A Level/BTEC Diploma

[paulears]

My advice, which might be a little odd would be that travelling more than 25-30 miles to do BTEC Performing Arts is a bad move. The problem really is that people on these courses do lots of work outside of class time - especially the dancers. The kids make friends at college quite easily, and the most useful thing, from their point of view are a few friendly parents who let their friends sleep over. It's very common, especially when they get to certain parts of the year for scratch rehearsals to be held with little notice - and the kids who have to use public transport really lose out - In my part of the world, Performing Arts can be taken in 3 colleges in the area, all within 30 miles of each other. They all have a different 'flavour' so you get kids zooming around all over the place. The distance can also work against them if they may only have two hours timetabled on certain days - travelling for an hour to do a 9am class, then having to hang around until 2pm for another is a pain. The others will probably go home if they are local. How do you feel about a 16 year old walking from an evening rehearsal to the railways station? These kind of practical issues mean BTEC works best reasonably local. I'd suggest that 40 miles is far too far away for 16-18 education. My experience of seeing how the kids manage distance isn't good. For practical reasons, the kids tend to team up into 'where they live' groups, which might not be the best in terms of how they work.

I'm not saying it doesn't work, but the drop out rate for distant learners is much greater. Each college usually has strengths and weaknesses, that may change year to year as staff move around. When I worked as part of a three teacher team, we did mainly musicals, because (we told everyone) that is what the kids were best at. In fact, it was what WE were best at, and it rubbed off. My long term colleague left, and her replacement hated musicals, so we switched to a more serious acting pathway, scrapped the singing lessons and I lasted 6 months - hated every minute, so I left. My dance colleague then went too because she missed the musicals, and dance in isolation wasn't fun. I was in a college 30 miles away one day working for the exam board, and there was a list of names and addresses on the wall. Half of them were travelling from my old colleges catchment area, because, I suspect they wanted to do musicals - which this other college did. However, they reported the kids with an interest in Stanislavsky and Brecht were not coming any more, and I suspect they were at my old college, passing on the road/rail each day.

What I would recommend is to keep an eye on the newspapers for when the colleges you are considering put on their public performances, and go and see them. See what the quality of performance is like, and if the shows are complex, check all the other components - are there musicians? If so this suggests a combined music and performing arts dept, which is very useful. Are they using radio mics and clever lighting? These cost money, so if they are not - wonder why not. It's not compulsory, but if they are attempting to provide professional training, then this should be a feature. Lack of resources can bog down what they do. Find out the teachers background - have they had industry experience, can they direct, can they actually do it themselves. This is important - sometimes the teacher can't act, sing or dance and is a technical nightmare - but they are a teacher. Many people on this forum do know about performance, and being ladies, can be quite crafty - make up some tricky questions using industry jargon and see if the teacher looks confused. Simple questions like "What shows did the students go to see this year?" You might be surprised if the answer is "er, well, we don't actually organise anything ourselves, but they usually go on their own at some point". This either means no budget, or teachers who don't work in the evenings and weekends. I can assure you, the good teachers do!

We've taken kids to London, New York, France and our local venues because it's good for them - we used to do shows at outside venues, and they were always in the evenings - this is very common, but not all colleges do it.

[showtunes]

Hi everyone

For anyone who has had a dc do a b tech in musical theatre (or dance/performing arts for that matter) can anyone tell me when the students were given their final grades? My dd knows her graduation date when she will receive her certificate which is July. But I would imagine they are told of their final marks beforehand. Her course ends in early May.
Thanks.

[paulears]

The students should know their grades all the time because BTEC is continual assessment - the students know the grades they have been getting and should be able to do the conversion - it's detailed in the spec, so everyone should know exactly how they're doing. Only outstanding work that hasn't been assessed can change the end grades - and the students would know about these things. The rules allow for final grade recording to be done any time, however, as BTEC will be sampling work between Christmas and around now, most schools and colleges start to tidy the paperwork up about now. If the work sent for sampling was wrong (as it often is) the verifier will expect the centre to fix it, and BTEC start worrying when it gets to May, if repairs haven't been done and the grading confirmed. Strictly speaking, all grades awarded by the teachers are provisional, until verified - but it's uncommon for grades to be amended. However, if the teachers have been too generous, then the verifier may require extra evidence, or perhaps a regrade to be applied. Only when all is signed off can things be absolutely solid.

If somebody has a Distinction in a unit for a certain criteria, and BTEC decide that it really was a Merit, then most teachers will give the students another chance to get the D, but they don't have to. So, by the end of May the centre could be in the position of having all the grades in, verified and confirmed - they have a little fiddle room after this, but not a lot.

[showtunes]

Thanks Paulears that was very helpful. Will quiz my dd more to see what if anything she knows. If she isn't sure then she has her show next week so will ask her course leader.