Hi,

My friend’s DS is currently Year 9 and is picking options this week. His target grades for Year 9 are all 1s (for Maths, English and Science) which means if he makes the expected progress, he will get 3s in the Yr 11 GCSES. He has been predicted higher grades for some other subjects but it’s unlikely he’ll take these for GCSE as his school are recommending a vocational route so he’s taking BTECS as the other options.

His mum is worried about his future. Are there schools/colleges that accept students for 16-18 year olds without having English and Maths. Most places seem to want at least a 4 in English and Maths. Can he get an apprenticeship?

Can he sit for the Functional Skills in English and Maths? a lot of dc do this as 'easier' routes to a recognised qualification which isn't as tough as the GCSE. I would recommend your friend has a look at the Functional Skills exams.

Thanks Piggy, I will tell her to look into it. Can they be used to get into an apprenticeship or a BTEC at college?

Hi Blue_Marigold, yes I think so although it would be wise to check!

Yes, they can - and, if the applicant does not have a Level 4 at GCSE in Maths and English, the college will likely encourage them to sit Functional skills anyway (ie the college has to make them take Maths/English until they achieve it or are 18/19 - sorry memory is failing me here, whichever comes first). For candidates who are a long way off the GCSE, functional skills is a recognised college equivalent.

The applicant may need to start on a lower course at College, however (eg a BTEC first Diploma rather than straight into a National Diploma). With apprenticeships, I am always a bit dubious - whilst they are much lauded by the government, in practice, there are very few actually available at any level, and competition is fierce - a lot of colleges ovffer them by utilising in house "employers" eg hairdressing with teh practicals taking place in the college salon etc.

In the worst case scenario, what happens if someone gets to 18/19 but doesn’t have any qualifications?

Do you think someone expected to just miss out on 4 would pass the functional skills tests?

At the point of 18 (in a school) - 19-25 in a college with an EHCP - the student is no longer required to continue to retake the English and Maths to get the C. (For some students, you can appreciate, being made to resit every year is heartbreaking as they know they cannot get it but are forced to sit it).

If the student is at a 3/4, then I would think Functional Skills would be very doable. I have invigilated these exams and from what I have seen (obviously we don't look at the questions per se, only when a student brings our attention to something) they are really very straight forward and, well, functional! Obviously longer term, if possible, getting them at a 4/5 or equivalent is great as, if any job/employer/uni etc is going to ask for anything, it is likely to be Maths/English at that sort of level.

As an LSA who spends a lot of my time in bottom set Maths groups there is a strong case for more use of Functional Skills as an option. I see Year 10/11 pupils who struggle with basic numeracy, can't cope with fractions and percentages, find powers and indices confusing, have forgotten how the metric units system works - and, what is worse, don't seem to care, don't seem to realise that they will be easy prey for dodgy loans with extortionate interest rates, will be unable to see if they've been overcharged in the pub and will misunderstand every statistic in the news (or possibly, be responsible for producing dodgy press releases themselves).

I love Maths - I love the beauty, and abstraction, and the complexity, and the patterns. But many of the pupils I help are simply learning tricks to answer particular types of questions, tricks which they can never quite apply to a slightly different version. Even something as basic as reading a "word problem" and knowing which numbers should be added or subtracted to get "the answer" seems to elude them....

At the very least, maybe all MPs should be made to pass an exam in basic numeracy....

Especially when the DfE come out with gems like "Every child should be average or above."

Did they really say that!?