What is the most important starting point when considering the next step at 16 or 18?
Self-awareness. Think about what you really want to do and weigh up courses according to their balance of academic work versus practical challenges and assessment. If you can take advantage of any vocational "taster" courses at your local college designed to run in parallel with GCSEs they will give you an extra insight into the next best move. Solihull college, for example, has offered introductions of this sort to car mechanics.
Where should I study?
Many young people at 16 are "school-tired" and so college is a good choice. However, staying on into a school's sixth form does mean you are "known" already to your teachers and this can be an advantage to those in need of familiar surroundings and a smaller environment. Of course, such familiarity can be doubleedged and a shift to college can offer a new beginning and most colleges have good pastoral and academic support systems and can be very quick to spot if students are struggling or coasting.
How important is it for students to shop around?
All too often students choose a college because it is near to home or their friends are going there. While neither of these are bad reasons in themselves, you do need to weigh up college courses as much as you can on the basis of what will matter more in the long run such as the quality of the learning experience.
What should I be asking at interviews?
Remember that you have every right to ask searching questions. Does your course have some sort of accreditation with the relevant skills council? Also ask about the equipment and facilities on offer — are they industry standard? Do your homework and double-checkwith appropriate businesses to see that what is available to use or being offered at a college is really what employers need. Have a look around on an open day, but also see if you can drop in on a less "official" day and see how things look on an ordinary day.
Who should I be talking to for advice?
It is important to talk to current or recently graduated students — they should have invaluable insights to share about the staff and whether or not they seem to have their pulse on the industry sector for which they are training students. Most good tutors will maintain their "industry experience" through regular placements or their own "freelance" activities.
Talking to current students will also mean you can check out the relevance of any work experience on offer. The destinations of ex-students should also be known to colleges and openly available. This data can be very revealing. How many people dropped out of the course? Does it look like people with the qualification a student is thinking of pursuing at a college are ending up on the kinds of higher education courses or job-based training that will lead to a meaningful career in that industry?
How important is it to keep my options open?
It is important that students at 16+ are keeping their options open. There are plenty of ways of taking a vocational course that leaves lots of room to choose the next step even if your ambitions change. It is also all too easy for young people to be put off a vocational route because of outside pressures. A vocational pathway does not necessarily close off certain "high-earning" careers. For example, an Institute of Legal Executives (Ilex) course combines work experience with night-classes and those qualifying can call themselves lawyers and with further training they can go for full solicitor status.
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