High School Diploma?

[niniel71 0]

I'm asking this for my husband who has began looking for a job here in the US. Every job ad is asking for a high school diploma. Since the UK doenst have such a thing, what is everyone using as proof of completing high school?

He says he passed the GCSEs (although he has nothing to prove it) and he has a few certificates from some courses he has completed at college level. Has anyone ever ran into this problem before? I'm guessing he's gonna have to explain the English education system at every interview.

[Minya's wife 24]

I'm asking this for my husband who has began looking for a job here in the US. Every job ad is asking for a high school diploma. Since the UK doenst have such a thing, what is everyone using as proof of completing high school?

He says he passed the GCSEs (although he has nothing to prove it) and he has a few certificates from some courses he has completed at college level. Has anyone ever ran into this problem before? I'm guessing he's gonna have to explain the English education system at every interview.

I'm not sure what qualifies as 'high school' in the UK, but your husband should have some sort of 'diploma' or 'certificate' if he finished secondary school. In addition, I'm assuming that records of students having passed the GCSE test are kept with education authorities. Perhaps you can request a transcript of that from the appropriate office in the UK. (Not sure what that would be, but your husband should know) Also, you can request your husband's transcripts from the schools he has attended and have an 'equivalency translation' done, where a company would determine what level of US schooling those classes equate to.

Or if your husband has not had at least 12 years of schooling, (which is what equates to high school here in the States) he can perhaps take the GED (high school equivalency) test and use that to document education level.

[*JG* 2]

Are they actually asking for the diploma? I've actually not heard of that. I have heard them ask for high school graduate. But, as far as proving it, we never had to when Andre applied for jobs. We did have his diploma; but no one ever asked for it.

[SunDrop 59]

Generally A Levels are the UK equivalent of a high school diploma. It's a bit of a contradiction because we are legally allowed to leave school and are considered to have 'qualifications' at 16, when you've sat your GCSEs. A levels are completed in the summer after your 18th birthday, hence the equivalency to a high school diploma on the basis of the number of years he'll have spent in school. Having said that, we start school 1 year earlier, so he'll be 1 year short of the 12 years if he left at 16 (after his GCSEs). However an A Level syllabus equates to 2 years' study at US college level, because we specialise after 16, studying only 3 or 4 subjects. At least, until recently. The system's changed somewhat now.

To get both the syllabus and copies of his certificates, he'll need to contact his examining school and ask which examination boards he sat his exams with. This will probably be different for different subjects but they will have a record of what he sat. He'll then need to contact the boards themselves, as the schools do not keep copies of the certificates on file.

He'd then need to get them translated into US equivalents, which is why he'll need the syllabus. This is more true if he wants to study in the US but less so with employment.

As someone recommended, it might be worth getting his GED for the sake of simplicity. I wouldn't recommend just sitting the GED without some level of tutoring because we use a very different approach to testing in the UK. If I remember correctly, the US uses a negative scoring system so his 'how to test' training will work against him and also a lot of the history and general knowledge type questions will be totally foreign to him. Maybe start with looking at a GED test paper and go from there.

Also, don't forget that college here and college there is different. What subjects/qualifications are his 'college level' courses?

Edited November 23, 2009 by SunDrop

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I'd second the need to do the GED. He will be able to get copies of his GCSEs through the school or education authority.....employers in the UK check up on this stuff all the time

[Boiler 44,857]

He would have his certificates.

Surprised he did not bring them over, he can get them.

I would just tick the box and leave it at that.

[SunDrop 59]

I'd second the need to do the GED. He will be able to get copies of his GCSEs through the school or education authority.....employers in the UK check up on this stuff all the time

Nope, he has to get copies from the awarding body, namely the examination board. The school can tell him which board awarded which subject and probably give him a contact number. The LEA (Local Education Authority) doesn't have anything to do with it.

Employers in the UK check up on this stuff by asking to see the certificates but rarely actually do. Depends on how long ago the employee sat them and how much relevant work experience they've had since.

[Gemmie 142]

I've been told that employers rarely ask to see the diploma anyway. I guess when you say you don't have a diploma, it draws attention to it, and THEN they might want to see evidence that you've passed high school, even when it normally wouldn't be asked for.

I don't have my GCSE certificate either, but I do have A-levels and a BSc degree. I only have the degree in paper, so I'm hoping that will overcome any difficulty with high-school paperwork.

If you're having problems with finding employment though because of this, I would ring the education authority and ask them to send some transcripts over (through email if they won't send overseas), though I'm not sure how you would prove that it's really you; does anyone know if you need to?

[helwardman 1]

A levels are completed in the summer after your 18th birthday

Not always. I say my A-levels when I was 17.

[SunDrop 59]

A levels are completed in the summer after your 18th birthday

Not always. I say my A-levels when I was 17.

You're right, I should have said in the summer of your 18th year. Anyone born in June, July, August would be just shy of their 18th.

We start school the year we turn 5. In most US states, they start school in the September AFTER their 5th birthdays. So my daughter, who was an October baby, is in year 5 in the UK but would be in the 4th grade in the US.

[Niels Bohr 72]

You don't even need a high school diploma to work in warehouses as pickers, retail chains. I think warehouse pickers gets paid more than working inside a retail store as forefront of customer experience.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Most states have an October 15 fifth birthday requirement for kindergarten, though it does vary. It's as late as Dec 1 in a few states.

I know 2 people who have been caught by their employer for having lied about the number of GCSEs they have to their employer - probably happens more than you realize

[Brit Abroad 166]

Take a look at the recommendation of the British Council.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/usa-educatio...2-education.htm

Grades and Transcripts

The American concept of a school transcript is unfamiliar in the UK. Schools in the UK do not generally rank pupils within their year; currently, the principal standards are the GCSE, SCE and AS and A-Level examination results.

There is no official method of equating British and American primary and secondary educational qualifications. The educational systems are entirely different and attempts to compare them must be done on a strictly provisional basis. However, in general 5 GCSE's or the Scottish Certificate of Education-Standard Grade passes are considered to weigh closest to the American high school diploma.

For more information on English examinations, please visit the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, which is the largest of the three English examination bodies. For information on Northern Ireland’s examination policy, please visit the Council on Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment, or for more about Scotland’s grading procedures, you can review the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s website.

[Brit Abroad 166]

Also http://www.cie.org.uk/countries/usa/faqs/ (University of Cambridge International Examinations)

What are IGCSE/O Levels equivalent to in terms of US qualifications?

O Level, GCSE and IGCSE subjects are roughly equivalent to a US honours high school curriculum. The courses are divided between five groups:

•Languages

•Sciences

•Mathematics

•Humanities and Social Sciences

•Creative, Technical and Vocational.