupils. They may see a bigger impact on their education from a move than your older child does. For better or for worse depending on which approach suits them better.

My understanding is the two aren’t really comparable. Advanced highers (in sixth year) are more like A levels and schools tend to only let pupils sit 2 or 3 of them depending on Higher results.

Sorry @everydaysaschoolda IB is the International Bacc - https://www.ibo.org/

It offers a programme of post-16 study that takes in a lot more subjects than English A levels. It's rigorous (very much so) and tough and accepted by UK universities. It's not offered in many UK schools tho and is under threat now as the govt is to withdraw funding for state schools which means many may cease to offer it.

Interesting insight from others into Highers/Advanced Highers. Ofc Scottish unis offer an extra year and I gather the lower level of Highers is the reason for this.

3 A levels in chemistry, biology and an essay-based subject (English/history/other) would keep most of those options open. AS or core maths might be a useful addition. For things like graphic design, a portfolio of work, either developed through school or extra-curricular, would also be necessary.

As others have said, IB is a broader qualification that defers specialisation but it is mostly available in private schools - likely to be even more the case in future as the govt are pulling additional funding needed to run it in state schools. The workload for IB is more like 4-5 A levels, so not for the faint-hearted or non-academic, but superior to A levels for all-rounders.

The Scottish system is broader both at 16-19 and at university, where the 4-year degree structure allows a broader range of courses/modules to be sampled in the first year. It may well suit someone who has not made up their mind.

@extrastrongmintz
Thsnk you for taking the time to reply, that’s really helpful.

@ScaryM0nster you are absolutely right about hobbies vs studies, I’ll definitely be using that. Thank you

OP, my DC were similar. Just started A levels this year. It's very, very hard to choose when you're 'broadly good' and have no idea of where you're headed career-wise. It helped a bit that I had an older son who went through it 4 years ago and was absolutely clear on what he wanted. He ended up hating 2 of his subjects with a passion as they were so different from GCSE. I would encourage you to look at course content. I think sciences and Maths are in a different league to GCSE so I would read carefully unless she has a genuine love.

My DC have both started with 4 A levels. DD dropped one after 2 weeks (Politics) but regrets not taking Maths - it clashed with her other subjects so she had no choice. Personally I think she's better off as it's such a huge leap and it's the subject DS struggled with so desperately.

DS has to do 4 till Y12 Easter. The subject he wants to drop was one of his favourites at GCSE (Geog) and he has found he loves chemistry, which was really plucked out of the air as 'I need a 4th and it's ok' . His favourite subject was Spanish but now he loves them all equally - so he will end up with Spanish, Maths and Chem. It is very diverse and doesn't have an obvious route to a degree but I think it's good to do what you love. He will get very high grades as he loves them all at this higher level.

I think as the year progresses, your DD may get more idea. My DD in Jan last year wanted 2 sciences and Maths. As the revision and exams progressed, she found herself preferring the essay subjects. Luckily her sixth form are very flexible so she embedded up doing

However, I would not move house in order to do Highers!!

It does sound a bit extreme. If you do move you will need to be in Scotland with school places allocated and ready to start at the beginning of June when many schools begin teaching the Higher syllabus. But the other pupils will have selected their subjects around February or March so there may not be places available in the subjects she wants. Have you checked dates to see if she would even be going into S5 in 2026/27?

Do consider that to qualify for free university you need to be resident in Scotland for a minimum period before Uni- think it is 3 years but worth checking. Also if she wanted to go to Uni in England - they really don’t understand Highers/ Advanced highers and set almost impossible requirements for entry. Eg most Scottish students only do 2 Advanced highers as they are harder than A levels ( maybe plus an extra crash higher) but English Unis ask for 3 on the assumption they are the same. So you need to think a bit longer term on this one.

@Iwouldlikeanewjob yes we’ve checked all this and have visited the school the children would move to. She would still be doing GCSE up until the middle of June so we’ve said if we move she would start the last couple of weeks before the break for summer. I am in touch with the school and the children would need to choose their subjects around January, they have no problem with her starting S5 middle of June

@3nationsedi the free university part would not be the reason we would move. I hadn’t really thought about uni entrance being a problem, I know a few Scottish people who studied in England but that’s going back a few years so maybe things have changed. The course I’ve looked up give entry requirements for A levels and highers. Thanks for pointing this out, I’ll definitely look into that

I don’t think it’s necessarily worth moving fir a single broader year (apologies if I’ve misunderstood, but my experience is of Scottish pupils doing 1 year of Highers and 1 year of a couple of Advanced Highers plus maybe a crash Higher).

If the school you were considering does Highers over 2 years - don’t know if this us a thing - then also ime I have not known Scottish pupils start English universities based on Highers alone.

On university, due to the university fees thing, it’s rare for Scottish pupils to apply South of the border, so be aware you may be confining yourself to a narrower university range or embarking on an application process that the school will have v little experience of / expertise in.

There’s also the question of different curricula - there may well be both overlaps and gaps in moving from GCSE to Highers, which given the latter are shortish courses, may make attaining well more challenging than it needs to be.

If you’re thinking of moving anyway and it’s just a question of timing, then straight after GCSEs would be best in terms of aligning whole family to the Scottish system.

Bear in mind uni places in Scotland are capped for Scottish students at a much lower number than rUK (also less stringent grade requirements for non Scottish I believe).

s6 also offer the opportunity to take extra highers, in general it’s a more flexible system. Depends on individual school and what they offer too of course.

The uni course we’ve discussed include Law, Dentistry, medicine, physiotherapy Graphic design, animation, the list goes on & on!

I think the fact that you already had thoughts of moving back is muddying the waters. In 2 years your dc will have to whittle her choices down to just one subject, so moving to evade decision making it just madness! If you decide as a family you now want to make the move back, then great. But don't move for highers!
Looking at your list above, she could probably get into the graphic design / animation with a good portfolio which she could do out of school. I think you would just need bio for physiotherapy. Chemistry for medicine. And maybe she could do English as a third so she has an essay subject and do an epq on a subject she isn't doing at a-level. It is doable, although ideally she needs to focus a little more on what she wants to do esp if aiming for competitive courses like medicine.

yes I agree – if you want to move anyway then after GCSEs is probably not a bad time (better than when your younger DC are in the middle of GCSEs). But I would move bc you want to move back to Scotland, not bc of the wider curriculum. Your DD will have to make a choice sooner or later. The points others make about highers/Scottish unis are also worth looking at.

I agree btw (not sure if my earlier ramble made this clear) that bio, chem, Eng lit, while seeming a random combo, would actually be well looked on for medicine (a third that is an essay subject is a good thing) and would give the sciences needed for med and dental, while also offering the opportunity of Eng lit at uni. And of course law is possible. Arts-based degrees are often accessible through portfolio work yes – so look at that too if that is a real possibility.