fiona - I can understand what ou are saying abut a vocational avenue probably being better, based on her past performance...But I just wanted to say that those vocational avenues generally require just as much, if not more (quite frankly) applicatin and especially passion as an acadenic /university stream. If you want to keep her options open you would be better (imo) to steer towards Arts....it will give her options, and something non-specific to focus on.
It is EXTREMELY difficult for apprentices if they are not passionate about the stream....I can only talk from the hospitality POV, but apprentices who are ther purely cos they couldnt think of anything else to do dont get very far and honestly arent wanted by most employers anyway. I have seen sooo many kids think that doing a chefs apprentice or a hairdressing apprenticeship will be easy, they can leave school and get a job and everything will be wonderful, only to see them pull out, crash and burn and not have any options left open to them. Even if she doesnt go to uni, having a VCE is HUGE plus, even in a vocational path post-VCE...
I'm inclined to agree with limeslice. VET is a great addition to VCE but a lot of apprenticehips and traing courses require a VCE pass as well as a pre-req. now.
I also think you are right about trying to get her over here for year 10, to see how she settles down to being in the one place for a full school year. It must be incredibly difficult to be back and forth, with all that disruption and uncertainty that that brings.
I know what you're saying Limeslice and I agree with you. I didn't mean to imply that vocational stuff/apprenticeships are easy. Not at all. But they may suit her better in that she can immediately see the link between what she's learning and a job rather than more academic subjects.
I'm hoping that we can encourage her to get a part-time job in Year 10 and if she loves it, great ... and if she doesn't she'll see what sort of job she'll be in if she doesn't finish VCE.
We're not trying to force her down a certain career path now and have told her that if she's not sure what she wants to do, that's fine but the best thing to do is do well at school and leave as many options as possible open. That message just isn't working unfortunately!
We're going to get her to have a chat with her cousins (closer to her age group) - some of whom did fairly well in their VCE and some who didn't do so well and are now in their 20s, still living at home and drifting. Hopefully that will give her a few things to think about but at the end of the day, there's only so much you can do isn't there?
I'm quite prepared to give her any assistance possible. I'm not going to do her homework for her (that's just cheating in my book) but I'm happy to guide her where I can. But nor am I going to force her to do homework; she has to have the motivation and self-discipline to do that herself.
It's difficult for me because I was a very high achiever at school despite coming from a household that had no books and parents who encouraged me to watch TV rather than, "having your head stuck in those books." So while I'm willing to encourage and assist, I think of all those other thousands of kids out there who do not have people around them to encourage and assist them. It seems mightily unfair to me that some kids have all the advantages and supportive parents and others don't have any of that but still manage to have the get up and go to do it on their own. I would hate to think that if I spent hours and hours on homework with her she is actually taking away the uni place of some poor kid in a housing commission flat who's just come to Australia and is managing to do their homework unprompted despite sharing a bedroom with three other siblings and missed out on a uni place by a few measly points. Yeah, I know I'm just a bleeding heart. Anyhow, I'm off my own topic and will get off that little soapbox I made for myself now!
Maccas may be a good place to start when looking for a p/t job for her. My aunty is a careers adviser and she says that Maccas experience looks great on your CV and they also put kids through the VET hospitality course (DD is doing it ATM) it can also lead to a career with them in management if she wants as well. I kow people slag them off but I have been so happy with them as an employer for DD. They even have paid for a maths tutor website for all employees to access free.
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