College? (UK)

[Caver]

I have no idea what to do in college although I have time to think about it. I want to be an English teacher in the future though ^_^
I am good at Health and social care (level GCSE) and working at grade A.
My average at school is B/C. I'm not sure if I can do 3-4 A levels, it's difficult as I don't cope well in examination; I am better at coursework.
I'm not sure whether to do something I am good at but not as recognized in English for universities
Or take a gamble (risk of failure) for something which is recognized in English for universities
What would you guys do? ^_^

[Steven1]

For something academic like a teacher, there's very few (none that I can think of, but I haven't searched it) options which would involve coursework over exams, as BTEC's aren't often accepted by universities and I'm not sure if there's one in English. Your grades are good enough to get into most sixth form colleges in the UK, so I would go for the A-Levels (I'm doing them now and they are difficult, but there's no limit on the times you can resit them, and failing that you could always retake the year). From there, your best bet I would say would be to do a Degree in something like English Language or English Literature etc. at university and then do the 1 year PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) which will allow you to become a teacher. Doing some voluntary work at a school would help as well.

If you've got any more questions then feel free to ask.

[Caver]

For something academic like a teacher, there's very few (none that I can think of, but I haven't searched it) options which would involve coursework over exams, as BTEC's aren't often accepted by universities and I'm not sure if there's one in English. Your grades are good enough to get into most sixth form colleges in the UK, so I would go for the A-Levels (I'm doing them now and they are difficult, but there's no limit on the times you can resit them, and failing that you could always retake the year). From there, your best bet I would say would be to do a Degree in something like English Language or English Literature etc. at university and then do the 1 year PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) which will allow you to become a teacher. Doing some voluntary work at a school would help as well.

If you've got any more questions then feel free to ask.

Yes thank you, we don't have sixth form here it's just straight onto college. In some peoples opinions, A levels are easier as you have 3 or 4 subjects to concentrate on but I don't work well under pressure. Most universities look for B's in A levels nowadays, I personally don't think I'm good enough for that though :/

[Steven1]

Yes thank you, we don't have sixth form here it's just straight onto college. In some peoples opinions, A levels are easier as you have 3 or 4 subjects to concentrate on but I don't work well under pressure. Most universities look for B's in A levels nowadays, I personally don't think I'm good enough for that though :/

Ah I was confused because you put " (UK) " in the title. If your college does A-Levels then it's the same as a sixth form college anyway, just different names. A-Levels are easier to do, yes, because you have vastly less subjects than in school, but the subjects themselves are harder. In my college the attitude is actually pretty relaxed and the only time you're under pressure is during the actual exams, even then it's not that bad. I've seen plenty of universities that look for C's as a minimum as opposed to B's in my searches. In fact, I've found about 10 universities which I'm considering applying for and only 2 or 3 of them want B's. I'm sure you are good enough to get B's, just study well and you'll get there. When I first did my GCSE's (admittedly they are slightly different from A-Levels, but you'll get the point) in Year 9 I thought I was going to get a C in Maths at the most- I ended up getting 2 A's (two separately credited GCSE's), both of which were under 10 (one was 2, I can't remember the other) from an A*. If you set your mind to it you can do it.