Retaking a A levels as an adult

[nikkylou]

Hi all,

Hope you can all help. Long story short, I did fairly awfully at a level in sixth form, mainly due to being over-confident from GCSE...

Now after my degree and a couple years on, I'm thinking of retaking but wondered if anyone has any advice or tips as to where to start.

I'm going to try and ask my sixth form to help me get my certificates etc. So I can get a breakdown of my module grades so I've got a better idea of where I stand but wondered if anyone knows where I could actually start in learning what I need and following a course?

Thanks in advance!

A levels are being reformed and are now linear for those starting courses in September 2017. The only opportunity to take exams now is in the Summer i.e. May/June.
There may be final resit opportunities for some modular subjects in 2018 or 2019. There are also some subjects that are being discontinued.
So the first step will be finding out if you can retake any of your A level subjects (or not) or whether you will need to take the new linear courses.
See link for details www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-the-facts-gcse-and-a-level-reform/get-the-facts-as-and-a-level-reform

Hi thanks for your reply.

I can't tell when the final resits are for my courses I did. The new a levels are all being taught from this year or last so im assuming i may only have this summer anyway at the lastest? I've going to have to review all the content anyway but thought it I could avoid some modules it would be better!

Do you have any idea or where I could start the ball rolling in terms of actually starting a course. I'm happy to self reach but obviously need some idea of what I need to learn!

But why would you redo A levels when you have a degree? Why not look at a Masters?

Colleges don't get funded if they teach adults A levels, but they do if the adult does an Access course. But this is for people who want to go to university, not people who've already been.

Why do you specifically want to take A levels?

I'm looking at teaching and looked at teach first. Although my degree will allow me to get into teaching in some way, I'd like to teach Primary. Unfortunately my A levels aren't good enough to do this straight away. Although I could start in secondary teaching I would feel more confident and put myself in a better position with better A levels, hence wanting to take them

getintoeducation is the Government’s web site and this gives you every route into teaching and there are events for people just like you where you can ask about your options. They are advertising ones in Manchester but no doubt there are others. Before you go down the A level retake route, I would find out if you really need to do this.

Gosh- sorry!!! It’s getintoteaching.education

Sorry run that by me again.

You have a degree, but you can't go into primary teaching because your A levels aren't good enough? I knew there were minimum requirements for GCSE Maths and English but A levels? And why are they ok for secondary? Why do A levels even matter once you've got a degree?

I have a PGCE with a degree but no A'levels. Phone the Uni of your choice and discuss.

I've been looking at teach first as an option as it means I can earn while I'm learning to be a teacher. They're not the same as applying through UCAS and have their own requirements. My degree in business economics will likely be enough for them to allow me a place on their programme teaching business studies, but for primary teaching they want B grades in a least one core subject at A level and a degree of any type. If I wanted to teach secondary subject different from my degree their programme would want me to have an a level in that as well my degree.

They've mentioned, once I qualified through them, I'm a qualified teacher and can do a conversion course of some kind to be able to teach primary if I wanted to but I would rather train in primary to start with.

Hence looking at the option to retake my A levels.

At this moment I can't afford not to work and go back to uni full time to train, so this seemed like a workable option. Im exploring all of the options and one of them is looking to take a levels again. If this proves to unfeasible then I can explore other options.

It would help if you said which subjects you are thinking about retaking.
But if it's Maths then that is still modular with AS and A2 exams both available this Summer (2018) and also in 2019.
If it's English (or any Science) the final legacy exams were in summer 2017 and you will need to take the new linear exams.
See link for details www.gov.uk/guidance/timings-for-the-withdrawal-of-legacy-gcses-as-and-a-levels

Have a look at the OU, they may well do a course specifically to get you on to your course. Eg I'm looking at a 'maths and its teaching' course at the moment.