Can a 17 year old work in full time job without gaining GCSE maths?

macman

Surely her own college should be able to answer this question for her?

Andy_L

Yes but:
1. Employer must be prepared to employ someone without a GCSE in maths. 
2. Either the job must either be an apprenticeship/traineeship (and without a GCSE in maths I can't see them getting onto one) or they need to also attend college part-time 

Realistically, given the choice between them and someone over 18 who has got a maths GCSE who are they going to choose?

Thrugelmir

PWFZ12 said:

As per the title, can a 17 year old get a full time job in England without achieving maths GCSE?

If an employer has to chose between two candidates for the job. One with and one without. Which one would they prefer to employ? 

PWFZ12

Thrugelmir said:

PWFZ12 said:

As per the title, can a 17 year old get a full time job in England without achieving maths GCSE?

If an employer has to chose between two candidates for the job. One with and one without. Which one would they prefer to employ? 

As an employer, I’d choose the young person with the right attitude and willingness to work. Just because you have maths GCSE it doesn’t make you the right choice. 

Ath_Wat

Andy_L said:

Yes but:
1. Employer must be prepared to employ someone without a GCSE in maths. 
2. Either the job must either be an apprenticeship/traineeship (and without a GCSE in maths I can't see them getting onto one) or they need to also attend college part-time 

Realistically, given the choice between them and someone over 18 who has got a maths GCSE who are they going to choose?

Between someone who never got Maths GCSE and someone who got a E at the age of 18 there would be absolutely nothing to choose.

Ath_Wat

Thrugelmir said:

PWFZ12 said:

As per the title, can a 17 year old get a full time job in England without achieving maths GCSE?

If an employer has to chose between two candidates for the job. One with and one without. Which one would they prefer to employ? 

Again, if "without" did it once at 16 and failed and "with" also did it once at 16 and failed then got it later, who cares?

Thrugelmir

Ath_Wat said:

Thrugelmir said:

PWFZ12 said:

As per the title, can a 17 year old get a full time job in England without achieving maths GCSE?

If an employer has to chose between two candidates for the job. One with and one without. Which one would they prefer to employ? 

Again, if "without" did it once at 16 and failed and "with" also did it once at 16 and failed then got it later, who cares?

Merely offering an alternative view.  We've no idea what the job is and what the role entails. Maths is usefull for far more than just a job and the general standard in this country is currently depressingly low. I struggled with maths in my teenage years. So my parents found me some some additional tution. They couldn't care less that I couldn't paint a vase of flowers or freehand stretch a matchbox. Having a strong maths skill set when I first entered work in many ways provided a springboard to the roles I subsequently performed. 

Spendless

Marcon said:

theoretica said:

I don't think the GCSEs are the issue - I think it is the age. 17 year olds are supposed to be in at least part time training or education.  Though I have no idea how it is enforced or monitored.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

But they can still work up to 40 hours a week, which is very much full time in most people's view.

They can work as many hours as they want but should still also be studying at least 20 hours a week until they're 18, if in England (from  theoriticas's link)

England

You can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.

You must then do one of the following until you’re 18:

• stay in full-time education, for example at a college
• start an apprenticeship or traineeship
• spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training

From my friend's kids/kids friends who haven't done the above there has previously been no chase up of compliance. My daughter's friend only lasted 1 half term at sixth form before dropping out and hasn't worked or attended college since. There was a 14 month timespan between her leaving college and turning 18 and she wasn't chased BUT we also went thru 3 lockdowns during this time, so could have been overlooked. 
I have heard of some employers writing and saying they are unable to commence with employing the candidate if they're under 18 unless they are also studying.
Look into apprenticeships if staying at college f-time is not her thing, but there will still be some requirement for studying there and I believe that would include taking GCSE maths if she hasn't achieved at least grade 4

Ath_Wat

Thrugelmir said:

Ath_Wat said:

Thrugelmir said:

PWFZ12 said:

As per the title, can a 17 year old get a full time job in England without achieving maths GCSE?

If an employer has to chose between two candidates for the job. One with and one without. Which one would they prefer to employ? 

Again, if "without" did it once at 16 and failed and "with" also did it once at 16 and failed then got it later, who cares?

Merely offering an alternative view.  We've no idea what the job is and what the role entails. Maths is usefull for far more than just a job and the general standard in this country is currently depressingly low. I struggled with maths in my teenage years. So my parents found me some some additional tution. They couldn't care less that I couldn't paint a vase of flowers or freehand stretch a matchbox. Having a strong maths skill set when I first entered work in many ways provided a springboard to the roles I subsequently performed. 

I used to be a maths teacher, you don't have to sell me on maths.  The thing is if maths is useful for a job and you have failed GCSE maths once, you are never going to get that job anyway.  It's pointless resitting it when you are 20 except in as much as it's often an arbitrary requirement for things.  GCSE is a test of how good at maths you are at 16, and if it's important in a role you need to get a decent grade in it first time round.

TBagpuss

As others have said, their age and whether they are in part time training is likely to be the bigger immediate problem.

Longer term, people without Maths (or any) GCSEs *can* get jobs, and may be very good at them, but it is common, particularly in larger organisations, for there to be a minimum requirement which is often for people to have Maths and English GCSEs, so it may make it harder for them to get a job in future if they don't have it, 

As they get older, GCSEs will become less important, and work history more important, but they may still run into issues if they apply to larger organisations, as they may be little if nay flexibility on the base requirements.