Should we let him try A levels or push for alternative?

[Jewelcake]

my son got an average of just over 5, better in maths and physics. He is bright but not very motivated. He is adamant he wants to stay on at school and do A levels. He did have a really hard time in his last year of GCSEs, attendance dipped, his mental health was very poor, however now much better with less stress.
my worry is that he is staying on at school because of his friends DS not because he wants to do A levels. Although he says he is interested, I am not sure whether this is the right course of action for him, but he won’t consider going to have a chat with the local college for alternatives to A levels.
he is considering business studies, economics, psychology and philosophy.

would be interested in thoughts, particularly from any teachers, whether I should continue for him to consider alternatives. Or should we see a term and see?

Why doesn’t he just start with 3? It’s incredibly unusual to do 4 A levels - only the very academic even try. Have school spelled this out to him?

Has he met the entry requirements for those subjects? For example, at my school, the entry requirement for Economics is a grade 5 in Maths and a grade 6 in one of the two Englishes (plus requirement for the 6th form as a whole is 5 x GCSEs at grades 9-4). Those are low requirements as the school is inclusive.

The 6th form should have given/sent you a booklet or published on their website what the entry requirements are for the 6th form, and for individual subjects. If he has met them, he can do those courses - however, the outcome could be D or E. Those are tough A-levels and 3 new subjects at once is a big ask.

The boy didn’t do well in his GCSEs
siffered lots of stress by the sounds of it
didn’t bother revising despite you begging

and now he’s going to do 4 a levels

I wouldn’t necessarily be encouraging someone like this to even do a levels! Let alone 4!!

Sorry I see things have moved on! He'll know very quickly if Economics is for him. It's the Marmite of subjects!

This is going to be a steep learning curve for him. 4 A levels is madness on his grades. My children did 4 A levels so I know the workload and their grades were very high. I am very surprised they are letting him do A levels to be honest. He would be much better off with BTECs and they are a great alternative to A levels.

I fear unless you spell it out then he will slide pretty quickly. He has to be on the ball with his subjects and use his free periods to do the homework that way he is in college and can either get help from teachers or work in a study group with his peers.

What the hell is the school thinking even allowing this??

I said mostly 5s, she did get a 6 in English but got 4s in maths and science. The subjects she chose for A level definitely played to her strengths- sociology, photography and media studies. But I have honestly never seen someone work so hard- she wanted the grades and she worked for it, all self motivated. So I don’t think GCSE performance is necessarily an indicator of A Levels. They mature and work out their priorities.

I notice on here a lot of sixth forms seem to ask for high grades for A Level, at our local college (which is outstanding) they generally ask for 8 GCSEs grade 4 or above, maybe a 5 or 6 in the subject they are studying.

Photography yes, not the others.
As others have said, no harm in trying. He has time to change courses if he decides it’s not for him.

I'll go against the grain and say starting 4 with the intention of dropping one very quickly is probably a good idea for a student who is potentially going to struggle with some but you don't know which yet.

If he started with 3 and discovered that actually, economics was completely beyond him and decided to switch to business, he would then have 6 weeks of business work to catch up on, self-taught, which is quite a big ask.

If he struggled with mental health and poor attendance but wants to try, the school have agreed and are putting support and meetings in place, then I would let him give it a go, tbh. If it all goes horribly wrong very quickly, then he can still switch to college.

This is quite a common situation; we had a whole host of students studying sociology, criminology, English, business studies etc with similar grades, just because they didn’t know what else to do. Some of them did actually take to it quite well, others ended up dropping out; it really does depend on the student and sometimes they still surprise you! I don’t think there’s any harm in giving it a go. If the school offers BTECs, I’d seriously consider them. Economics is probably a bit of a stretch and psychology is often a surprise to students who didn’t realise what they were actually going to be studying.

Is there anywhere he could do 1 A level and 2 BTEC certificates as a kind of compromise?

I can’t believe that you’ve gone from wondering whether he’s suitable for a levels to now he’s going to be doing 4 (4!!) a levels.

My understanding is that he is absolutely not doing 4 A-levels, he is trying 4 subjects to make a decision. In my mind, that is not the same thing because there is zero expectation that he will continue doing 4. He has to drop one by 6 weeks, but who knows, he may decide to drop one much sooner.

OP I would agree that A-levels may not be the right path, but I also think that kids have to try what they think they want to do. Really hope it works out for him, and if plan A isn’t right, he finds a plan B that makes him happy. I do think that changing your mind as you discover your best pathway at that age should be more acceptable and commonplace.

I decourage him to do 3 A levels (there’s no point in doing 4). My DS got all 5s at GCSE - a smart kid but very bored and demotivated at school. The 5s gave him the jolt he needed to take his education more seriously. He was able to choose subjects he was more interested in at college, enjoyed the more freer, more adult, environment, and did really well at A level. He’s just about to start at an RG university.