DD wants to drop an A Level as she is overwhelmed, won't consider Btec

[micellargin]

She just scraped the GCSE entry requirements for her school's 6th form, which was 5 grade 5's. She is not naturally academic and this was a huge effort for her, however she was determined to get in to the 6th form to be with her friends. We ended up paying for tutors etc just to get her those grades, aside from the grade 5's she has a mix of 4's and 3's.

I've always felt vocational would suit her much better, she is absolutely brilliant with people and can be extremely proactive in certain situations. Not academic but absolutely excels in other ways. She has done work experience in a care home and they were so so impressed with her and stated she knew what to do and all of the procedures without even being told. She also enjoyed it as she does want to go into a health and social care sector (right now she is interested in learning disability nursing).

But she has always had her heart set on the school 6th form and A Levels as her route to uni and of course it's her choice. Teacher's etc at school did try and push her towards vocational and away from A Level which aways upset her. However 2 days into Sixth form and she is struggling massively, there has been little to no transition from GCSE to A Level content and she feels completely out of her depth and has no idea what her teachers are talking about. We've had panic attacks and tears, and she is worried as her friends seem to be coping. And teacher's also told her the first few days are the easy part and it's going to get a whole lot worse. She's announced today that she's dropping her maths A Level and just doing her other 2.

I wish she would go to college and do a Btec health and social, she would do so well in that and it's equivilant to 3 A levels and apparently unis prefer vocational training for nursing, but she won't entertain the idea. I think it stems from the fact the her school (an extremely high ranking comp in a very wealthy area, 20% of students picking up 8-9's in at least 5 GCSE's) has lots of very academic students and her friends are in this group, some of them are being pushed for Oxbridge. I think she feels as though she needs to keep up with them but deep down I believe she knows vocational would suit her better. It's just a case of getting her to realize it's in no way inferior.

Is anyone else's DC in a similar position? I know I can't force her to do anything and I'm not going to try but I'm just wondering how you would deal with such a situation? I have tried to say to her that she is more than capable of scoring top grades in Btec, and that will look so much better on a uni application than 2 scraped passes in A Level, but she will not have it. Persoanlly I think she's going to come to this conclusion herself sooner or later, but I don't want her to change her mind half way through the year for obvious reasons.

[PBLR]

Micellargin - I know time is passing now for your DD to make a change this year but you could say to her( very nicely) that she needs to try and get good UCAS points in the next 3 years to secure her future entry in HE whatever subject she studies there. Funding for tertiary courses is limited to 3 years, so if she does 2 yrs on A levels then goes to a 3 A level equivalent Btec there will be a cost for year 2 of the Btec, as there will be for an Access course if she does that to get in to H E, altho the Access money will be cancelled if she graduates successfully. I know it's hardly a deal breaker in the great general run of things but she will still be going to HE when her friends go if she gets the points from a more vocational route.

[Ozzie9523]

Maths at A Level is a HUGE jump from GCSE - online research and discussions with sixth form teachers has confirmed this. Even students who were getting 8/9 in Maths struggle.

[user765]

Her teachers don’t sound like the most motivating people! But it sounds like they are actively trying to discourage her, perhaps for good reason, perhaps because they don’t want her to bring results down.

But whatever the reason, it would possibly be better to do a BTEC now than attempt A levels, fail or not get the grade and be left with no options and then have to a BTEC anyway. It is very hard for students to recover from a disappointing results day - it totally breaks them. Plus bear in mind that if she wants to start again after a disappointing 2 year A level course, she may not be eligible for funding. Such a hard decision to make. X

[Lucyccfc68]

A friends daughter got grades 3-5 in her GCSE's and the local college refused to let her do A levels. She did a BTEC in health and social care and got Distinction *. She is in her first year at Uni doing nursing and got offers from all the Uni's she applied to.

[tumpymummy]

So glad this thread has been resurrected. OP's DD sounds just like my daughter. At times she has struggled over the last year at school, but has just received a glowing report from school. She has been planning a BTec level 3 course for Sep20. This means leaving all her friends who are staying on to do A levels, and travelling by bus 45 mins each way. After the glowing report I did think that maybe she should be staying on for A levels, but this thread has reassured me that the BTec will be the best route for her.

[tumpymummy]

@micellargin it would be good to get an update on how your DD is now getting on?

[Lucyccfc68]

@tumpymummy I take on a lot of apprentices at work, who go on to do degrees and over 50% of them have completed BTECs. As an employer I value them probably a bit more than A levels. Especially if they are in engineering or construction. (I work in this sector).