GCSE results are out, and for many the future will involve plans for A-Levels and beyond that, university.
Figures released by the Joint Council for Qualifications show girls are storming ahead of their male counterparts in GCSE results.
As the media seem to be fascinated by the exam results of pretty jumping girls, and are now giving in- depth coverage to girls' success over boys. But Huffington Post UK decided to give the boys a break and find out what their plans for the future were, and whether they had been given other options than just A-levels.
Name: Dom
Age: 16
School: Private school in Berkshire
"I'm hopefully going to college to do a B-tech in Business. My school has their own careers advisor so we don't go through Connexions. We were given career advice at school but I don't really think it was that useful. I was encouraged to take subjects for A-level I’d never tried before such as photography, I guess so that I would stay on at the school. When my parents questioned the subjects I'd put down for A-level the school said it was a good thing taking up a new subject. I wasn't encouraged to explore other options by the school. I chose to go to college because my parents thought I would be better suited to go there and a B-tech would be more helpful in pursuing a future career in business. I definitely think more career advice would have helped. The course I am hopefully going to pursue will be far more beneficial than staying on for sixth form and doing irrelevant subjects."
Name: Phil
Age: 16
School: Grammar school in Bucks
"I'm hoping to stay on at school and complete my A-levels and then go on to university. I'm thinking I might take a gap year first though.
I don't really know what career I want yet but I was offered help through the school from a Connexions group. My school do encourage us to do A-levels, but more subliminally than forcefully. They told us one of the options open to us after GCSEs was to go to college and study there but other types of education weren't elaborated on as the school wanted us to do A-levels there.I would definitely have benefitted from better career advice. The help was only useful if you had some idea of what you wanted to do. If you're clueless about where your future is going, like I am, then the help was useless."
Name: Jimmy
Age: 16
School: Community secondary school, Hampshire
"After my GCSE's I had originally intended to go to college to do a course called 'Professional Chef Diploma' at Westminster Kingsway College which I had been accepted into earlier this year. Unfortunately due to financial circumstances I had to withdraw my place in the college as living costs were far too expensive and travel was not a possibility. I've now decided to begin full time work, to earn money to pay for accomodation in London where I will be doing work experience in 5 star restaurants. This way I can gain some experience and then hopefully get a full time job in a kitchen as a chef eventually.
"At school there was a Connexions office which we were allowed to visit if we had any questions or needed guidance about leaving school and going onto further education or starting work. They offered some good solutions and ideas for everyone. Throughout year 11, each student was given an appointment with Connexions to discuss our plans for when we leave school and the courses which we had chosen (if we were going to college).
"Many of the teachers recommended going to college to get our A-levels. They told us having these A-levels would open up so many doors when it came to looking for jobs in the future. They also told us that if we didn't have a specific career path that we wanted to go down, to study a variety of subjects so that you're not limited to just one profession, so that if you weren't lucky enough to achieve the career path you hoped for, that you will always have something to fall back on.
"In year 10, we were given the option to do two weeks of work experience at a place of our choice. The idea was to show us what its like in the working world, and to also inform us that if we weren't interested in going on to do A-levels, there were other options available such as apprenticeships or beging work straight away. We were also informed by Connexions of ways that we could continue learning in a particular subject we enjoy without having to do A-levels which was very useful.
"I think that the careers advice at school was very helpful as not only were Connexions available but the teachers were also very welcome to offering advice and guidance when need. However I think the careers advice and what to do after you leave school could have been addressed a bit more than it was. I think leaving school is a very important step and the schools should be sure that each student knows where they want to be heading next and what their goals are and how they are hopefully going to achieve them in the most suitable way."
Name: Joshua
Age: 16
School: Foundation school in Essex
"Ever since year seven, I'd always had it in my head I was going to do A-levels. I didn't even realise you could do anything else. But after GCSEs I realised I wasn't really suited to education as I learn better through practical experience. So I started to look at other options. I was looking for about three weeks and then I came across a careers website called 'not going to uni'. Through them I got an apprenticeship in advertising. I've been there for five weeks now and I absolutely love it and have no regrets.
"At school I was really pushed to continue with education and do A-levels. Even if you weren't particularly academic, they still said you should go to university. They weren't really very supportive of my apprenticeship."