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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Does your teen want to move to Canada? 3 Canadian-UK grade equivalents 4 Questions to ask yourself 4.1 Is your move temporary or permanent? 4.2 How soon do you need to be in Canada?

[edit] Introduction

• A question that comes up with a certain amount of regularity on the BE forum is what to do about a teenager who is approaching GCSEs or A-levels.
• That is a tricky time for a young person to transfer from one education system to another.
• There are advantages and disadvantages to staying behind in the UK and completing GCSEs or A-levels before moving to Canada.
• There also are advantages and disadvantages to picking up sticks and moving to Canada ASAP, even if GCSEs or A-levels have not been completed.
• Members of the BE forum who have been in this situation have handled it in various ways.
• Each avenue that BE members have tried has resulted in satisfactory outcomes in some cases and in unsatisfactory outcomes in other cases.
• We wish we could provide you with a standard course of action that would guarantee happiness for you and your teenager, but unfortunately we cannot.
• You, like the rest of us before you, will have to feel your way through the relocation process as best you can.
• Nonetheless, we will attempt to alert you to some of the issues you'll encounter and suggest some alternatives to consider.

[edit] Does your teen want to move to Canada?

• An issue that theoretically is separate from schooling, but which often gets intertwined with schooling, is whether or not your teen is excited about moving to Canada or is baulking at the idea of moving to Canada.
• If a teenager hates the idea of moving to Canada, he/she may use schooling issues as one of several stalling tactics.
• This article on GCSEs and A-levels has not been created to address the problem of a teenager who is fighting against the family's move to Canada.
• The Wiki article on Children includes a section called Psychology of Relocation. Within that section is a sub-section entitled Teenagers. It is recommended that, if you are dealing with a reluctant teen, you read that section on Teenagers in conjunction with this article on GCSEs and A-levels.
• From here on, this article will deal only with the logistics of moving from the British school system to the Canadian one. For the sake of simplicity, the article will be based on the assumption that the teen in question actually wants to move to Canada.

[edit] Canadian-UK grade equivalents

• Before reading the rest of the article, it may help you to understand how Canadian grade levels compare with GCSEs and A-levels.
• Canadian children graduate from high school (secondary school) at the end of grade twelve.
• Grade twelve is roughly half way between GCSEs and A-levels.
• So GCSEs are roughly equivalent to grade eleven, that is, one year short of Canadian high school graduation.
• A-levels, on the other hand, are about a year more advanced than the Canadian grade twelve.
• A Canadian university often will give a student a first year credit for a subject that the student has taken as part of his/her A-levels.
• With that having been said, however, a given faculty at a Canadian university may have very specific requirements, and may not accept a certain A-level subject.
• For example, the son of a BE member arrived in Canada with A-levels. However, the engineering faculty to which he applied did not accept his general science credit and insisted that he obtain separate grade twelve credits in physics and chemistry. Thus the young man in question had to study at a community college in Canada and obtain the outstanding credits in physics and chemistry before he could be admitted to his desired Canadian university.

[edit] Questions to ask yourself

[edit] Is your move temporary or permanent?

• If you view your family's move to Canada as permanent, there may be merit in your teenager moving to Canada sooner rather than later. The sooner he/she moves, the sooner he/she can start the process of integrating into Canadian society.
• If you think you'll be in Canada for only a couple of years before returning to the UK, your teenager might benefit from enrolling in the International Baccalaureate program.
• The IB program enjoys a wide degree of respect and acceptance around the world, and would enable your child to gain admission to a British university.
• The one limitation is that, while the IB program is available in Canada's cities, it is not available in smaller towns and rural areas.

[edit] How soon do you need to be in Canada?

• Are you going to Canada on a temporary work permit or a permanent residence visa?
• What is the deadline for your arrival in Canada?
• How much flexibility do you have with respect to your relocation date?
• If you are forced to move to Canada in a hurry, is there a UK family member with whom your child can stay till the end of the current academic year?
• Keep in mind that, if you move to Canada on a temporary work permit, your child won't be entitled to a work permit. If you arrive in Canada near the end of the academic year (say around April, May, June), the local school system may not allow your child to enroll in school until the beginning of the following school year (at the beginning of September). Then you'll have on your hands a teenager who is not in school, a teenager who is not being kept meaningfully occupied, a teenager who does not have a convenient venue for making friends, a teenager who is not allowed to work, and a teenager who does not have a feasible way of earning spending money. This does not add up to a pretty picture.
• The best time for your teenager to arrive in Canada, if possible, is before the start of a new academic year (before the beginning of September).
• The next best time to arrive is before the start of the second semester, about half way through the academic year. Many high school courses are divided into modules called semesters. By enrolling in school just before the start of a semester, a child at least can take some uninterrupted courses and earn some credits.