Traditional A levels or more practical course choices?

[fluffythecat1]

DS 16 is about to take his GCSEs. Has conditional offers from two local sixth form colleges. Has applied for history, computer science, geography, however it is shaping up thar essay-based subjects may not be a strength and we are wondering whether these are good choices. He doesn’t see history as useful for gaining a job and has expressed an interest in doing computer science + a Level 3 Cambridge Technical Diploma in Creative Digital Technologies. The diploma is worth 2 A levels and he says it covers a lot of the areas that he’s interested in. I’m on the back foot about vocational subjects like that which may not exist in a few years time, however acknowledge that it suits his interests. He has recently got into modelling software and 3d printing so we’re thinking that product design might be a good option.
any advice? Looking for qualifications that will help get him into a career more than anything.

I should say that he’s already got computer science on his course choices at both colleges and I presume that there is generally some movement after the results come in to hopefully shift his other course choices.

The best thing to do post-16 is subjects that a) lead to chosen career or uni place and b) will be enjoyable. If there is no plan for a) (you don't say either way about your DS) then b) is a good shout IMO.

What I mean is, if you yearn to be an engineer, then it’s a good idea to take physics and maths A levels. Which you probably would anyway if you did lean to engineering.

If he thinks he would enjoy the creative digital course then happy days. Certainly in and of itself history A level does not lead to a specific job (obvs it’s often needed for a history degree which is needed to be, for example, a history teacher). Equally the Cambridge qual will not as such lead to a job but if he does better at it, that's a win.

I am sometimes slightly wary of a course post-16 that takes up 2 or 3 A level slots as being a bit narrowing (and plenty of ppl think that only three subjects at A level is narrowing); DS2 in year 10/11 was certain he wanted to do maths and PE A levels with a view to pursuing one of them at uni; in the end he added biology and that's actually his degree subject. Why did he choose history and geog? Passion for the subjects? feeling they might be useful? best of a bad possible selection? If not the first, then yes he should do what he loves.

Is he likely to go to uni? to study what? What kinds of GCSE grades is he looking at? I ask bc most unis will be fine with the technical diploma; only places like Oxford and Imperial might not be happy.

He needs to be very careful re these diplomas equivalent to A levels because lots of universities do not accept them as my step daughter found out and had to then take A levels to do the course at uni she wanted to do. She’s finished her degree now and has a great job but it was long unnecessary slog to get there.

Which unis though? IME even places like Warwick will accept non-A-level quals for some courses at least. Esp if coupled with an A level. And unis like Birmingham and Sheffield certainly will. I am not disputing that this was the case for your SD – but also unis have changed their requirements over recent years and I infer she started her degree a few years ago.

Obviously if you are looking at medicine, or perhaps something like maths at Imperial then yes you will probably need three A levels. But it doesn't sound as tho the very competitive courses are what the Op's DC is aiming at.

The post 16 options are Computer Science at somewhere like Reading or Sussex or looking to get a place on an apprenticeship for CS/engineering or similar. Uni is not a clear choice because he has autism and living away from home could be a challenge and of course the cost is substantial. I am wary of the vocational technical diploma, however he would had a CS A level as well and the two courses do complement each other in a way. He chose history because he is interested in the subject and geography because he likes it and thinks that it is more likely to lead into a job. As we have got closer to the exams however, his marks in these subjects have gone down, from working at a grade 8 level in Y10 to getting grade 5/6 now and I wonder if he is finding these subjects too essay heavy and should perhaps drop one. I presume that they are even more essay heavy at A level.

DD took geog A level and enjoyed it but it was a lot of work. Lots of case studies to write up and revise. Tbh I don't think an A level in geography is going to lead to a job any more than any other A level. But I would say the same about CS. Nothing wrong with any of those choices for A level but yes, essay heavy,. DD also took Eng lit (her big passion) and that was so much more work than the GCSE.

I would think a post-18 engineering degree-level apprenticeship would need maths A level as a minimum tbh.

It doesn't sound like history and geography are good choices for him.

Is he good enough at maths to try maths A level?

If essay-based subjects are not his strength pre-GCSE, I wouldn't advise him to do any essay-based subjects at A-Level. There are less subjects at A-Level, but it's a lot more work than a dozen GCSEs!

There is no shame in doing vocational qualifications. I work at a college, and we sometimes have ones who have done a year of A-Levels and realised that sixth form isn't for them. They do a couple of years here, and some of them still end up at university in the end (the rest tend to go straight into the workforce).

DS is going History A level - lots of essays, including a “long” essay over the summer. 4000 words I think. That’s AQA - not sure about other boards, but essentially, A level History is not for anyone is doesn’t like writing essays.

Does the diploma come with work experience? I taught health and social care for a long time (although my PGCE is computer Science).

A day a week work experience might be good for him to get an idea of what he can do and where.

Computer Science is quite mathsy and not very techy, well it is, but it isn't you can actually study it without ever touching a computer.

Programmers will always be needed, AI isn't there yet.

Surely computer science is best served by doing maths too? No reason why he cannot do a vocational course but check what CS course these can lead to post 18 without a maths A level. Apprenticeships are difficult to get but I would look into them. He would be an employee though so would he be ready for that and employable?