Schools - I'm begining to believe they treat our kids like a financial transaction

[sammyjguru]

Does anyone out there have concerns about the advice being given to their child about their future careers? Both of my children are at this crucial stage and I became uncomfortable when the more academic one was being put under pressure to go into 6th form - I spoke to some of my friends and they shared this concern with their own experiences, I've delved into this more and there is a growing pattern/concern that our children may be being given advice that is in the best interests of the school and not for the student - anyone else share my concern or had a similar experience?

I work in the Apprenticeship sector and we are very aware that young people are not being given all of their options by schools as they want to hold onto them even when it is not in the child's best interests.When we go to careers events we are relegated to back rooms where nobody can find us too.

Thank you - finally some common sense - never been on this forum before, surprised and saddened so far - but it seems you get it MinecraftismyNightmare :)

Wow LouReidDododo - proud moment for you!

You're being rather DRAMATIC about it all, OP. I'd guess that this isn't the FIRST time you've DISAGREED with the school about something.

thank you for that TOP tip (sighs) - I'm VERY involved in my children's career choices and decision, however raising a concern that our schools are not acting in our children's best interest, which is a much wider concern, it is LAW - and one that is being flouted to meet financial targets

Fuck me aren’t you just! Why don’t you just ask your kids what they want to do instead of being so controlling and over invested in something they will be pursuing?

ChicCroissant

Oh yes!

RaininSummer - I feel you, but what's surprised me is that the majority of parents in this thread still believe that if you are academic, 6th Form is the best option - stunned that this outdated opinion is still so prevalent!
Why go to 6th form when you can get EXACTLY the same level of qualification as an Apprentice AND end up with at least £600 in your bank account every month - and I'm being asked "why wouldn't you want your child to go to sixth form" !!!

Our school doesn't have a 6th form - it equally advertises all options.

But I'm not sure whether the OP has a specific gripe - that their child has been poorly advised, or is on a hobby horse.

because A Levels are amongst many options that are available to young people

True, but for academic kids they're more than likely the best option.

How is encouraging a kid expected to get 9 x 9s to leave school at 16 to become a customer service apprentice in the kids best interest?

Can you go to university with apprenticeship qualifications? Perhaps the school wants to make sure your child isn’t cutting off that option?

The "careers" advice that my DC's school provides comes in two sorts

• DC can make an appointment with school careers advisor to talk about specific career or careers in general. This will be impartial(ish) in that if they DC says they want to be a hairdresser, the career advisor will point them at the local sixth form college and the apprenticehips/BTECs there, but might also suggest taking a less specific route at Post 16, if they are not sure

• an "interview" after they have applied for a course in sixth form, which will naturally focus on what they've chosen and not suggest other options!

I'm not sure precisely what else you expect schools to do.
They also signpost students to "general information" about careers and post 16 options, but there is no "impartial advice" where someone at the school sits down and works through the best possible option for every single student. There simply isn't resources for this, as much as anything else.

the school also holds an annual careers fair and careers events in school to help students find out more about different careers.

The onus is on students and their families to work out what they want to do. When my child started school I got a nice booklet telling me about local primary schools. It didn't mention that I could also home educate or go private, I would have to have worked those options out for myself.

My DS is in Year 11, and his friends have done a mixture of applying for academic courses (at his and other schools), applying for non-academic courses (at his sixth form and others, and local sixth form college) and applying for apprenticeships. They have all manged to work this out by themselves somehow ...

sammy have you ever thought that the person might not have a clue what they’d like to do? So yes if they are dead set on leaving school and doing an apprenticeship I’m sure they will.

Lots of young people still have no idea what they want to do so just continue to further study till it clicks in to place.

My dd1 did an apprenticeship as a barristers Clark. It bored her to death. After 18 months she left and went to work in a media company as a P.A to the head director. She then left there after two years and now is an Emirates flight attendant living in Dubai.

She had no idea what she wanted to do until she was about 21. Stop panicking and thinking the school are ripping your kids off. They are not. Your kids will find their own paths. Your way to over invested and are going to make yourself ill.

!Why go to 6th form when you can get EXACTLY the same level of qualification as an Apprentice AND end up with at least £600 in your bank account every month - and I'm being asked "why wouldn't you want your child to go to sixth form" !!!

Because you DON'T get EXACTLY the same QUALIFICATION at sixth and beyond that you would through an apprenticeship. BECAUSE a lot of careers don't have APPRENTICESHIPS available. And the £600 I assume you mean the £2 an hour apprentices EARN.

@titchy - a valid point - but can I ask why you have used a customer service apprentice as an example of an apprenticeship - you can become a qualified solicitor these days via the apprenticeship route, just as one example - the notion that A Levels is the best route for the higher achievers is in my opinion, out dated - the work place has evolved and the education system hasn't evolved with it, I started this forum discussion to ask about other experiences

@titchy
sighs, exactly my point, considering you don't seem to know how much an apprentice actually gets paid, let alone the incredible amount of opportunities available out there (only customer services apparently) I would suggest you are hardly a fountain of knowledge in this arena!

I don’t think that there actually is any other option these days is there? The only way to get a decent job (that you haven’t created yourself) is to do a levels and then go to uni.

you can become a qualified solicitor these days via the apprenticeship route, just as one example

If a student is certain that is what they want to do - fine. But for the vast majority of academic yr11s it isn't in their best interests to cut down their options so early on. Similarly for engineers - there's some excellent apprenticeships around. But by taking the "traditional" A level and university route, they can more easily change their minds at 18 (and choose a different university course) or at 22 (and choose from the vast array of graduate schemes who are more than willing to take on those with engineering degrees.

@LouReidDododo - do you actually work in careers and/or education? Or are you just highlighting your personal experiences? Or do you just spend the day trying to belittle the opinion of others with spite and inappropriate comments?

Also massive lol at the solicitor apprenticeship idea. If you think there’s a good career waiting at the end of that path then you clearly have no idea how snobby law firms are.

It's an example if one of the many many many shitty apprenticeships available to 16 year olds. There are of course decent ones aimed at kids wanting to be plumbers, childcare assistants etc, but they don't ask for high grade GCSEs - and I assume this post is solely about academic kids.

The solicitors apprenticeship isn't available to 16 year olds, and while I agree there are some good worthwhile apprenticeship schemes for academic kids they're largely aimed at academic 18 year olds with high A level grades.

I’m genuinely feeling a bit ignorant now. Which qualifications do you get through apprenticeships? Thought it was a City and Guilds or BTEC- you can’t get A levels can you ?