How can I help my year 11 child choose college courses? Instead of acting

[CollegesinLondon]

DC is starting year 11 in September. They are not academic and don’t want to do A levels. They want to go to college. They have always said they want to be an actor and done some performing related stuff but not a lot. They want part time studies so they can work too.

I not sure how to guide them towards other courses and which ones ? They also mentioned music.

They will probably do part time acting course but need a backup career/job something that provides a steady income so they can make a living. They also said they didn’t want an office job.

Have you identified the part time drama course to do alongside work?

Its just my son was suited to part time studies but a lot of colleges said he had to do full time to go to them. They werent prepared for him to just do one btech worth one a level. It had to be a full time programme of study (which is 16 hours i think). Lots of the vocational subjects, so the btechs worth 3 levels, t levels and ual, bunch the hours up so the student gets 2 days off in the week to work though.

Plumbing is such a lazy suggestion for people who want an easy answer to the poor options our children face. I'm glad you pointed out the scale of demand for all the trades, as well as apprenticeships. The demand is huge. The supply ( and the willingness of older plumbers to bother training up a youngster) is not nearly enough to keep up with demand.
Back on topic, OP I understand your concern. My DS wants to ' make music' which is very vague. He wants to go into music production but is a bit vague on how to do it. My instinct is to tell him to do something else as a backup, do music as a hobby, maybe get into groups at uni and develop from there. DS is good at science so I've been pointing out all the musicians who are scientists!

BTEC/UAL Performing Arts + A-level Textiles or DT with a focus on Costume Design / Set Design?

BTEC/A-level Business seems like an allround useful qualification to me for someone who doesn't know what to do. Everyone eventually either ends up working for a business or running a business.

You can combine BTECs, e.g. a double BTEC in Performing Arts with a single BTEC in Business as backup.

You can, but in reality many colleges don't offer the smaller qualifications. A few offer the Extended Certifiates & many schools offer this option (1 A level equivalent) but not many offer the 2 A level ones. The most common option is the Extended Diploma worth 3 A levels.

What about a performing arts btec or similar

@CollegesinLondon nothing good ever comes of parental insistence on instead of acting.

They will resent you for ever.

And it’s pretty much the only career that won’t have been taken over by AI in ten years time.

Help them find the right performing arts course to set them up for applying to drama schools or similar. (Absolutely everyone attending a conservatoire or drama school has a part time job as well.) It’s perfectly fine for them to choose another path afterwards if acting doesn’t work out.

Because they are young they probably don't have much concept of how money is earned. It's fine to pursue your interests but you have to have something that support yourself unless you have cashed up parents who will support you.

I reckon most people in the threads wanted to be something else maybe even something creative but then you realise you have to have something that pays your bills

Performing arts /drama can help you with lots of jobs though. They build valuable skills - confidence, public speaking, how to present yourself, learning information, working together as a team, how to interpret information, analysis plus many more. There is nothing wrong with studying this

Why not look at signing up as part of an entertaining crew on a cruise next summer? Get them some real work experience and they can see what it is actually like.

Edited to add: Just saw they are year 11 so maybe not old enough for this but if you are near a resort type area a lot of big campsites have similar.

Working on a cruise ship as a performer is extremely competitive and difficult to get into, unless a super talented triple threat, or a singer. They hold open auditions and are really put through their paces. It's not something you can just sign up for.

My yp did a Diploma L3 in performing arts and got distinction , which is equivalent to 3 A levels at A. Not all Uni's will accept them, but a lot so, and more are . Eg my son got to Durham Uni with a BTec (2 a level equivalent and 1 A level ).

I too would go with some kind of level 3 performing arts course.

A level 3 extended diploma of any kind is 'full time' nationally, but as with 3 A levels only has around 15hours actual teaching time weekly. For vocational courses these are often compressed into 3 days allowing time for some part time work (positively encouraged).

Even if acting doesn't work out there could be other opportunities within the industry.

OP I would take them along to college open days, careers fairs and apprenticeships events. Widen their perspective of what choices there are out there. Our DC often have quite a limited knowledge of the possibilities after school and can latch onto things they know about partly because they don’t know about the alternatives. The fact that your DC says they don’t want to work in an office suggests they have limited understanding of alternatives and see a relatively binary choice of acting or office. They might still then choose performance as a course but if acting doesn’t work out they will gain some valuable transferable skills.

Thank you all.

We looked at colleges and courses this week online . They are definitely more inclined to go to college and do the 15 hours contact so they have some time to work part time and attend auditions; hence not wanting to attend school for 5 days which most of the performing schools are. They will have done 2 years in a performing arts school.

They will study screen acting part time alongside college. They want a course they can combine with acting as conscious it is a very difficult career.

They are more inclined to the creative areas: custom design, styling, stage management/support, makeup and hair for stage. Things like that. Don’t want teaching, health care, plumbing, electrician, social care or IT,

Rose Bruford has courses specifically for stage management and other “back stage” professions - worth a look?

Yes, this. Relative was stage struck - National Youth Theatre, several local theatre groups then A level Theatre Studies. Lots of acting at Uni. Then reality struck. Money is useful.
Plenty of careers want people who are confident at public speaking, excellent memories, plenty of self belief etc.
Relative is now a barrister.

I am hoping reality will struck for DC at some point too; in the meantime I think they should have a go and find out for themselves or they will never know. Having dreams is good. Plus as people say lots of transferable skills. As long as they are doing something, studying or working I am happy; also supporting themselves when adults and financially independent. Nothing has to be permanent.

They are more inclined to the creative areas: custom design, styling, stage management/support, makeup and hair for stage.

There is a BTEC in Production Arts.