yr 12 first year, alevels, btech level 3, failing gcses, distant learning

i only have 4 gcses,
maths
english lang
spanish
health and social care
but i want to do alevels, i'm currently in year 12 doing level 3 btech in creative media but it's not going well since i'm not that interested in it anymore and i've been really thinking about my future careers, should i carry on for next year? also i think i am going to just pass but i'd rather merit than just a pass for the first year.
the open study college and distant learning stuff are so expensive and i haven't seen one good distant learning institute review on here. i really want to get my moneys worth.
i really want to do alevels to broaden my career path. i just feel like everything is falling down on me, i had so much potential for everything i really let myself go during yr 11 and i'm just so mad i did that.

I'm going to cut to the chase, what specific career (or fields) are you looking to get into?

A Levels are great for getting into uni, but other than that it's not really of much use in industry unless it's something related to government services e.g. military, RAF, police, nursing, etc. If you want to get onto specific apprenticehips and degrees, you will likely need specific A Levels.
Considering STEM subjects weren't your top choice, I am guessing that you don't intend to go into STEM careers. In which case, there aren't that many careers where you would specifically need A Levels.

Having a BTEC can still be useful, but if you don't intend to do a degree in media or subjects that accept any Level 3 qualifications, then it's not of much use (having said that, most level 3 qualifications can get you onto professional accounting qualifications).

alevel wise i want to do eng lit, psychology and philosophy(can be replaced be with bio considering the circumstances). career wise i would want to be a child psychologist or some sort of therapist (if i do philosophy) but if i do bio i want to go to dentistry. but doing bio depends on circumstances because if i go to sixth form i will have to do practicals and they'd provide me with it whereas stuff like open study colleges distant learning things i'd have to travel veryyy far for that. but other than that media level 3 isnt doing any good to me i did want to do journalism but i just dont like the idea of it anymore at all since i researched more into it. what can i do to do alevels at a sixth form? i want to go straight to uni next year too.

I'm going to throw a few spanners in the air since this is kind of all over the place.

alevel wise i want to do eng lit, psychology and philosophy
Only English Lit and possibly Psychology are semi-required subjects for specific degrees, otherwise your A Level choices are really just for decor and personal achievement. English Lit is only required for some English degrees (not even all of them), and psychology for some really picky psychology degree courses (don't ask why).

(can be replaced be with bio considering the circumstances)
Biology is pretty much a required subject for virtually anything in life sciences, even in some psychology degrees.

career wise i would want to be a child psychologist or some sort of therapist (if i do philosophy)
So you're looking for a BPS psychology degree + possibly postgrad to specialise in the area you want to go into. Child psychologist will require you to go through a number of hoops and a clinically accredited PhD specific for child psychology. With therapy, it would depend on the type, but for counselling you can pretty much get away with a level 3 recognised certificate for counselling, but you can go all the way up to PhD should you wish.
To do a BPS accredited psychology degree, you can go in with a recognised level 3 qualification in pretty much any subject so long you have high enough grades for most degrees. Some will be picky with A Level Biology/Psychology. In other words, your BTEC can be useful if you have high enough grades in the subject.
For child psychologist postgrad, you would be faced with a mountain of competition, and any relevant experience in child psychology will put you well ahead of the crowd.

if i do bio i want to go to dentistry.
You're definitely not making this easy. This is an insanely competitive path, probably more so than becoming a child psychologist. The universities that you're applying to would likely be looking at your GCSEs and likely require straight As at A Level. You would also be looking to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops, including relevant experience in a dental practice, or something closely related to dentistry in order for your application to stand a chance. There should be 8 universities in the country that offer dentistry as a degree.
If you lack the good GCSEs, you will solely be looking at your A Levels, and you're expected to get straight A*/As in the first sitting.
I would consider looking at Plymouth's course for reference.

but doing bio depends on circumstances because if i go to sixth form i will have to do practicals and they'd provide me with it whereas stuff like open study colleges distant learning things i'd have to travel veryyy far for that.
Yeah, doing science practicals as a private candidate is one pain in the rear end (I would know since I'm looking to do practicals in 2 subjects). If you can do the science A Levels or Level 3 courses at a local college, it's strongly recommended.

i did want to do journalism but i just dont like the idea of it anymore at all since i researched more into it.
Yeah, you don't need anything to go into journalism; just a strong ability to write good news articles worthy of the publication you want to get it published in. It's also neither the cushiest job, nor the nicest.
You can still go into journalism with a degree in any subject, very likely because you don't need a degree to get into the field to begin with. If you do a degree in psychology/counselling/dentistry, this wouldn't stop you from going into journalism.

what can i do to do alevels at a sixth form? i want to go straight to uni next year too.
To get into university, you would need a Level 3 qualification, provided the university accepts it. There's no way around this (you need it even if you decide to do a foundation year). Universities usually only care if you have adequately high enough grades in your GCSE for maths and English language; all other GCSEs matter very little.
If you're considering a very competitive course at a top end university, you're looking at high grades, despite the qualification you're doing. This would naturally include high GCSE grades.

The first thing I would do is to check all the entry requirements for the specific university degrees that you intend to do. From the sound of things, this could be:
If your GCSE grades are not high enough, you will need to resit them. Do only the essentials as there's no point in doing 10 GCSEs when you don't need to. The essentials from what I can tell should be the 4 you have (maths, english lang, spanish, health and social care), and then consider redoing your science/biology, as some 6th forms will be picky whether you have a high enough grade to do A Level Biology (even though the exam boards don't require a minimum grade to do A Level Biology).

The most you should need to resit would be English Language, Maths, and Science/Biology. You should be able to do this within the year alongside your BTEC.

Try to speak to various 6th form colleges to see if they would accept you on the condition that you complete the GCSEs above. Since most 6th forms require you to be at most 17 when applying for A Levels, you would need to check if they would still accept you despite your circumstances. If they don't, then you're looking at adult colleges.
The grade requirements for the degree takes priority over whatever the 6th form's requirements are. If your grades are higher, so much the better.

If 6th form colleges do reject you, then you would be looking to possibly do Access to HE with at least 15 credits in biology (to do dentistry or psychology) or further BTECs (ideally an extended diploma in Applied Science). The thing you need to beware of Access and BTECs is that they might not be accepted for all university courses that you intend to apply to. This is why you need to do the research on the specific degrees first.
Even if the university do accept the alternative qualifications, you would need to check what the specifics are. To my knowledge, most universities don't accept Access or BTECs for dentistry. Those that do would accept a particular type of Access course from very specific colleges (usually local to them).
If you're only interested in counselling, then consider doing an appropriate Level 3 in counselling that would also allow you to go into specific counselling degrees should you wish (you will need to check the specifics and ask the undergrad administrators of the psychology departments at the universities to double check on the level 3 qualifications). However, this will pigeonhole you into either counselling or any degree that accept any level qualification in any subject.
If you're only interested in doing a psychology degree, check if the universities accept the BTEC you're doing and see whether you need to do anything else to meet their entry requirements. Do make sure the degree is BPS accredited to save you from unnecessary headaches.

If there is a 6th form college that would accept you:


All in all, it's very unlikely that you would be able to do all of the above by September 2024. However, I don't think it's impossible.
You will have to run the extra mile considering your circumstances though. Good luck.

thank you so much for this, i've emailed a few sixth forms and sixth form colleges i should email a few more as much as i can really. i really hope they consider me as a candidate even though theres doubt i still hope and believe there'll be at least one place that will take me in theres a sixth form i wrote to that does a level 3 diploma on film studies besides alevel english lang and lit or you can choose alevel maths or a retake a gcse if you got grade 3 or under for english lit or lang or maths so i think this one may allow me but who knows maybe it could be the one i least expect but shall i focus on finding a new sixth form or sixth form college or shall i carry on with the btech i am doing whilst looking for a new sixth form or college but with my college i would have to reapply for second year and i have to do admissions today so im not sure what to do since summer is here and btech media is never going to come to use in my life i think i should just focus on finding a new place to study instead over the summer so i can enrol fully in september