Please help me understand BTECs/A-Levels

[Threecouldbefour]

Hi,

Our daughter is due to start college this September. She is currently studying for GCSEs. At the moment she has chosen the following for college:

BTEC Extended Certificate in Dance
A Level Film and Television Studies
A Level Drama and Theatre A Level

Our concern is that she is much better at learning in the style of a BTEC (she's a dancer, likes the practical elements) and isn't a reader. She did do quite well in her mock GCSEs, gaining a 7 in Dance and an 8 in Drama but I just don't think she'd do as well as she could with lots of coursework, classroom based work and I think she really needs to look forward to college every day (or most days!) or it will be an uphill struggle.

My question is this - lots of Performing Arts BTECs are only equivalent to 2 A Levels. Does she HAVE to take courses equivalent to 3 A Levels in total? If she doesn't is it not considered full time education and will it not be enough to get into university? The Pearsons website is not helpful with figuring out what each qualification is worth. From what I can see a BTEC Extended Certificate is worth one A Level and a BTEC Extended Diploma is worth two. But then I've seen an Extended Diploma worth three also. It seems so inconsistent!

Thank you if you've managed to read this. I'm desperate to help her make the best choice. She wouldn't consider more general 'Performing Arts' courses before now as she isn't the strongest singer but she seems more open to it now.

Thank you!

What's the plan after college? You want @peggywaspushed for details on those A levels.

But yes to be considered full time she has to take the equivalent of 3 A levels. Less than that the college won't get funding, and won't be enough for uni if that's the plan.

BTEC certs are equivalent to 1 A level, diplomas equiv to 2, and extended diploma equivalent to 3. Though I'm not an expert on BTEC 'size' - and there are so many variations.

@piggywaspushed sorry!

I think the ones worth two A levels are studies at college for one year and then if you want you can go on to a second year to get the extended diploma worth three A levels.

I've delivered a few different Sport, Public Services, Health and Social Care and Travel and Tourism Level 3 BTECs. All of them, Sport included, are heavily coursework based with exam parts. I'd suggest checking exactly which units the college deliver so she's not thinking it will be heavily practical to then find it's one practical unit and the rest all coursework/exam.

Ask the college for the equivalents so that you are 100% clear on what she's studying.

Yes agree extended diploma is worth 3.
Yes you have to do equivalent of 3 to be full time.

She really needs to look at the content of the courses and how they are examined to see what would best suit. Go along to an open day and ask specific questions.

If she is only doing PA subjects, an extended diploma might give her a more joined up experience as it will be planned as one course and all the students will be together which would make rehearsals easier.

What is the split between written/theory and practical.
How do you get best marks in written work.
How to you get best marks in practical work.
What exams are there.
Can they give you the link to the course spec
Which of the optional units do they do (these will be picked by college not individual students)
Ask students what was different to how they expected.
If dance what if they get injured.

I don't think that is quite right, but not wrong either. I know colleges doing the extended diplomas can choose to do all the compulsory units in the first year so if students drop out they still have enough points for a smaller qualification. At least for some courses.

Thank you. I think plan is to apply to PA schools but I just don't think she's really thinking that far ahead yet... The college has an excellent reputation for its students getting into good PA schools.

Has anyone got experience of Film and Television Studies A Level? I just don't know how she would get on if she doesn't read (it isn't for lack of encouragement - her sister is a book worm!) She just doesn't enjoy it.

Really useful replies, thank you. My husband went to the Open Evening with our daughter and there is
an online guidance appointment coming up so will ask lots of questions then too.

From what I can read the BTEC is continuous assessment and there is no formal written assessment but ongoing reflective written work. Mostly practical. I need to remind myself of A Level breakdown again.

I would really check on practical v written split for the BTEC. My DD1's travel and tourism was a lot more written than we realised before she started. (My DD2's city and guilds animal care level1 has one practical day out of 4 in college.)

This is so helpful - thank you very much. All very good questions. It's also my feeling that if she could find one course equivalent to 3 A Levels it would be much better - one thing to keep track of, the same people and I just think it would be much better suited to her. I think what has put her off being has been the singing modules but it's just one part. I'll ask about this anyway.

@Threecouldbefour , Sorry very late to the party. Want does your DD want to do after 6th form? My DD is not particularly academic, so chose a Btec level 3 extended Diploma in Performing Arts. This was at a specialist Performing Arts 6th form centre (State) they also did an AS level aling side. She is now at Uni studying Drama and Theatre studies. Many of her cohort went to uni to study similar, or Acting. Many got into top drama schools and dance schools.

If she's achieving an 8 in her Drama GCSE she must be okay at the written side surely? It looks like a really good spread of courses if there's any chance she might decide NOT to audition for performing arts at 18.

I did film studies A-level (so might be different) and it’s a massive curriculum and very analytical . Certainly not an easy option - more like English literature or history. Definitely look in more detail at the course content and assessment before taking it if she doesn’t like reading. Agree an extended diploma might be a good option. Doesn’t have to be btech. Google UAL extended diploma in performing arts.

She does need to do equivalent to three A Levels to be considered full time, so college are unlikely to let her do less because of funding. Her choices are fine, although I would ask questions about rehearsal and how they deal with clashes.

I don't know anything about the subjects, but I can perhaps help untangle the many level 3 qualifications Pearson offer!

There are actually 5 level 3 BTEC qualifications!

Certificate- between an AS and a-level, depending on grade.
Extended Certificate- Equivalent to 1 A-level (I.E D is worth the same number of UCAS points as an A).
Foundation Diploma- worth about 1.5 A-levels in terms of UCAS points (depending on grade).
Diploma- Worth 2 A-levels. (DD is worth AA)
Extended Diploma- Worth 3 A-levels. (DDD is worth AAA).

In terms of funding, a full time student needs to have the same number of teaching hours as a student taking 3 A-levels. This could be through various combinations of courses but a diploma on its own wouldn't count as full time, and this wouldn't be financially viable for most colleges.

Extended Diplomas are a lot of work- and independent research is certainly required for distinctions in my subject. If she doesn't like to read, I actually think she could get farther with A-levels, where you can just cram for the exam.

BTEC is great for students who are organised and hardworking and like to chip away at something. It's also great for portfolio building and building practical skills.

It can be an absolute disaster for students who can't meet a deadline, or aren't willing/able to sustain work over a long period of time.

I think the best sort of student for a BTEC is the sort of student who struggles to recall things in exams, but tries really, really hard. In exams, often they will only come out with a C/D, but with coursework, because they can research things and use notes to write things up, they are much more likely to get distinctions. In my subject, two of the exams are skills based as well, so less recall is needed.

They can also be good for students who would be U/E borderline at A-level to get something out of the course.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl You are going to have to rewrite that using D star instead of the MN bold option!

Yes, I just realised that!

Certificate- between an AS and a-level, depending on grade.
Extended Certificate- Equivalent to 1 A-level (I.E D star is worth the same number of UCAS points as an A star).
Foundation Diploma- worth about 1.5 A-levels in terms of UCAS points (depending on grade).
Diploma- Worth 2 A-levels. (D star D star is worth A star A star)
Extended Diploma- Worth 3 A-levels. (D star D star D star is worth A star A star A star).