igcse French

daska

Not compulsory at GCSE unfortunately. Ditched by Labour a good few years ago (in an attempt to reduce truancy IIRC).

January20

silvercar wrote: »

igcse is much harder than gcse and the qualification is not any better.

Not quite true! The igcse is much more difficult (ie all the questions will be written in the target language not in English) than the gcse offered by exam boards such as AQA. Consequently, it is the gcse of choice of some prestigious private schools, and people in education such as university professional know the difference. Also, I understand it has now been fully accredited and has become a "proper" gcse (before that the speaking part was not compulsory)

Seanymph wrote: »

I was going to ask why not a GCSE?

Because the standard gcse as it stands, specially offered by AQA, is rubbish and a student can pass it, and get a good grade whilst having very low ability. I find that shocking! It is mostly continuous assessment and is so dumbed down it's unbelievable!

OP, if she is going to do it on her own, could you afford a private tutor to back her up? I know it will be costly but it will be very beneficial, and not every 15-16 yo enjoys working on their own. She will also have a lot of work for her other gcse so the extra support and encouragement she would get would be worth it, even if only once a fortnight.

skint_chick

LucyLocket wrote: »

Also does anyone know if there are age limits and is it permitted to take an A level in a subject you don't have a GCSE / igcse in?(

It depends on the school college whether you can take A levels without having a GCSE in the subject - some are happy with similar subjects and some want to a GCSE to check you're at a certain standard. I did 2 of my A Levels without the GCSEs and I also have a degree in a subject I chose not to study at A level.

Whilst I love languages and would encourage people to study them I'm not sure it would help her university application unless she was an outstanding student. I think motivation is the main factor in doing well in exams if she loves the subject she'll do better than if shes taking because it might come in handy at some point.

Maybe check out university/college websites for more info about what their expectations are and encourage your daughter to look at what career path she'd like and find some job ads for similar positions and see what they require. It's never too early to organise some kind of work shadowing/experience because what seems like an amazing career to her in reality might be a complete nightmare when she actually tries it.

I think it's a lot of pressure for a 13 year old to be making decisions that could affect the rest of their life and tyllwyd you're a fab parent for being so supportive:T

angelil

I teach IGCSEs and have also marked GCSEs in the past.
I'd say IGCSEs are harder only because of the near-total lack of coursework, meaning it therefore comes down to performance on a given day. And when there is coursework it is bloody hard (thousands of words of written work, as opposed to the hundreds usually required by regular GCSEs).

If you think your daughter can handle it then I'd say go for it

moodydonkey

tyllwyd wrote: »

Oh yes, the school does offer French, but apart from the compulsory subjects she can only choose three options out of modern foreign languages, humanities, expressive arts and DT, so I'm trying to see if there is any way around it. French seemed the easiest subject to study outside school.

(BTW Studying a language is not compulsory, but you do need one language for the English Baccalaureate.)

My daughter took french because she also wanted the ebac. She pretty much based her choices around getting this. Is this maybe an easier way to do things rather than choosing something like expressive arts?

tyllwyd

Thanks everyone! The message we are getting from the school is that if she is thinking of university she should study a language. I'm quite open to the idea of a private tutor if we can afford it.

I'm not sure how useful the English Baccalaureate actually is? but if she has the ability to get it, it seems a pity not to! BTW does anyone know if you need to sit all the exams in the same year to get the EB, or can they be staggered over a few years? Is it an actual award that the children are given with a certificate, or is it just a statistic for the school? I don't really want her to base her choices around the EB and drop all the arts subjects she loves, and then find she doesn't have the choice of a career in the arts because all her qualifications are in the wrong subjects!

Lunar_Eclipse

tyllwyd wrote: »

The message we are getting from the school is that if she is thinking of university she should study a language.

This is wise advice. It's also worth bearing in mind that in most schools, a modern foreign language is (still) compulsory. I also think languages are difficult to learn, compared to some artistic options that she might be keen on, so I would rather it was a chosen subject personally.

I'm assuming your daughter will be sitting 9 GCSE's, on the basis that you mentioned her ability to choose 3 in addition to the compulsory subjects (presumably Maths, 2 English and 3 Science.)

Personally, I'd opt for one of the following options instead of a 'zero languages at school' approach:

1) Insist that 1 of her 3 choices is a language. This enables her to do at least 1 Arts subject surely? I would be far happier if my children undertook additional Art (or Drama) subjects outside of school, than a language. The exception could be if there is a gifted (parent)linguist in the house to assist her learning. I also think there are numerous artistic opportunities outside school and less language options, which would guide my decision.

2) Could she opt for dual Science and thus choose 4 options? That doesn't limit her future options (even Medicine) like a lack of, or a poor first language GCSE result could.

I have also heard that the iGCSE is harder, but sadly almost necessary for the most able students, to help them stand out, due to general GCSE grade inflation. With 20-25% of all GCSE's being awarded A/A*, it's impossible for universities to seek out gifted students. Back in the day, you know as long ago as the late 80's/early 90's, this was what A grades were for!

Good luck with your decision. It's fantastic that you're thinking outside of the box.

Dunroamin

silvercar wrote: »

igcse is much harder than gcse and the qualification is not any better.

Sorry, that's totally illogical. If IGCSE is harder (which it is) then it's obviously more valuable.

JC9297

tyllwyd wrote: »

Oh yes, the school does offer French, but apart from the compulsory subjects she can only choose three options out of modern foreign languages, humanities, expressive arts and DT, so I'm trying to see if there is any way around it. French seemed the easiest subject to study outside school.

(BTW Studying a language is not compulsory, but you do need one language for the English Baccalaureate.)

So why not choose one language, one humanities subject and one expressive art/DT?
The EBacc is more a statistic for schools, not a qualification in it's self, it just shows that schools are encouraging pupils to take traditional subjects rather than 'soft' options.

tyllwyd

JC9297 wrote: »

So why not choose one language, one humanities subject and one expressive art/DT?

Yes, that's what the school is pushing her towards. But that means overall the balance of her gsces would be towards the sciences not the arts, which is what she loves and is talented in. It's fine for kids who love science and can't wait to give up art / music / drama, but that's not the way she rolls! (She blurted out to her head of year that her ambition was to be a singer/songwriter but that didn't go down too well!)

I think we've decided to give it a go. With all due respect to her teacher, she hasn't found anything magic about learning languages at school - sat in a class of 30, half of whom don't want to listen, isn't pushing her forward. So if we start now with the aim of her taking an exam next year at the end of year 9, she will still be doing lessons at school, she can do extra at home, we can find her extra materials to work through and some extra tuition, and this time next year we can see what standard she's got to, so we still have the chance to sign her up at school if needs be, but if it is going well she can do the exam independently and give herself an extra option at school without losing out on a qualification.