Textiles A level for Politics & IR degree?

[Stormer]

DD, 17, is in Year 13, her last year of sixth form. She has autism, ADHD and anxiety and for those reasons has an EHPC. Her EHCP states as she's academic she needs to be at a mainstream school and she's been at small independents. She had to change sixth forms for the last term of Year 12 as her last sixth form were not meeting her needs by a long stretch and were awful.

She moved to her new sixth form and carried on doing her 3 A levels of English Lit, Economics and Politics. As her current school require all to do 4 A Levels in year 12, and then usually drop one, she also took up Textiles. She was doing really well with that but as she wants to read Politics and International Relations at university she dropped textiles for Year 13.

However... because she changed schools midway through A Levels she also changed exam boards, which meant she was somewhat behind. She's been struggling with focus as we haven't been able to find ADHD meds yet that help without causing awful side effects. I've just had a chat with her personal tutor about predicted grades and apparently DD is struggling with having three essay subjects and so isn't showing her potential.

It's been suggested she drop Economics as that's the one she is struggling with the most. It's the subject she's least enjoying by far. In contrast, she loved Economics GCSE and was a straight 9 student throughout for that. But she's finding the A level classes boring, particularly she's doing stuff she covered, and she's not focusing well enough. The idea by the school is if she drops that and does a subject that's not as essay based, she'll have more bandwidth for the other two.

We've been looking at universities and she's chosen her top two, which I agree with. She'll need to get AAB for those. She can achieve that for politics and English if she works hard but at the moment it's looking like she won't for Economics unless there's a big change. S. She has a good set of GCSESs: 10 GCSEs with 9 of them grade 7 and above, plus one 6.

She loved textiles and was doing really well in it, and it gave her a nice balance of doing something sensory and practical. So I'm thinking of suggesting she change from Economics to Textiles. However I'm worried that Politics, English Lit and Textiles isn't as academic and universities may be less likely to offer her a place. Thoughts?

@Dannexe is right for most courses but not textiles, it’s not a revision subject. There is a personal investigation unit of work where pupils select a focus (eg how would i translate the themes and mood of this novel into a series of textile pieces, or explore character achetypes from fairytales through costume design, or producing an installation interrogating government policy on covid, or depictions of flowers from 17th century to now, or…it can be anything really that they can respond to visually and using textile processes.), which is underway now and will finish January. Students produce a portfolio of practical work and a final textiles outcome for this, along with a written essay which includes reference to relevant artists/designers and critical reflection on their own creative practice. 60% of mark.

Then they choose an externally set stimulus, develop a body of work in response to it and plan and trial for a final textile piece, which they then actually make in the 15 hour exam in May, so they get their exam question February-ish and respond fully in May.

work from the majority of y12 might or might not get submitted depending on relevance and quality. It is mostly experimentation and skills building.

Have only skim read so far. My dc1 did A levels in Art & Design, English Literature and History, and is currently studying History at Oxbridge.

Art A level was the most time consuming, and in some ways, more challenging than the other subjects but has definitely been helpful in certain modules

My DD did textiles, Eng Lit & psychology A levels. She also had ADHD and ASD with both diagnosed in Yr 12. Tbh Textiles was a lovely relief from the essay subjects and actually provided some mindfulness which helped her relax during the school day. DM me if you'd like more information on meds too as she's finally found something that works. She's currently doing an art foundation course before a textiles degree next year.

Sorry @Stormer - been off MN all day. She did three a levels and absolutely loved Textiles - she got an A*. It was full on in terms of time spent but provided a bit of a balance to her more 'serious' subjects. She loves making clothes in her spare time so it was almost as much a hobby as a chore!

Thank you val, local and truffles. Well done on the A Star Truffles DD! So glad she enjoyed it.

@Localher0 I will take you up on your kind offer and PM you tomorrow, thank you.