Daughter unable to progress to Level 3 after GCSE resits

[ThisTealWarrior]

Hi all, my daughter has successfully completed Level 1 and 2 of a vocational course. The sticking point are her GCSEs. Third attempt, got the results yesterday and has again received a 1 and a 2.
Her tutor has contacted her yesterday and said that due to these results she cannot move onto the Level 3 which she hoped to do.
DD is saying that it was never made explicit to her that she couldn’t progress without the GCSE passes. I had parents evening back in April and the tutor said she thought it would be a good idea to move onto Level 3. No mention of this being under the condition of a 4 in either/or both Maths and English. DD is saying that the tutor had implied that she could still move onto and just retake the GCSEs again. I emailed her today and she said her DD to come in on Monday to look at another course, presumably another Lever 2.

My DD feels blindsided as never expected to not be allowed to move on. She is much more practical than academic and is very upset. Do we just accept this or has the tutor been negligent in her communication so there are grounds for a complaint.

just thought I would get some thoughts on this? Thanks all

She wouldn’t be classed as an adult learner though - she’s too young

I disagree, my DS got a 5 in English but the most he’s ever git is a 3 in maths, in fact as he’s retaken it each year it’s gone down. However he has managed 2 x lvl 3 courses both with distinctions. He is never going to pass his maths.

You can book her in for functional skills exams privately via the website “Pass functional skills” at any time of year, for around £200 per level 2 exam (usually inc one free resit). If you pay a little more you get access to their online study resources too, which are excellent.

It isn’t cheap but if you and she can find it, it might be a good price to prevent having to stall for a year or more and lose confidence/momentum.

You do have a point but I think many young people do perform better with something vocational, where they can see the direct relationship of the text they are reading or the calculation they are doing to the subject, or even the job, that they want to do. They are also a bit older, with more experience of learning and passing exams. Plus, having looked at some specifications and exam papers, I think that the kind of language in Level 3 qualifications is far closer to that required by Functional Skills than to many GCSE specifications. So not passing GCSE shouldn’t necessarily mean that vocational Level 3 isn’t for you, as are the requirements truly comparable?

For example, a fairly recent AQA GCSE English Language paper included a several-hundred word extract from a text describing a funfair in Victorian London, including some archaic terms and phraseology. It may be necessary to pass GCSE but I will lay down money that this kind of reading comprehension will not be required in a Level 3 Hair, Beauty or Electrical qualification!

I think that Functional Skills is the future and should be offered far more widely to children who struggle with the academic requirements of GCSE.

Who is going to do the grunt work? We can't keep importing people from the developing world to do the work that our young people feel they are too good to do.

@ThisTealWarrior definitely go for the functional skills courses. Hope your daughter gets sorted soon x

You are classed as an adult learner as soon as you turn 19 so depending on her birthday that might not be long.

College will mean an Access course not a BTEC. She would need a student loan. Access courses are primarily designed to progress people onto level 4 study - university and so on and at that stage she will need her GCSE's.

It used to be from September 1st after turning 19.

This was certainly the case 3 years ago. DD turned 19 in the early autumn but still didn't qualify until nearly a whole year later.

Level 3 is A level equivalent, and leads to degree courses.

Do you really want a nurse who doesn't know how much medication you need?

Or someone teaching your primary child maths they don't understand?

That's irrelevant. Nurses need GCSE mathematics. They still have to do drug calculation assessments as part of their training, and in practice before they are allowed to administer medication.

Beauty therapists need to be able to read and understand instructions about the chemicals they use. They don't need to be able to analyse poetry, etc.

Functional skills assesses the ability to read and understand information. It's perfectly adequate for beauty therapy. If you're worried about chemical reactions, science GCSE would be more relevant.

But this person got 1’s and 2’s - very low grades

Grade 1-3 at GCSE is not a GCSE pass, no, but technically it could be regarded as equivalent to a Level 1 qualification.

If they got a Grade 1 or 2 rather than a U then there is at least something to build upon, so it suggests that Functional Skills (with its different style of learning and assessment) could be a possible route.

Surely it is better for them to continue trying to improve their functional literacy and numeracy than not?

I agree with this. I think it's nonsensical that kids are stopped from progressing in trades (which they may be very good at) because they don't understand Macbeth for example or can't solve an equation.

I think there are legions of highly competent adult tradesmen and tradeswomen who would struggle with the AQA English Language paper that I described above!

I was previously a teacher. I have also gone almost the entire way through the postgraduate education process. So I do generally believe in the structures and processes of the education system. But there do need to be alternative routes for young people (and older people) who may have a lot to offer in the workplace but who find a particular form and style of learning very challenging to demonstrate in the fixed timeframe of a formal exam.

Ok you may be right, DS is August born so was stuck either way.

I agree.

We’ve had 2 members of staff here have to leave their apprenticeships because they couldn’t progress to the next level due to not being able to pass English or Maths GCSEs.

They’re both great at their jobs, and we’ve employed them anyway, but it’s ludicrous that they couldn’t complete their level 3 qualifications.

My own daughter also had the same issue but her college let her continue onto level 3 (which she passed DDD) while still re-taking her Maths GCSE (which she still hasn’t passed despite taking it about 8 times).

Functional Skills would have been perfect for her as the style of the questions suited her much better than GCSE but because she’d got a 3 in her GCSE, she wasn’t allowed to do it.

There needs to be other options available to stop perfectly capable young people being blocked here.

We’ll pay for her to do Functional Skills privately at some point in the future if she needs it, but her confidence took a bit of a battering and her uni accepted her without it.