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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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Original poster

Are facilitating A levels still a thing?

44 replies

BoofTheFloof · 07/10/2021 17:03

DD is reasonably bright but not a big fan of school. Predicted grades for GCSEs range from 9-6 (more at the lower end!) She has ADHD which she manages well with medication but she hates writing long essays.
For her A levels she wants to take Sociology, Sports science and business studies. To me these sound like "lighter" choices although the school are clear that they get kids into good universities with these subjects. She gets excellent marks in geography (predicted 7/8) and I've suggested that instead of business or sports but she's not keen. School say that as she isn't a fan of school in general that she will do better doing subjects she enjoys rather than forcing her into something she doesnt really like (she is a bit bored by geography). Honestly I know she's not oxbridge/ Durham/ UCL material but I was hoping she could go to a reasonable Russel group (no idea to do what!) Will these A levels be a problem?

OP posts:

EdgeOfTheSky · 08/10/2021 14:38

I know so many young people who are flying having done BTecs, or Apprenticeships, having a great time, earning good money, fulfilling themselves.

Does her 'selective' school even offer BTecs?

Her whole environment, including your background and expectations, seem geared towards a very academic route.

crazycrofter · 08/10/2021 14:40

@Piggywaspushed I’d be interested in knowing how your ds finds Economics? Ds might not be able to do Business and I wondered if Economics would be a good alternative. I also want him to look at Sociology. He moans about writing but has a great writing style can his best subjects are History, RS and Business.

Piggywaspushed · 08/10/2021 14:47

He is a bit of a boffin crazy so he likes everything! He has a 7 in GCSE maths and terrible spatial awareness and is managing perfectly well. He says there are loads of graphs. I think he likes that this is one subject that doesn't always have long essays, although he says it is harder to deal with 8 mark questions than standard 35/40 markers in sociology/history.

Piggywaspushed · 08/10/2021 14:51

He did economics because he couldn't do business in the blocks. He's glad he did, I think. DS1 wanted to do economics and couldn't because of the blocks (sigh) so did business. He hated it...

cloudtree · 08/10/2021 14:54

You do need fairly good maths to do economics (and the vast majority of degrees in economics require a level maths)

crazycrofter · 08/10/2021 15:17

Yes, ds isn’t a boffin! But he’s quite interested in business and economics generally and asks me lots of questions I can’t really answer. He’s fine at maths, just not at all motivated.

Darbs76 · 23/10/2021 09:01

I think those A levels are fine. My son dropped A level PE as we found out Oxford wouldn’t accept it. But I don’t think other uni’s place much empathise on what A levels they do, unless it’s certain degrees which require specific subjects. I’d encourage her with these new subjects. My daughter is similar to yours in that she isn’t keen on school, but she’s fairly bright. I’m hoping once she’s in year 10 (next Sep) she will work harder doing the subjects she enjoys more and can drop those she dislikes with a passion (such as art)

Heifer · 23/10/2021 11:43

@BoofTheFloof

We found this website helpful. You can click on the subjects your DD may take at A Level and they then show degree courses that may be open to her.

www.informedchoices.ac.uk/subjects

Original poster

BoofTheFloof · 23/10/2021 14:25

[quote Heifer]@BoofTheFloof

We found this website helpful. You can click on the subjects your DD may take at A Level and they then show degree courses that may be open to her.

www.informedchoices.ac.uk/subjects[/quote]
This is amazing. Thank you.

OP posts:

Whatwouldnanado · 23/10/2021 14:33

Is there a link for the off the beaten path degrees please? DS doing Sociology, English and Music.

Heifer · 23/10/2021 19:41

@Whatwouldnanado - you can use that link as you can put any combination of subjects in and it will come back with something, give it a go :-)

Ellmau · 24/10/2021 16:46

@Whatwouldnanado - your DD might like to have a look at Anthropology degrees.

crazycrofter · 25/10/2021 09:16

I'm not sure how good that link is. I put in a variety of subjects, but each time I included either PE or Sport and Sport Science didn't come up as a degree option. I'm pretty sure that's not right. There may well be a requirement to have a Science A Level at the top sports unis, but I've seen lots of Sport Science degrees which you could get onto via a PE/Sport A Level.

Wombat49 · 25/10/2021 09:24

Adhd brains are stimulated by interest & feelings. It would not end well trying to do things not of interest. There's less top-down regulation, so it is very hard to concentrate on things, they need to be of interest.

Heifer · 25/10/2021 10:34

@crazycrofter

It looks like you have to click on Biology to get up sports science degree - could that be because it's a Russel Group link and they are asking for Biology? We used it as a starter.

Monkey2001 · 25/10/2021 11:29

Haven't read the whole thread, but facilitating subjects aren't really a thing any more. I also think that it is really easy to get blinkered on the academic treadmill and think it is a linear GCSE, A level, degree track. A young friend dropped out of A levels and is now doing an animal care course at college which has transformed her interest in studying and could still lead to a good degree. Plenty of universities will accept alternative qualifications and it is best to look broadly at whatever will get a DC excited about learning and engaged on their chosen course. Another friend who wanted to do drama was steered heavily away by parents and is now in a second gap year with awful mental health issues.

And there are physiotherapy courses which accept PE instead of Biology, I don't know about sports science A level.

MarchingFrogs · 30/10/2021 08:50

It looks like you have to click on Biology to get up sports science degree - could that be because it's a Russel Group link and they are asking for Biology?

Perhaps the sainted Russell Group is trying to break it gently to the University of Birmingham about its membership, then, as A level PE is accepted for all of the UG courses in its School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Monkey2001 · 30/10/2021 17:16

Edinburgh also accepts PE for Sports Science

Busygoingblah · 01/11/2021 21:35

I’d encourage the physio

My experience as a fellow ADHDer was that a healthcare course really suited me. It was more structured than other courses and involved a good mix of theory and practical. The lack of lots of optional modules meant I was with my peer group all the time and knew the department staff well which facilitated the support I needed to get me through.

Healthcare recruitment is a bit different to other recruitment. It doesn’t really matter where you went as long as you have got your professional qualification and have had a varied placement experience that you are able to talk about at interview. The rankings of unis won’t really matter as the courses have to have similar content and standards in order for you to qualify.

It’s also great qualifying into something where you know you won’t be needing to sit still all day!

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