A levels or college course for child who doesn't have a clue what they want to do?

[perfectlypickledpixie]

Hello

DD will be entering Yr 11 in Sept. No clue what she wants to do after GCSEs. She's reasonably bright but does not enjoy revising - and needs to be nagged to do it (and helped quite a bit too). She took a GCSE in Yr 10 (the whole school does).

She's predicted 6s and 7s and maybe a 5 - it's feasible she might get 8s if she works extra hard.

She has no aspirations to do A levels or indeed a course at college - so we're at a loss as to what to advise her. She doesn't seem to have an interest in anything!

Any advice? Should she do some A levels in the courses she enjoys and is better at? (Geog, English etc). We've looked at T levels and she's not really interested in those either...

Personally I'd say yes she should continue to study whatever she finds interesting/is better at, even if she can't see it leading to a career. She can think about apprenticeships/training schemes when she is 18, she could even start additional a levels aged 17/18 and start university later. There's no point setting everything on a particular path when someone isn't sure. As long as she knows she will have to be working or studying full time and purposefully from 18 onwards!

I feel that most do a levels when they want an academic careeer and college for vocational. If she hasn’t chosen either, a levels at least buys her time to figure things out.

have her check out a college. Might inspire her!

maybe an apprenticeship would be better for her

It is hard but I would probably stick with A-levels as there are just more options than doing an apprenticeship that links your only qualification to a single career path, that she isn't sure she wants yet.
Most people I knew at college, like me, had no idea what they wanted to do, just picked the subjects they liked the most or were best at and figure it out later.
A lot of my friends just did a range of things that seemed fun and interesting like Biology, English and Drama or Psychology, Music and Maths. And they might not all correlate to a particular career or a specic uni course but you can't plan that unless you have an aim in mind anyway.

If it helps- pretty much my whole friend group were aimless with no particular passions and just there to get some qualifications that we enjoyed. Everybody has or is working towards jobs they like now and quite a few of us used our ecclectic A-levels to get into very unrelated uni courses. From my friends we have 2 nurses, a primary and a secondary school teacher, a stage manager, an electrician apprentice, one in pastry school, one in the navy, one works for a bank and one is doing a phd in something to do with classic civilisations.
And the one friend who did know that they wanted to be a pilot- targeted their a levels and following apprenticeships towards that, got all the grades and then decided they hated it and is now retraining to be a social worker.
I would lean towards picking tbings that might be fun or not require too much revision that will get her some qualifications while she works out what she wants to do next.

Thank you, this is what I'm thinking really, however she's not naturally academic and she needs to be moaned at incessantly to revise - would you still think this is the right route? I did A levels and completely bombed them (went off the rails a bit at the time) - I've no idea how much revision you need to do to get a decent grade.

There are definitely some courses that dont require much if any revision. I hated revising so did none until scanning through a book the week before my final exams and it was fine.
Is she able/willing to do homework ir coursework outside of school as that has a different aim than just revising and coursework heavy courses tend to have much less need for revision.

Things like drama- I did nothing outside of lesson except go and see a couple of plays and once learn some lines.
This was similiar for music- its very practical
My friend did art- there was one very minor piece of in-class written work and other than that it was all just drawing and painting- some did have to be done at home though. But no actual revising.

Thank you, drama is definitely a good option for her and her best subjects seem to be Geography & English Lang so maybe she should go down that route.

Those are the sort of GCSE grades that DS got. He did A Levels this summer, in subjects he enjoyed, with no real idea what he would do with them.

Once he got going, he realised that he was particularly interested in certain bits, looked into these as uni courses and has got a place doing a degree in that area for September. He had no idea that this course existed until a year ago.

However, he has had to work- really work. He’s had to read a lot more, watch videos, listen to podcasts etc. Far more than at GCSE. I think we forget that these are advanced levels! Frankly, by the end he was ready to burn his economics notes and would be very happy to never hear of The Lancastrians again! So if she is going down that route, it absolutely needs to be subjects she enjoys.

This was me. I just wanted to get a job (in admin for as a secretary), get my own little place, have an income.

My mum heavily encouraged my to do Business studies - it's a bit of an all-rounder. Didn't sound boring. I then went onto uni to study this.

I'm glad she swayed me towards it. 12 years later I work in strategy/data analytics. Senior consultant. £68k. Work from home, so I've been travelling and working remotely m. Cruisy but demanding at times.

'she needs to be moaned at incessantly to revise - would you still think this is the right route?'

My mum used to make me go into an office room at the house and take my phone off me. I was so bored with nothing to do but read my textbooks and revise.

I think it's normal not wanting to revise and procrastinating. Doesn't mean she can't be successful in her career.

I think if you manage to enjoy something at GCSE, you’ll really enjoy it a A level. GCSE courses seem a bit soul-destroying to me, having just had a child go through them. I loved English but I think if I’d had to do the GCSE I’d never have picked up a book again!

I’d suggest she does A levels in subjects she likes, but after that she heads into work or an apprenticeship, get her to try different PT jobs and maybe take a year off to try different things. At 18 or 19 she’ll have more of a clue. 16 is too young really.

But I certainly wouldn’t suggest university unless she actively wants to do it.

I would find a specialist who does career assesment. She/he will do some tests and find out her most feasible options. your child needs evaluation and advice

Not to mention that normally schools should do that...

It isn’t that helpful but this is what irritates me about the education system in the UK. I am really young for my year and chose my GCSEs at 13, my A levels at 15, my degree at 17. It would be so much more sensible to specialise a bit later.

I would say, visit a load of places next term, different schools, different colleges, looking at A level, Vocational and Apprenticeships.

Then go through:
If she had to do A levels, what would she do and where. Apply for that.
If she had to do a T level, what would she do, and where. Apply for that too.
If necessary apply to 8 different places.

Then park until this time next year. Go to the taster days.
A lot can happen in a year.

There is an incredibly long and circular thread over on the Education board relating to this topic if you feel like banging your head against a brick wall.

is she sociable, sporty, observant, kind, patient, detail oriented... ?
I want to suggest world of work.
Agree with others you can figure it out in 11-12 months time.

If she's not naturally academic and isn't keen on revision, I'd encourage her away from A-levels or any qualification dependent on a final exam.

Have a look at colleges locally that offer the BTEC level 3 extended diploma and see if anything takes her fancy. The public services one looks as though it might be interesting for someone who isn't sure what to do next. Or studying three BTEC extended certificate qualifications in subjects she's vaguely interested in but doesn't want to have to sit an exam in.

I haven't checked the Public Services BTEC, but be warned:

1. L3 BTECs are being replaced by T Levels. Which to me seem much more written-academic than the previous BTECs, and include exams.
2. BTECs now (almost?) all have some exam element anyway.

My experience (2 kids) is that when they chose their A level subjects and ditched all the other GCSE subjects they hated their attitude to learning completely changed.

Ive always thought that it is key, at every stage, to keep doors open to the next stage so that all options are open. Not doing A levels will close some doors so I’d be sitting her down and saying basically give it a go, choose the subjects she enjoys / can get good grades in and enjoy the fact that she no longer has to do the maths/ science/ whatever she currently doesn’t enjoy

Id be looking at BTec options if she’s not into revision - many do have an exam element but they are a lot more coursework based. Some colleges do mostly vocational eg hairdressing, bricklaying, but others do things like Applied Criminology, psychology, computer science etc

Btec at college?

A levels are much harder than GCSEs. The jump between the two levels is considerable. Therefore if you’ve had to help and nag her through GCSEs, I don’t think she’s cut out for A levels.

Sometimes what you WANT to do is too broad a category. Have you tried working backwards from what she would HATE to do?

DD would hate loud, bright places, she doesn't like making small talk, doesn't like being hot so that's retail, catering and any customer facing roles out etc.

Give her a bit more time, she is not even in Year 11 yet!

She'll have to choose something, so I would just wait a little and then see how she is in time.

There is no point rushing a decision now.