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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I've arranged to bring the documents in tomorrow and now I'm convinced the offer will be withdrawn.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:
Original poster
Astrid28 · 10/06/2015 16:38

I will do. My appointment is late afternoon tomorrow so this time tomorrow I'll probably know one way or the other.

OP posts:
Q0FE · 10/06/2015 16:41

Oh FFS.

I'm mid 30s and I genuinely can't remember what GCSE grades I got! As for the certificates I haven't seen them in 20 years, I certainly couldn't lay my hands on them. They've probably been lost years ago.

Anyway a D is a pass grade at GCSE isn't it?

CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 10/06/2015 16:42

Fingers crossed for you OP

LoveTheWets · 10/06/2015 16:42

Good luck, OP!

Original poster
Astrid28 · 10/06/2015 16:48

Thankyou x

OP posts:
PuppyMonkey · 10/06/2015 16:55

I see you've made your decision about what to do op, so fair play to you. Genuine question - what would have happened if you couldn't find your certificates?

I've had lots of jobs - including one at a university - they asked for certificates etc. I've also been to interviews too (lots) recently where they ask you to bring certificates along. However I lost my A level certificates years ago and have never been able to produce them for anyone. Not once has it ever been an issue. I kept my job at the university. I kept jobs elsewhere too. It never came up again.

Just saying, like.

stepmothersknockers · 10/06/2015 17:01

If I was employing you I would be cross - most people know that you need a C or above to be a 'pass' at Maths and it's really important - people re-take it until they achieve the C.

Marcipex · 10/06/2015 17:01

I imagine the worst that will happen is that the job offer will be made temporary, until you can show an equivalent pass in maths.

AnathemaPratchett · 10/06/2015 17:07

Actually - what Marcipex said. I'd put money on it :)

ReallyTired · 10/06/2015 17:11

A lot depends what the support role is. If its an admin job in the office you will be OK. Don't get your hopes up too high if it's a TA role. Do you have higher qualifications. You might get away with it if you have done a degree.

You are at the mercy of the head teacher I'm afraid and head teachers are not always rational beings.

Notso · 10/06/2015 17:12

I am alarmed at people being asked for GCSE certificates. I haven't a clue where mine are.
I'm amazed people can remember their grades too. I know I got a C in maths because I re-sat three times. I think I got a B in English and C in science not sure at all though. The rest are just hazy.

OddBoots · 10/06/2015 17:14

I work in early years so it may be different in a school but when we take on new staff as nursery nurses/ealy years practitioners they have to now by law have GCSE (actual not equivalent) grade C or above in English and Maths.

In general I would hope that standards for working with older children would be higher than for working with 0-5 year olds but obviously for you I hope they are less strict.

HeresMyBrightIdea · 10/06/2015 17:16

NotSo You can buy them again from the exam board. We would expect people to do this where I work, and postpone starting until it had happened. But I work in an industry where it's important. Some places might not care, and some people (like the poster above) might get away with never showing them. It's pot luck.

mugglingalong · 10/06/2015 17:17

I really couldn't tell you what grade I got in GCSE maths. I am fairly sure it was A or B but I wouldn't be sure. With grade inflation it might be different now - I don't think that there were A*. I would offer to resit it and see what they say.

WhatWouldFlopDo · 10/06/2015 17:18

Yes Q, a D was a pass when I did GCSE's (36) if you were in a low set for maths, like I was, a C was the highest you could get anyway. I too haven't seen my certificates for years, I was working the day results came out so I never even collected them. I'd be screwed if anyone asked for them.

OddBoots · 10/06/2015 17:21

I'm 37, I got a D the first time, I had to retake the following year to get a C - even then it was known that a C was the lowest 'pass' grade. A D may technically be a pass but the reality in terms of further study and employment is different.

mugglingalong · 10/06/2015 17:25

Brightsea I haven't had to produce my certificate since I gained higher qualifications, so it might not be so much that places don't care about qualifications, but don't care about those qualifications. I have only been asked for degree and postgraduate awards so the OP might have just given those at previous posts. I don't even include GCSEs or A levels on application forms as they aren't asked for.

TheClacksAreDown · 10/06/2015 17:28

You've got two potential issues here

  1. you may now not have a sufficient level of qualification for them - this can be remediated if they are willing to let you
  1. you may have an integrity issue in their eyes - all you can do here is make sure that you tell them and explain that it was a genuine oversight on your part. This can't really be remediated if they decide it was a deal breaker and I'm afraid it would be one for me.
Coconutty · 10/06/2015 17:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JassyRadlett · 10/06/2015 17:33

I had to think quite hard to be able to remeber what subjects I did for my GCSE equivalent, let alone remember what grades went beside each one.

The group truth 'everyone knows a real pass is a C' is interesting, though. An employer should be accurate and specific - so A-C if that's what required, and pass if official passes are all that's required. They absolutely shouldn't expect people to know they meant an unofficial pass - as this thread has shown that not everyone gets the password to let them join the club.

Duckdeamon · 10/06/2015 17:33

Good luck OP.

I do think you wouldn't be likely to have got to interview if you'd put the D down. C is a requirement for many jobs. If they rejected other candidates on the basis of a poor maths grade it wouldn't be fair of them, even if they believe you that the mistake was in good faith, to give you the job.

Duckdeamon · 10/06/2015 17:34

But you might be lucky!

lem73 · 10/06/2015 17:34

The Op says a C in Maths was required for the job but she just 'guessed' she had a C. I don't think she would have been given an interview if she had given her correct grades. It's not really fair on the other applicants is it?

MovingStress · 10/06/2015 17:35

How can you not know your GCSE maths grade when going for this type of job? Surely grade C or above isba standard requirement and you should have made sure you had it before applying? I really doubt they will believe that you thought you got a C until they asked for the proof?

PuppyMonkey · 10/06/2015 17:40

I don't think the exam boards I did my A levels with even exist any more. Thirty years since I did them!