BTEC V GCSE

[houseworkhater]

Hi
Have just been to dd's open evening to discuss choices for Gcses/Btec courses.
The head of year assured me that by taking a Btec it would in no way damage/limit dd's chances of going to university. Btw she has no idea what career she would like to do!
She is actually thinking of choosing only gcse subjects but I am still interested in knowing if what the teacher said is accurate or not as I have no knowledge of such matters myself .

I think it depends on which university and which course. For Oxford, Cambridge and Russell group (ie the 'top' v academic universities) I'd say definitely stick to all GCSEs; for any 'academic' courses stick to GCSEs.

For more vocational courses at the newer univerisities, BTecs may be fine and possibly more relevant.

There have been several threads about this sort of option recently, do a search under 'options' in Secondary ed. If she doesn't really know what she wants to do yet (and why should she at this age!)and she is quite academic, I'd say stick to all gcse's as that doesn't close any doors later on.

Thanks for that Grunge-she is going for the gcse route so I am quite relieved. Will do a check on previuos posts too.

Teachers are under pressure to promote BTECs, but don't kid yourself, employers and better universities don't treat them as equal to GCSEs - there are no exams for a start.

She's doing the right thing going for GCSEs if she wants to keep her options open.