As for this A levels are better than B-tecs and all that rubbish. A levels are more varied you have about 4 or 5 then drop your "weaker subject" in the last year. If you ask me you end up doing a couple of subjects to make up your time table and then drop one, which is a waste of time. Then your still probably doing one that will have nothing to do with your final career path.
B-tecs normally count for 3-4 a levels but are normally done at technical colleges (shar done a very high level business coarse and done very well) and if your going for uni make no bit of difference tbh.
Back in the real world all the above means sod all if you get a levels and b tecs and go uni your there until your my age or even longer ). At the end of it you come out with a loan that will cost a bomb to pay off and it will be a hindrance to you.
I know people who have been uni and have come out to do a job that pays the same as a full time shop assistant and they have a student loan to pay off. Others have just done a levels/btecs and still earn about the same. Its great as all these courses help you to eventually progress up the ladder or get the job in the first place but only when you have got the experience. So you waste all that time to get the same wage as if you never bothered and still have to brown nose your way up.
Where as if you get a trade, while everyone is at Uni your earning and getting up the ladder and can be on extremely good money especially for your age once you get to the last year of your apprenticeship. No loans to pay back and takes half the time. Ok you could earn a dam site more if you spend 5 years at uni and college then work your way up for a few years after but if you see some of the hours these top jobs and the stress levels they entail you wouldn't even want to bother. And also by that time (especially with the like of an architect taking till I was 27 if I chose it) I could actually have enough experience to have my own company or even have my own membership to trade councils (like the NICEIC for electricians) and earn money in a full time job and do private work.
So its swings and roundabouts to what you want to do but I would always advise a trade over 6th form and Uni. Its not all foam parties and getting drunk if you want to succeed. Just make sure whatever you have your heart set on doing you do it as passion for your job makes it more enjoyable than one you go after the money for (I know that contradicts what I've said a bit) but enjoying a job counts alot more as long as the books balance, Sparking wasn't my first choice but it was a happy medium of the careers I wanted.
Anyways didn't this start of about the difference of A Levels and BTECS??? :p (and I've just woken up from an early evening nap so sorry if it don't make sense)
I know I've always acted older than I am and strangely people think I'm 4-5years older than I am :p