Returning to UK with just brevet level education - something to think about?

[thepenofmyaunt]

This is a bit of a spin-off from an earlier thread about the brevet in the UK.  Having spoken to quite a few people who are considering or planning to move back to the UK with secondary school age children, some whose children will have sat the brevet are thinking about bypassing GCSEs and trying to get their children straight into the 6th Form.

The brevet is only graded by UCAS as being worth 4 GCSEs at below grade C. For many 6th forms, my son's included, this isn't actually sufficient to get a place, most of them requiring 5 GCSEs at Grade C and above.

As my son is now in the first year of his GCSE courses we've been looking ahead to 6th form options and university. He is hoping to study Law and in order to get a place at a good university he is required to have an A grade at GCSE, achieved at first sitting, in other words, he has to get it first time round not at a re-sit. Many universities require all As and Bs for law courses.

Most universities, especially the better ones, require Maths and English GCSE at grade C and above and to get into medical school many require 6 GCSEs at A grade. My niece is studying medicine at Birmingham and needed 8 GCSE at A or A* and four A levels, also at A.  You also have a far better chance of getting a place at medical school with A levels rather than the International Baccalaureate which is not considered specialised enough.  Many science faculties now require As or Bs in English, Maths and a science subject and again favour A levels over the IB.

I found an interesting article in the Daily Telegraph about the need for GCSEs which you can read here and with university places becoming more and more competitive, missing out GCSEs might just hinder your child in the future.

Just something to bear in mind.

 

 

[Lollie]

It will be interesting to see if the Universities receive unprecedented levels of applications next year!!

[Russethouse]

From what I hear they are getting unprecedened levels this year - with a possible difference of £18,000 in fees, gap years are not popular ![;-)]

[thepenofmyaunt]

I'll be interested to see how much difference it actually makes. My brother has already worked out that if his son gets a place at Cambridge as predicted it will cost him less under the new fee structure than before.