Parent Evenings - who to see?

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Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by Tinkers »

DD tried fast tomato on SAs recommendation a couple of years ago.

It did bring up some interesting possibles for her to consider that she wouldn’t have even thought about at the time so worth a go.
BucksBornNBred
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Thank you Tinkers, S-A and KCG. Not too long to wait so I will ask the school about these sites. At least I am not going in blind now otherwise I had images of five minutes of talking about the weather :lol:
BucksBornNBred
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by BucksBornNBred »

I have just discovered the school does use fast tomato so I will be asking about a login for that (they also use JED but again I have no login details). On the other subjects I will probably go with the flow but now I have some questions for the careers teacher :D Thank you.
Eccentric
Posts: 738
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by Eccentric »

kenyancowgirl wrote:Sorry - I went to bed as I have the winter cold/flu thing - Morrisby is pretty good if your school pays for it (or you pay for it but your school has the license!) - there is one called fast tomato (I think) that does another simialr thing - alternatively look at TSR as it has careers streams.

To be honest History and English are really good solid A levels - research, politics, journalism - with physics he could look at some aspects of engineering (tricky without maths though) Economics degrees don't require Economics at A level and they are the highest earning graduates (then Medics then Geographers). History and English are both heavy essay subjects though so, he needs to be prepared for that. As a broad base, if they are subjects he loves he is keeping options fairly open - although ruling out the science options that require Chemistry, obviously (but that may already be a natural rule out if that is not where his interests lie!)

Good luck!
Hope your cold/flu thing is a bit better this morning. It is interesting to hear that you think Morrisby is good. We paid for it and thought not only was it a waste of money but Dd said the advisor was clearly sexist (she actually complained to the school, something that she has never done before or since). I paid for it because I wanted my Dd to think about some other options besides medicine, in case she doesn't get the results she needs and also to widen her mental horizons a bit. Her result said she would be best served as a self employed entrepreneur She asked the man who gave her the Morrisby interview for some other ideas and he suggested that she become a nurse or a physiotherapist which didn't go down very well. He didn't suggest Biomedicine or Chemistry or teaching or anything that might have sparked my Dds interest. He hadn't looked at my daughters levels. He just seemed to focus on her Spatial reasoning Morrisby score being very slightly lower than the others. He told her that most girls aren't very good at spatial reasoning and that is why Morrisby doesn't usually recommend that girls go into medicine. My Dd asked him if there were alternative ways of getting into medicine if she didn't get A*AA in her A levels and the chap said he didn't know of any
Get well soon KCG
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by kenyancowgirl »

Sorry to hear that is what you think Eccentric - it is not a view shared by many careers advisers.

I personally feel that Morrisby is good - it is one of the most respected psychometric testing tools out there and it's careers aspect can be an incredibly useful tool - but like any tool, they can be helpful but are only as good as the person using them. The person who interpreted the report doesn't sound like they are a trained Morrisby practitioner - which not every Careers Adviser is. You can train (and qualify) to administer the test (relatively easy) and train (and qualify) to interpret and advise - a whole different ball game - not every Careers Adviser does any or all of this - it is in addition to qualifying to be a Careers Adviser. And then you can additionally have poor advisers in the same way you have poor teachers, poor physiotherapists, poor psychotherapists etc I have observed Morrisby tests advising many students both female and male to "consider" Medicine (it doesn't tell anyone to "go into" any career) - so what he says about girls, is simply not true - perhaps he was clumsily trying to tell her that her spatial reasoning was low compared with some who then ultimately end up in Medicine, but certainly poorly worded? As I said sounds like he was either not very good, not very clear or misunderstood - or all of the above!

To be fair if you asked me if there were alternative routes into Medicine without A*AA, I would have to caution that there are no guaranteed routes (in the way that, assuming you pass all the interviews/BMAT/UKCAT there are, (which of course there are not!!) :shock: with the grades)! She could consider graduate entry - but they still look at A levels (and it is far more competitive than A100 courses), so chances are she would get rejected off the bat without grades - or apply to do a Biomedical Sciences type course and hope that she does well enough in the first year to be considered for transfer to the first year of a Medicine course - again competitive as she would be up against any other transfers (usually 95% of a Biomedical course is those who actually wanted to do Medicine) AND everyone else applying for the A100 course fresh out of school. So in theory, cautiously, yes, there are alternatives, but none are really that certain. (Incidentally, if she hasn't read it - "This is going to Hurt" - it's one of my go to recommendations - I think all prospective Y10/Y11 Medics should be made to read this before they do any work experience and know that the system has got worse since this was written. As one Consultant we spoke to last week said - "if you come into medicine great, but know that whatever effort you put in, if your friends in other areas put in half that effort, they will be rewarded 1000 fold - you won't. Remember, this is the job, if you are passionate about it and love it and love people, great, but don't complain about it when you are in then - it is as bad as people say"!)

Morrisby works by looking at your interests and abilities with subjects you are studying and bringing up ideas - it does what a Careers Adviser would do but is much quicker - but, obviously, answering questions on screen can be more black and white whereas, a Careers Adviser would look at the shades of grey too! I always think it is interesting - like any psychometric test it can throw up a few wobbles - for example if someone goes in saying they hate science etc (like DS2 did) but their abilities show they are good at that, it will throw up some career ideas that involve science (much to his disgust!!). Equally though, if someone thinks they want to be say a physio but the way they answer the questions show that they are not a good match, then it will come up with alternative options that may seem odd to the person who wants to be a physio. It is great for people who truly have no ideas (as the OP doesn't). However, no psychometric tool is completely good in it's own right - up thread I said to BBB the interpretation is the important bit AND the research that follows - it is a signposting tool - in the same way a Careers Adviser interview is - no CA worth their salt would tell anyone to go into a particular career or not go into a particular career - they would point out where the likes, interests and abilities do or do not match up - but there are always individuals who believe they know better, or break the mould!

Sounds like the school can offer him access to the tools, BBB, if he chooses to take them - and then I would advise he takes his results to the CA and has a look at them with her/him. Good luck!

Edited to add - yes, thankyou Eccentric, cold is now out so although I sound dreadful I feel slightly better, if a bit dizzy! Went to see Mary Poppins which helped take my mind off it all!!
loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by loobylou »

My dd found Morrisby very unhelpful. We paid for the online stuff but not the interview (maybe that was our mistake) and it basically advised her that she could do any career in the world!?
Having said that, her friends did find it helpful and it is true that she's a genuine all-rounder...
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Parent Evenings - who to see?

Post by BucksBornNBred »

kenyancowgirl wrote:Sounds like the school can offer him access to the tools, BBB, if he chooses to take them - and then I would advise he takes his results to the CA and has a look at them with her/him. Good luck!
Thank you KCG. I may need to do some arm twisting to enthuse him to use the tools but I am hoping that a meeting with the CA will start to make him more focused and realise he needs to see the CA! Thank you everyone for all the help - I now feel a bit more prepared for the PE :-)

Glad you feel better KCG.
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