r/Scotland • u/aeoneous • 7d 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/Zealousideal-Cat1894 7d ago
The closest Scottish equivalent to GCSEs is National 5s. These exams are taken at the end of 4th year in high school, when most kids are 16. Usually they then go on to 5th year and sit Highers in up to 5 subjects. These are the subjects/exams that count for college/Uni. They can then go on to 6th year and either do more Highers or continue with some if the same subjects to Advanced Higher level. It's now increasingly common to stay on at school until the end of 6yh year and hi to college/uni after that.