Doing A level early

[Clutterbugsmum]

Are there any English teachers who could offer some advice.

DD1 just finishing YR 9, and has been spoken today about A Level instead of doing GCSE.

Can anyone explain the pro's and con's about doing this.

My gut instinct is to continue on the normal path of GCSE then A Levels. I'm just not sure what's the best course is.

TIA

If she does it early it would not be included later as a grade for the purpose of university offers. she would then need to do 3 other subjects upon which her offer would be based. If she has a real interest in doing English Lit at uni I'm with you about going down the gcse then A level route especially as even if she has a sophisticated style now it will only get better as she gains maturity.

Is this A level literature or language? The GCSE is both. I cannot see any advantage in doing the A level early.

If she does it early it would not be included later as a grade for the purpose of university offers. That's one of the reason the school is suggesting she do it, so it can be used on university offers. The school are saying it will look good as it shows she has done 'extra' school activities if that makes sense.

Not a teacher, but:

Surely you don't want the DD to be held back and bored in English GCSE lessons when they are capable of doing A level now? I mean, obviously the set texts for A level are the only important books to read, and going around the subject would be impossible and pointless?

Before anyone explodes at me, I have been reading the 'GCSE maths at primary thread' in Education.

Is this A level literature or language? The GCSE is both. I cannot see any advantage in doing the A level early. Not sure, she has been literature at school at the minute.

As I said mine and DH feeling is to do the 'normal' route. Although I think if she was to do A levels they would probably be in the Science and Maths as she looking at going into forensics

I'm not sure that's right, at least some Unis will accept A-levels taken in different years for some courses (i understood). Happy to be corrected.

Eh? What about when jobs require GCSEs in maths and English?

I would be concerned if my dd did not get the gcse in both English and maths even if she got a “better” qualification instead because lot of jobs require these and can be quite inflexible regarding alternatives (I had a long discussion with a university we were co-recruiting with for teacher training about whether we could accept A level English in lieu of GCSE it was not clear cut at all).

DS2 has the top grade in math Pre U (A level equivalent). In his gap year he did a part time job where they put him through some sort of apprenticeship. He was asked for proof of his school
leaving qualifications, as it happened to be on his phone he showed them his Pre U certificates but they insisted on seeing his (i)GCSE cert as well to prove that not only he had English but math as well! When he then pointed out that he couldn't have done math at Pre U without math at (I)GCSE he was told he would still had to prove he had at GCSE, that a Pre U/A level in math just didn't tick the box, in fact in the highly unlikely event he couldn't have proved he had math at (I)GCSE he would have as part of his apprenticeship resat it!!!. Totally ridiculous.

I had to show my maths and English GCSE certificates to get my teaching job despite having a masters in maths and being a qualified maths teacher. I wouldn’t skip core qualifications.

If they are talking about English lit A-level, the main question is why? What about the GCSE content she needs to master? If she sat GCSE right now would she get a 9? Do they do this routinely and what are the results like?

It seems a bit odd that they’re trying to rush a Y9 into starting an A-level before anyone has even sat the new spec so they don’t know how it’s going to pan out.

Don't her school need everyone to do Lang an g lit gcse for it to count on their figures?

New spec eng was last summer.

If she sat AS it would count for league tables. A-level itself doesn’t count. So the school would be risking its headline figure based on an AS level sat in Y10

Was it flask? Blimey, we won’t have new spec maths till next summer so you’re all way ahead!

Another concern is that her school does not have Sixth form, so would she need to go to the sixth form college and I'm not sure a 14 year old around the older teenagers

Are you talking at cross purposes GCSE (new spec last year) v A Level (new spec ??)

I thought it was new spec eng and maths last year? Our results took a proper nosedive. Were maths same spec but new grading? I had new spec gcse Lang and lit and new a level spec Lang and a level lit last summer. Almost killed me.

How would she get to the college, the timetables wouldn’t match so she’d have to miss some GCSE lessons for other subjects to do it...and if she does A-level at college then they definitely wouldn’t count for the school league tables so what on earth are they thinking?

This does not sound like a great plan. Have they done it before?

Flask it was new spec GCSE Eng and Maths last year, but A-level new spec maths isn’t being sat till next year.
So you had new spec GCSE and new spec A-level in English last year?

Go with your gut feeling.

GCSE maths and English are the keystones that cannot be missed. An employer will believe you have a masters but have to see your GCSEs.

Noblegiraffe I think this is the a new thing.

One of the reasons we chose this school is because they have/had a policy were everyone did all the English exams at their own pace and level. Which was/is important to us as ironically DD1 is dyslexic (stealth dyslexia) which only affects her spelling.

It makes no sense in my opinion. It is perfectly possible to stretch able students in English without pushing through A Level
early.

I've given my GCSE classes huge ranges of poetry for unseen, get them to read a range of non fiction and explore rhetoric and classical texts. They read literary criticism for the set texts beyond the GCSE.

Why swap one set of exam objectives for another?

Yes. 4 new specs cos I teach the lot. It was...intense😀

Absolutely no benefit to sit the A Level earlier. It is perfectly possible to extend an able English student in GCSE courses, and if English is a passion, then that's even more opportunity to explore a wide variety of literature and language techniques (and to work at A-Level standard with those)

As a PP has said, it is unlikely that an A-Level taken early will even 'count' and it is pretty essential for most jobs in the UK to be able to state your English GCSE grade...

She MUST get GCSE English Language. I would not, personally, encourage a child to leapfrog the Lit and Lang GCSEs and completely miss them, however gifted they are. There is plenty of scope for a very able pupil to be stretched and challenged by aiming for 9s in the new spec GCSEs, perhaps on an accelerated course, before possibly beginning the A Level early.