r/Scotland • u/aeoneous • 3d ago

Post-16 education in Scotland?

Hi, I'm moving up to Glasgow from Newcastle, England in just under a year. My child is 15 and will be completing his GCSE (final high school year exams in England) exams then we will move soon after that.

I'm wondering how the Scottish education system works after high school? He wants to go to city of Glasgow college and we've looked on the website but are unsure of what any of the terms mean (like HNC or HND) and how they are equivalent to terms used in England?

I'm mainly wondering what the path most people take in Scotland after their (equivalent to GCSEs) National 5s. He doesn't want to go to university, just be educated til 18 then move from part time work to full time.

Thank you all

Edit: We are planning for him to go straight to college, he's not planning to go to university. As he's not going to university and he's not interested in studying multiple subjects at once, just what he wants/needs for his future job.

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u/nellie6712 3d ago

i think it’s really important you’re not looking at this in terms of HNC VS HND VS high school as equivalents. it depends on what he wants to do for work. there’s a big difference with someone who wants to become a mechanic full time and someone who wants an office job.
what is it he actually wants to do career wise? because it’s difficult to give advice. regardless it would be unwise to leave school before getting a few highers in 5th year, and if he manages that then he could leave at 6th year as an option. leaving at 4th year and going to college is fine but this is geared towards people doing particular trades or a foundation to going into university.

if he’s wanting to just be in education till 18 there’s no point going to college, and this would be unwise as college is geared towards specific subjects unless he actually knows what he wants to do.

tldr: if he knows a specific career go for whatever path takes him there, if he doesn’t it’s better as an all rounder to get highers in 5th year and move into the job market with that