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Original poster

Will I lose this school job offer?

127 replies

Astrid28 · 10/06/2015 15:06

I feel absolutely sick.

I applied for and have been offered a job in a school (support role). I have current experience of working in a very similar capacity and have additional related qualifications and excellent references. I also passed the literacy and numeracy tests required. It's my absolute ideal job.

I have taken in all my paperwork for the relevant DBS checks and needed to also provide GCSE result proof which I have just searched my mums loft for and found.

I stupidly applied with guessed grades in order to make the application deadline as and my maths grade was in fact a D, not a C as required. My English grade is fine.

I've arranged to bring the documents in tomorrow and now I'm convinced the offer will be withdrawn.

Is there any way this will be viewed sympathetically or should I accept that my stupidity has cost me the job?

Please be gentle with me. I can't explain how gutted I am.

OP posts:
ChaiseLounger · 10/06/2015 15:47

I'm really sorry but this is truely bizarre.
Seriously? You didn't know? I find that very difficult to believe.

maths is the most important GCSE.
I tell my sons now that you have to get at least a C in maths, if nothing else.
Everyone knows these days they classify A to C as a pass. how could you honestly not know that you failed maths GCSE? you got a D, and in today's speak that is a fail.
How old are you? Are you 30?
How have you got through the last 15 years forgetting these you failed the most important qualification?
You put you got a C on your application. Really?

SolomanDaisy · 10/06/2015 15:53

I think the major problem will be that they will assume that you lied and have been caught,rather than that you made an honest mistake. It does sound quite unlikely that someone could innocently forget that they hadn't actually achieved the C grade in Maths which would have made a huge difference to their post 16 options.

Original poster
Astrid28 · 10/06/2015 15:55

Chaise, I know I've been an idiot, and I'm actually older than 30, so I suppose that makes it worse.

I've had a CV with 9 GCSE passes on it and no other details with a view to providing the proof if asked. I never have been asked for my previous work.

Trust me, you can't make me feel any worse than I already do and I'll hugely pay the price if the offer is withdrawn.

OP posts:
longlistofexlovers · 10/06/2015 15:55

LISZ idea is golden. Going in with solutions is always the best way to tackle a problem.

Original poster
Astrid28 · 10/06/2015 15:56

That's exactly what I'm thinking Solomon.

Would I have even made interview with a D?

Probably not. Fucking hell. I've made such a mess.

OP posts:
AnathemaPratchett · 10/06/2015 16:03

Personally I think even listing a D as a pass on a CV is a bit fraudulent as that would be taken as A-C. I hope your previous job and so reference didn't rely on it?

museumum · 10/06/2015 16:03

Those going hard on the OP must be pretty young... I'm 38 and I don't even remember HOW MANY standard grades I got let alone what the grades were!! I also can't remember the subjects!

Slightly different in that I have highers, csys, a BSc and MSc since then but even still I can see how the OP can easily forget the exact grades, the mistake was not checking before sending the application.

OP - I'd come clean, tell them you've dug the certs out for the first time in fifteen years (or however long) and see that you in fact got a D for maths which was a certainly considered a pass at the time and that you'd be more than willing to set any additional numeracy tests they'd like you to.

Marcipex · 10/06/2015 16:06

I'm not unsympathetic but was a D ever a pass grade?

BitOutOfPractice · 10/06/2015 16:08

Chaise what a useful contribution Hmm

OP, ring the college like LISZ suggested and say what museum said. Be honest. The administrator will be able to tell from your demeanour that you are devastated.

That's the best you can do I think.

When have you got to go in? Can you do it now to get it over with?

I wish you all the very best Flowers

lem73 · 10/06/2015 16:09

I've never even been asked for a copy of my degree for a job never mind GCSES and I've had a couple of learning support jobs. The fact they have asked says to me that they matter to your employer. I really don't know how you forgot your grades. Tbh I wouldn't want someone who achieved less than a C in Maths working with my children.

YonicScrewdriver · 10/06/2015 16:09

A D is a pass. OP didn't lie about that.

museumum · 10/06/2015 16:10

When I did school exams in the early 90s there was no pass/fail there were just grades, until you get to U. The idea is that everybody who did the work has a grade level to their ability and so you just say for your GCSE's you got A, B, C, D, C, D, B or whatever rather than 'i passed x' and 'failed y'.

CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 10/06/2015 16:11

The fact they want to see the certificate means it does matter, surely?

Honesty is always the best policy - hoping they won't notice is silly and stressful

YonicScrewdriver · 10/06/2015 16:11

And you have no idea what the support role is, with children or not.

OP did the job spec ask for number of GCSEs at a-c?

YonicScrewdriver · 10/06/2015 16:14

So yes, OP was mistaken on the form, which they may view as lying. But she did not lie about passing.

If OP was in the first GCSE cohort she would be about 43 now

YonicScrewdriver · 10/06/2015 16:19

Btw OP I think you should come clean otherwise they could dismiss you down the line which would be much more serious ad theyigjt have to say in a future reference. I just don't think the posts castigating you are helpful.

ChaiseLounger · 10/06/2015 16:23

Bit out of practice? Hmm
Sorry for telling it like it is. Sorry you don't like that.

I'm mid 40's museumum and so did my gcse's over 25 years ago and even then a D in maths was considers basically as a fail, rven
If it wasn't called a fail, because colleges and courses and apprenticeships and basically everything required a C at maths.

Original poster
Astrid28 · 10/06/2015 16:26

There's no way I won't come clean tomorrow.

I'm looking to salvage the situation rather than make it worse.

The interview really did go well and I know I can do the job which makes it all the more gut wrenching.

I think the best I can hope for is that they say I can apply for future posts once I've achieved the maths grade. But even that might be out of the question.

Thanks all.

OP posts:
BitOutOfPractice · 10/06/2015 16:28

It's not the telling it like it is. That's what MN is all about. It's the complete and utter pointlessness of it. All with a healthy dose of making-the-op-feel-worse thrown in. That's what made it soooo useful! Far too late to be castigating the OP now - she knows she's fucked up and she needs constructive suggestions on how to un-fuck up

tootiredtothink · 10/06/2015 16:29

I'm 43 and for years I've been putting my biology o'level D down as a pass...I genuinely thought it was Blush. Even worse I actually had the D written down [humiliation emoticon].

So I can understand that it was a genuine mistake.

AnathemaPratchett · 10/06/2015 16:29

Yeah Im early 40s so amongst the first to do GCSEs. I would never list a D as a pass. Sorry. And on applicant CVs and interviews I have conducted I can't say I ever recall seeing D listed as a Pass. Most people list eg 9 GCSEs A-C...

BitOutOfPractice · 10/06/2015 16:30

Don't give up hope Astrid Flowers

Don't under estimate the reluctance they will have to start the recruitment all over again.

Let us know how you get on

YonicScrewdriver · 10/06/2015 16:32

It is a pass!!!

The fact that many requirements state "5 or more GCSEs at A-C which must include English and Maths" is true. The fact that some people consider it a "fail" is true.

But it is still a GCSE pass and it is not a lie to say so.

AnathemaPratchett · 10/06/2015 16:33

Yes good luck. If they liked you then chances are they CBA to spend the time and money and effort repeating the interview process. Especially if you are willing to retake :)

YonicScrewdriver · 10/06/2015 16:36

If OP was a bit older, she'd probably have a mix of O Levels and CSEs and might well have CSE level 1 maths.

The whole point of introducing GCSEs was to place all people on the same spectrum; no GCSE grade was a fail unless it was below the standard to pass the previous CSE. NOT unless it was below the standard to pass the previous O level (which is what is generally perceived by A-C grades)