A Level Or Btec? Options

[Soph15]

I have been to 2 college open evenings and have now become very confused. I got told that to become a music teacher, I would be better to take A levels. Although tonight I got told a Btec national diploma in music.

I went to the connections man who happened to be the one I have seen at both colleges and he told me it is up to me at the end of the day if I wanted music music music. The question he asked was "Is music more important to you or teaching?"

I have also been told that to teach in secondary I would be better off with a second subject....

I am soooooooooo confused and all this and mock exams is stressing me out so much. Any thoughts or advice???

[nicki_flute]

Firstly, take a deep breath and smile.

What has been offered for you? My school will be doing a BTEC and A Level Music next year. From what I have seen, the BTEC is much more geared towards the guitarists/singers/drummers of the world, and involves things like organising a musical event.

For the A Level, it is much more traditional, with a person gaining a more general knowledge of music for different areas of time, developing analytical skills about music.

That's with ? (don't know for BTEC) and Edexcel (A Level)

[crazy cow]

I don't know a lot about BTEC's but I get the impression they are geared towards vocational stuff - so if you were going to become a guitar teacher then they'd probably be great, but if you want to study music at university then you may be better to go by the more traditional route (depending on which university you want to go to). Not sure if BTEC's include harmony and stuff too, which you would probably need if you wanted to teach to A2 standard, though you could still do that at uni. You would need to ask someone (who you trust to give you an honest opinion) to go through what is involved in each course and then take it from there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[nicki_flute]

Also, not sure whether ALL unis accept BTECs.

[YetAnotherPianist]

I was going to say - A-levels are the de-facto qualification for university admission, so if you're planning to go down that route it might be best to go for the A-level to keep your options open. However, if you're not planning to go to university, do the BTEC - arguably, they're more useful for getting a job at 18 than A-levels are.

[Soph15]

I was going to say - A-levels are the de-facto qualification for university admission, so if you're planning to go down that route it might be best to go for the A-level to keep your options open. However, if you're not planning to go to university, do the BTEC - arguably, they're more useful for getting a job at 18 than A-levels are.

Can you become a teacher this way though?

[YetAnotherPianist]

If you want to teach privately, you can do so with no qualifications whatsoever. If you want to teach in a school, and don't have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) you'll be paid at the unqualified teacher rate, which is substantially lower than the qualified teacher rate. At the moment, the only way to get QTS is to go to university and do a BEd degree, or a BA/BSc/Bwhatever followed by a PGCE. This may change in the future as there are plans for teaching diplomas to be used on the path to gaining QTS, but red tape will no doubt hold that up for the foreseeable future.

[ChevvyChev]

i'd opt for A-levels, as they are more widely recognised in the kind of uni/teachery type career it sounds like you want to teach in...but consider all options before finally deciding!!
I took advanced musical studies (a compressed BTEC thingy) along side A-Level music and other A-Levels, and although I enjoy the course and things, not everywhere accepts it...just bear that in mind especially if you are trying to keep your options open!
hope everything works out ok!
xoxox