Don't have GCSE maths but want to apply for new job

[twiceasnice47]

I am looking to change jobs as I work in a school and now my kids are grown up I want a job where I can work all year round and take my holiday when I want. My only problem is I only have 2 GCSE's at grade A-C and I got an F in maths. I originally failed all of them but went back to college and got a B for English and French. But Maths is an F and this job says that you must have English and Maths GCSE grade A-C. I managed to get on to a level 2 college course in business back in the early 90's and got a distinction and since then have really succeeded in the workplace, I also have an English A level and an English degree which I got a 2:1 for. So my CV is actually pretty good and I have said I have 8 GCSE's and haven't ever put the grades and don't think I have ever been asked. Not having maths GCSE has not hindered me at all until now.

I have worked as a team manager, a shop manager, a practice manager of a dental practice and am currently an HLTA and Cover supervisor in a school. I was never asked for any grades or proof of maths for any of these positions. Although I have no A-C grade in GCSE maths I often teach maths to year 6 students. I just had absolutely zero interest in learning once at school but as soon as I got to college I loved learning and have lots of different qualifications now.

I am looking at working in the NHS and their application forms want GCSE grades. If they see F grades for GCSE's (especially maths) surely they are going to reject it instantly. But I have lots of relevant experience and lots of other courses with distinctions over the years. It also says on the application form that all qualifications and grades will be checked. So basically as nowadays you have to have a C in maths is it worth me applying and do all application forms now ask for grades. I have worked in my current job for 15 years so applying for jobs is very different nowadays.

If you can afford it, get a private tutor, someone who does functional skills, then do the GCSe afterwards. If you're paying them, you can demand a standard of behaviour and also try a few to see who has the best method/style for you.

I recommend doing it because as you said even jobs like part-time retail or restaurant/fast food work or call centres, these days ask for your GCSEs and all the grades listed, your A-levels and the grades and then degrees (depending on role). So it's very hard to get even a weekend job without having your GCSE grades and having at least decent if not high and competitive ones - the same for A-level.

Although, as I said earlier, older people (40s+) are able to get away with it because they have often decades of experience, say they've lost the certificates, or they can not remember their grades. Younger people (16-30 and even sometimes 30-40) have no chance of that, as expectations of applicants are changing - just think about how much longer the job application process is nowadays. The NHS isn't short of applications (it's more of a retention issue than recruitment) and they aren't going to wait for someone to do a GSSE in maths when most of the applicants will have it already. All healthcare professional roles (doctors, midwife, nurse, PA, nursing associate, speech and language therapy, dieticians, and more) need at the very least A-levels and most of the time degrees. So to get into 6th form and the days university, it's impossible to do so without good GCSEs and bare minimum: English Language and Maths GCSE. Unless you do an acess to higher education course (normally mature students, nothing younger people, they're expected to go back and do GCSEs). You also often need a good overall set of GCSEs and high A-levels for such university degrees these days. So even if you aren't directly asked on a job, if they ask for your general education and you say 10 GCSEs, 3 A-levels (that is mentioning it and most these days ask for proof as well and the speicifc grades).

They rely on the system working to check that you have the right grades.
6th forms check GCSE grades, university to check A-levels and GCSE grades, and so on.

London universities in my experience are very strict with GCSEs, I know LSE and UCL and Imperial in particular like higher GCSEs often at a 6 or 7 minimum (B/A) not just a C.

I'm surprised that the school you work for didn't ask to see your certificates. It tends to be standard practice, more so than for any other employer. And not just for teachers but also for admin staff TAs and HLTAs.

You should probably look at taking the functional skills test GCSE equivalent ASAP. Don't lie on your next application. Getting away with it once is no guarantee of further success and they will just terminate your employment.

I did that too. I was determined not to be written off at 33. I spent hundreds over two years to try and get on some access to uni course.

I couldn’t do it. She was a great tutor, as was the one at the college. it’s me. I have a complete mental block on maths.

I’ve been told on here so many times I must have dyscalcuilar (I know that’s wrong, I can’t see well it’s frustrating), she was very clear that I had nothing of the sort.

I just can’t do it, can’t remember any of it.

I’m not doing it now anyway. My vision will be almost completely gone in the. Next 5 years, I’m not wasting my time now looking at maths questions.

If you are handy on computer graphics packages the certificate designs used by some of the now defunct exam boards back in the 90's are quite easy to re-create😉

Woah’ calm down Jimmy Corkhill!

I work in the NHS and have done for 25 years. In the last 5-10 years not only have they started asking to see and copy certificates for all new external recruitment and internal moves, they’re also now annually auditing with random spot checks on people already in roles asked to provide. Also the NHS jobs site is set to highlight and recommend rejection of any applications that don’t meet the minimum essential requirement. There are so many applications for each role now it’s very difficult to plough through them all without some sort of tech assist to filter out those far off making the grade.

I did mine in my late 20s at night school. Got a C. Remember crying in my car with relief. I wanted to go to uni. Maths is bloody hard! I wouldn't have wanted to get a functional skills cert, I wanted the proper qualification.

Where I did night school doesn't do it anymore so I don't know what the options are these days.

Oh god that's crazy! I have a-level English too but not GCSE. That would really piss me off tbh.

Put the application in, and also make a point of your experience. It will come down to their procedure and who else applies. In our process I was allowed to take equilivant experience on board. I work in heritage and dont have any qualifications in history

But that’s the point OP has said the job in the NHS does say that grades will be checked if she lies on the job application any job offer would likely be withdrawn on checks by the employer.

Same in teaching. The first time everyone in the (large secondary) school’s certificates were physically checked. People handed in swimming certificates, ballroom dancing, cycling proficiency…

Hi OP can I ask what job you're wanting to do in the NHS? I'm a registered nurse but I went the long way about it doing apprenticeship courses, first the trainee nursing associate course then the top up apprenticeship, much better for me as I got paid whilst I learnt, zero student debt but it did take an extra 1-2 years. I had to show maths certificate for both courses and upload it they are very strict on that, but it's because I was going to university, they never asked to see it when I applied as a clinical support worker, so it depends on what you are applying for. Like yourself I did very well at English but maths was a real weakness. I went to college and did the functional skills level 2 which took about 6-8 months and was free and an evening class and I actually really enjoyed it, totally different to school!

DH had to spend hours in the attic looking for his. He is 53 and senior roles with 2 degrees and an MSc. The NHS is strict about it (for good reason seeing some of the cheats)

That's very fair, I just thought I'd suggest it but honestly, I agree don't spend your next 5 years on maths questions. You could see about the dyscalcuila assesment process - if you think it may help for some job applications to explain the difficulty (I think they'd be more willing to ignore it, given your other qualifications as well).

There are definitely night schools and colleges these days (normally free depending on benefits and wages). My mother did them a few years ago, all for free (classes once or twice a week), some GCSEs and an acess course and is now at university. She had qualifications from a different country but they weren't accepted as they said its the old qualification from that country and they cannot equivalate it to modern UK standards.

Checked from 35 years ago?!? Plus everything different now anyway, likely those results are meaningless.

Register for a maths Functional Skills qualification and apply for the job emphasising that your significant work experience in jobs that have required numeracy skills should be taken as evidence that the skills are already there and the certificate to say so will be forthcoming soon.

Have you ever consulted an educational psychologist to work out why you have found maths so challenging before? There may be an identifiable diagnosis which will help you understand why you are perfectly capable of understanding the mathematical elements of your subsequent qualifications and work while having such difficulty in thr actual maths exams.

No everything is not different now. yes employers do check and withdraw offers if you are found to have lied on a CV. If you actually tried job hunting now you would know due to the number of applications employers do throughly check especially where it does state at the application stage as OP says in her post. I worked at a school they did ask for all my certificates. OP has lied by saying she has 8 GCSEs. Other jobs may not request or check throughly but certain employers do. Honesty is the best policy other posters have advised OP to put down she is willing to study towards functional skills but I would never suggest lying.

I had to show O level certificates. I sent off for them. It’s unusual but you can be sacked for lying about your qualifications.
How can you be a HLTA without a maths GCSE ?

This is my worst nightmare. I did my GCSEs in 1995 in a military school overseas which has now closed down. I need to contact every current exam board and get them to look back as no clue on exam boards and they have all changed anyway. I’m a qualified teacher with QTS and that should count.

if I did my gcse maths now there is no way I would get a B grade 😂

When i was 18 i worked with a women age 40 who had said she had lots of o levels but i knew she couldnt read or write, i reported her but no one believed me anyway they asked for her qualifications and she didnt have any and was sacked

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if anyone has already suggested this. Can you phone or email HR to ask if a lack of GCSE maths would instantly disqualify you?

Wow!

My friend who is now early 60s told me she always used to lie about her qualifications and never got found out. She has been self-employed for more than 20 years so it was probably sometime in the 1990a when she last applied for a job.

Why did you get someone sacked and potentially ruin their life? Was she harming you in anyway? Jesus. What a nasty thing to do.

Given that pretty much everyone who wants to work in the UK has to get a National Insurance number (I think), I wonder if they could have some kind of system whereby - if you chose - your maths/English GCSE results or equivalent could be checked and confirmed and added to your record in some way, so that you didn't have to keep showing certificates. If you didn't have either maths or English, it wouldn't stop you applying for jobs where you could get by without them, or where they were willing to make exceptions, or give you a chance to do them or whatever; it would just be a general way of checking for those who said that they did - some kind of flag on your file confirming that. Optional. It would also mean that those of us who were educated abroad and have different qualifications would be able to get them checked once and have the equivalency noted - I am self employed so have never actually been asked, and I don't know what I would have to do to prove that I have the equivalent, given that I have higher-level degrees from the UK but not GCSEs.