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...

Does your DD even want to stay in formal education? There's absolutely no point in you dropping her off at college/school every day if she's going to put in no effort.

I never knew what I wanted to do but I knew I did want an education/do 'well'. I picked four A-levels that I had some form of an interest in/hated the least then picked a degree course of the back of the A-level I disliked the least just because I wanted to go to uni. Maybe my degree taught me transferable skills of being 'organised' or maybe working to deadlines but that's really grasping at straws. £40,000 of debt and i've never really discussed my degree in any interview to date.

I wish I went to college instead to learn a skill. I'm very jealous of the previous generation who actually have useful skills for everyday life. While I can structure an essay (which i've never had to do in my working or real life) I would much prefer if I could make a dress, or cook a decent three course meal, or build a custom wardrobe. If she has to stay in education and she's not an academic she might as well learn something actually useful and something she will use for the rest of her life. Even if it's every few years she gets out her tools to fix a leaking tap.

Make a list of all 6th forms and colleges around you and go for the open evenings in autumn/winter. I found it really interesting to see what the subjects cover, what is involved in the studies and especially the expectation of free learning/pre-reading the teachers expect.

Also the expected grades to get onto a course are widely different.

Your DD may realise that there are lots of things out there she would enjoy. Also, nothing stops her from further learning if she does a vocational one and then moves to other degrees 10 years later.

DD just finished GCSEs and I found the attitude changed now as she will concentrate on subjects she loves instead of also doing 7 others she only midly tolerates.

Just wondering how your daughter got on. This is my daughter now after doing a year at college and hating it, I'm at a loss.