Low ability A Level students

[PinkIndustry]

Is anyone else frustrated by this? My school accepts students into the 6th form who are not really academically able enough to do A Levels. I understand why and it's to do with funding and bums on seats but as the course progresses, and these poor students flounder around getting Us and Es in assessments, I feel a) angry on their behalf that they have not been encouraged to go and do something more suitable and b) frustrated that I am expected to find some magic resources which will suddenly turn students from Es to Cs - and to dumb the lessons down while still making sure that other students can get their A grades.

I understand how to differentiate but surely there comes a point when we should be saying that some students are unsuitable for A Level?

You aren't wrong, and the same happens (but a LOT more so, at University.

Unfortunately, society has decided that so many other types of qualifications aren't "as valuable" and many youngsters don't really have a viable alternative.

The reverse is true around here. Entry requirements to study A Levels are higher than they have ever been. Most Sixth Forms around here require a 6 or 7 in a subject to study it at A level now. It wasn’t too long ago that a C was enough to progress to A Level in most schools. It’s now routine for kids with mostly 4s and 5s to be steered into BTECs or other Applied General qualifications. I saw a thread on MN a couple of months back about what the OP said was a very competitive and sought after sixth form with entry criteria of 4s for a lot of subjects though, so it clearly varies from area to area.

Our school ask for 6s to study A-level. Those with 4s and 5s are directed towards vocational qualifications which they are far more suited to.

I teach Physics and some students do find the jump incredibly tough and struggle despite strong GCSE grades.

I am fortunate that my classes are small - between 5 and 10 students so it's much easier to give individual support. I also normally run lunchtime or after school support sessions.

Hard work though!

I hear you OP. It's been particularly bad this year with my current Y12s. This year, it's partly been a need to get bums on seats, but it's also partly due to COVID, and the fact that they never had to actually thoroughly revise all the GCSE stuff for a proper exam. I am wasting an awful lot of time revisiting GCSE work. And then their GCSEs are all teacher assessed, and the assessed grades for some of them were really rather generous. I do believe that at least 2 in my class would not be doing A-levels if they'd had to sit proper exams, because they wouldn't have got the level 6 that we require (or even a level 5 TBH).

I actually feel really sorry for the students themselves - I can muddle through and carry on teaching them, it doesn't make a lot of difference to me, but these students are clearly floundering on completely the wrong course, basically wasting 2 very important years of their life, when they could be doing something so much better suited to them.

It’s the bums on seats issue. I knew my current year 12 son was never going to manage with A levels, largely because he is dyslexic and he only really wanted to do computer science so A levels 2 and 3 were of no real interest. So he’s on the BTEC 3 A level equivalent and getting distinctions. His school, however, fought tooth and nail to get him to stay in 6th Form and I would say were not far off harassment in the week after results with calls to ask if he’s changed his mind! Couldn’t seem to take no for an answer. He got 5s, a 6 and a 4. Too many kids being pushed in the wrong direction by schools with parents who don’t really understand the issues.

Some do pull it out, in the end - I know two of mine did. Some really don't and yes, it's frustrating - but then a decent school wouldn't let them progress beyond AS level.

But what does a 'decent' school do with them?
Most students drop an A-level immediately so they only have three subjects. When they then fail at one there is no option - they can not drop to less than 3 for funding and subjects are therefore stuck with failing students who shouldn't have been let on the course in the first place. I am absolutely blunt - I predict a U for any who are failing and I generally then get hassled with what I am doing to enable them to improve and succeed. I am absolutely fed up with explaining to those 'above' me that I can not help grade 6 Maths GCSE students succeed at A-level. This year is so much worse - they were sent home in March of Y11 with no work therefore did nothing for 6 months and are then expected make the enormous 'step-up' to A-level. Those 'above' me now quote mental health issues, unfortunately failing at A-level will not improve a students mental health.
I've done the lunch time and after school support to death - not anymore it generally leads to students who want to be spoon fed everything.

Same with grammar schools around us. The kids are tutored and hotboxed to get in, then flounder completely in year 9.

@woodlands01 interesting you mention mental health issues, because that's another thing that's cropped up in my current Y12 cohort - 75% of the pupils have mental health issues. This does not happen in a normal year, there might be one pupil in a normal year. And I agree, shoving them on a course they are unsuited to, will be exacerbating their mental health issues. And it's not helping them at all to keep letting them off for not doing homework and losing every worksheet I give them. Losing worksheets is another problem I've never come across with A-level pupils until this year either.

Give them realistic targets of E's, still a pass at A-level and don't lambast staff for not getting higher than this as their targets are set based on actual grades they can achieve, not what higher ups want to make their data look good

Our students all get 6 lessons a week. Maths has an additional 10 lessons of drop in for struggling students.
Every time someone asks me what I can do to improve our grades, I ask for 10 periods of drop in. It'll never happen.