My daughter's a level teacher just threatened

[LNSL]

not to even enter her for her a level exam. Seems a little harsh no? She's in the lower sixth. Got an E on a recent test, which I thought was decent enough.

What do you think to this?

"The teacher said this to me, not to DD. She has give her 2 weeks to improve. If needs be I can get a tutor to help. I was just shocked that this is the ultimatum this early in the course."*

This is a private school, suggesting you get a tutor.
Fucking ridiculous

She's had one term of disrupted A level course and they can't find any strategies to help her improve other than 2 weeks or you're out?

Terrible. What are you paying them for?

I got 2 E’s 1 D and a U. Got into uni and got 2 first class degrees and the career I wanted 🤷‍♀️

Has she discussed with the teacher what she can do to improve?
Has the teacher explained why she is only getting an E. If this is an essay based subject, this is very important at this stage as it takes some students some time to click on what they need to do.

How are they going to assess her in two weeks to see if there is an improvement?
Has she missed submitting work so they think she isn't pulling her weight.

Communication is the key here. Find out why she is getting an E from the teacher and then get your daughter a to make a plan to improve.

It can be very depressing knowing you are struggling in a subject.

@Nomorepies an E is not a fail at A level . Pass grades go from A* to E and fails from F

I think I got a D or an E for an essay in one A level subject, but then got an A in the end. One essay is not necessarily representative is it?

Maybe the threat will cause her to work harder. After I got 12% in my 'O' level German mock my teacher suggested that I drop German and concentrate on my weaker subjects, I refused to drop it and then got the equivalent of a 7 or 8 in today's money. When I went back for the Sixth Form, not German, she never said Well done.

Years later we were going to be working in Germany and went out with brother and a couple of friends. I was asked about speaking German. I said that I had had a real cow of a teacher but I had remembered a lot of the structure. The man of the other couple said, Yes, and Auntie Anne is still as big a cow as ever she was! My brother had set me up well and truly.

Universities are a lot more competitive now than when you went, OP. You’d be unlikely to get into a RG with grades below ABB. If that’s what she wants for her next step then maybe take a look at the required grades for courses she’s interested in at a few universities to give her an idea of what she needs to be aiming for, might be motivational?
I think an E is not a great grade but it does depend on what the subject is as to whether it’s really problematic - as pp have said, if it’s material that she’s covered and expected to know by now for fact-based subjects like maths/science then it is a bit worrying. If she needs to develop her essay skills more for a subject like English then it’s maybe less of an issue.

Perhaps you should re look at university applications given alot more DC are attending uni. Grade boundaries are very high at most russel group unis and I would be very surprised they would let you into first choice with your grades now. My DS needed AAB as did his friends and those that didnt cut it had to go into clearance. As for an E, my DD has struggled since starting 6th form, new school and a dad who is terminally ill. She still managed to get an average of Cs in recent tests with 77% attendance. So sorry an E isnt good enough and I should add my DD is doing maths, economics and geography so not easy subjects

An E for us at this point in the year is academic probation and an improvement is needed and loss of all free periods. We will not allow progression into Year 13 unless a student gets a C (but will allow a D in some extreme circumstances). We do it because the student will most probably fail the whole A Level if at least a D cannot be met by the end of Year 12. I have yet to have a student who entered Y13 with a D achieve anything higher than a D, usually E or a U.

The situation now is very, very different to when you did A Levels. I got BBC and had my pick of Science courses; most of my students are applying and getting offers that need ABB at a minimum and their insurances are around a BCC even for the non-Russell/Red Brick insitutions.

Agree with the teacher. Why put forward a kid who you have no evidence can pass?

@Piggywaspushed

The deadline for exam entries in now. So this may be 'only a term' but decisions need to be made. Are you sure the teacher didn't say that she wanted to enter your DD for an AS rather than the full A Level?

FWIW I teach in a comprehensive and very few students get Es. Most are working already somewhere near the level they will eventually get.

The ones currently getting E type outcomes would be a concern because it is suggesting they are not grasping or retaining knowledge, their skills are not refining themselves eg essay writing) , they are not working hard enough- or possibly finding the step up just very hard.

Things have changed A LOT since the experience of most posters on here! Nearly all unis for all subjects ask for BCC or higher, for example.

Your DD's GCSE profile suggests she should be achieving far more highly already. Ability isn't the barrier.

I agree. with Piggy. She always talks a lot of sense on these threads.

In short, A-levels are a lot less rigorous these days

I disagree. I hate sweeping statements like this
They reformed the A levels about three or so years ago when they decoupled them from AS levels. When DD took hers in 2018 they were much more rigorous than they had been a couple of years previously.

It's difficult to comment because everyone's education has been so disrupted. If your DD is a long way behind her cohort maybe the teacher is right. When DD was studying A levels the students who were regularly achieving Es and Us didn’t do well at A level. What is the subject?

Also, I would be pretty disappointed if I was paying for a private education only to be told to get a tutor. I hope your daughter manages to get past this and hope it is just a blip.

How much preparation did she put into the test?
If she’s put a lot of prep in, and still gets an E, it sounds like she needs a lot of support. If she put very little effort in, it sounds like she needs a kick up the backside, and this is what the teacher is doing.
For what it’s worth though, when I first started A level English, no matter how much effort I put in I couldn’t get higher than a D. However, once it clicked how exactly I should answer exam questions, my grades improved drastically, and I left with a B.

But the OPs dd is only in year 12 , she has a whole year before entries are due

E is not a decent grade.

I honestly think a lot of things have changed since the 90s. Many of my friends passed with C-E grades in the 90s, and I got into uni with a BCC.

I think it's much tougher these days. Many unis want C and above grades, and I've never seen an E grade on a CV in 8 years of recruiting. Our usual requirements are 3 A levels C minimum.

and fails from F

An F doesn't exist!

Oops sorry , but an E us still a pass amd the Oos daughter has 3 terms of teaching to pull her grade up

An E isn’t really a pass. Everyone knows that.

@ginfordinner
The subject is psychology.
She's missed a lot of lessons and hasn't been able to do the work...

Colleague's son secured uni place with CCD. A uni course that included a year study abroad. In last 4 years. Shocked me too.

[quote LNSL]@ginfordinner
The subject is psychology.
She's missed a lot of lessons and hasn't been able to do the work...[/quote]
Thought it might be. Popular but tough. Many students underestimate the level of statistics and essay writing required.

So sorry she's been suffering with anxiety.

If she's missed a lot of lessons, how motivated does she seem to catch up with the work she's missed?

[quote LNSL]@ginfordinner
The subject is psychology.
She's missed a lot of lessons and hasn't been able to do the work...[/quote]
Why? If there are documented mitogating circumstances, then the teacher is out of order. If she just CBA then she ought to step up or step out, really.