16+ Choices
Whether you are in Year 11 and maybe having a ‘wobble’ about your plans OR in Year 10 and starting to think about the step after Year 11 OR you could be the parent of a younger student, who just wants to understand how these things work! The landscape of post-16 options can look big and confusing. This should help to explain the pathways:
There are broadly three different ‘directions’ that students can go in after Year 11:
1. A levels; at either Sixth Form or College.
2. Vocational course; e.g. T-level, BTEC or similar. These are delivered by some Sixth Forms and mostly by local Further Education Colleges, such as Durham New College, Darlington College and Bishop Auckland College.
3. Apprenticeship/work-based route (must have accredited training alongside).
There are variations within the above options, but thinking about it in this way, keeps it simple to start with.
Information about what's next
Watch the video and have a look at the grid to see what your options are after Year 11.
Click to find out more
Apprenticeships
When you do an apprenticeship you’re out in the workplace four or five days a week and earning a wage, but some of your time is also spent working towards professional qualifications. Certain types of apprenticeships can also lead to university qualifications.
Apprenticeships are jobs with training and are very competitive.
To find out what’s on offer locally look at
http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/ and Notgoingtouni app guide
T-Levels
T-Levels are a new type of tehnical qualification, designed for after your GCSEs. They've been developed alongside employers to make sure that what you learn meets the needs of industry and prepares you for work.
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Work-related qualifications are sometimes called vocational qualifications:
They are related to a work area
Employers and professional bodies helped to develop them
They include OCR Nationals, BTECs and City & Guilds qualifications
They are on offer in a range of subjects covering:
Broad work-related areas such as art & design, engineering or hospitality & catering
And narrower, job-specific area such as automotive engineering, graphic design or food & beverage service
A Levels & AS levels
(AS - not all sixth forms & colleges now offer this qualification)
There are about 80 different A levels - although not all of them are on offer in every school, college or sixth form. You can continue with subjects from year 11 and/or choose new subjects. A levels are usually taken over 2 years.
AS - In the first year, you usually choose 3 or 4 AS levels. You can count this first year AS as a qualification on its own or continue into a second year to get the full A level award.
A level - In the second year, you can continue with the same subjects and get the full A levels in some or all of your subjects, do more AS levels or change on to another course.
A/S and A levels are valued by employers but do not prepare learners for specific types of work – they help to build skills and learning which prepare for all types of work. The study of certain subjects, such as maths and science may be important for specific career pathways.
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Foundation Learning (Entry Level and Level 1) may be for you if you:
Have not got qualifications at level 1 yet and would find GCSE level courses difficult
Find it difficult to learn without extra support
Need more help to decide what you are going to do in the future