Have schools stopped pupils taking GCSE's early?

pavlovs_dog

FBaby wrote: »

She told me that you can only take so many options and having already chosen what these would be, if indeed she is restricted, there will be no room for an additional language anyway. The thing is, I don’t know whether it is her school who is putting this restriction, or whether it is a national thing, or if she even got it wrong, even though she has always been totally reliable with the school information she has provided me in the past.

Some schools stipulate that pupils must study at least one language at GCSE. Which language(s) and how much choice there is between languages will vary according to the language department at individual schools.

There is a lot of swapping and changing. A foreign language was compulsory at GCSE in England for a while, then this was scrapped as a legal requirement. As some schools changed to academies (which gives them greater control over how they run the school than traditional state schools) many introduced their own in-house policy making a language compulsory at GCSE. This is particularly true of academies and schools which have gone for 'language specialist' status.

the_pink_panther_2

Regarding Language GCSEs, it's not now compulsory to take a language but my understanding is that when it comes to University selections, having a language GCSE is looked upon more favorably by more academic universities compared to students without. Cannot confirm that this is definitly the case but it was a director of studies who told me that so I'd expect it to be an informed comment.

Dunroamin

the_pink_panther wrote: »

Regarding Language GCSEs, it's not now compulsory to take a language but my understanding is that when it comes to University selections, having a language GCSE is looked upon more favorably by more academic universities compared to students without. Cannot confirm that this is definitly the case but it was a director of studies who told me that so I'd expect it to be an informed comment.

Oh for the days when, if you wanted to study an arts subject at university, a MFL was compulsory and, in many cases, a classical language as well!

angelil

the_pink_panther wrote: »

Regarding Language GCSEs, it's not now compulsory to take a language but my understanding is that when it comes to University selections, having a language GCSE is looked upon more favorably by more academic universities compared to students without. Cannot confirm that this is definitly the case but it was a director of studies who told me that so I'd expect it to be an informed comment.

Surely only if the child gets a good grade in the language GCSE? Having one is no good if you got an F in it...!

securityguy

the_pink_panther wrote: »

Regarding Language GCSEs, it's not now compulsory to take a language but my understanding is that when it comes to University selections, having a language GCSE is looked upon more favorably by more academic universities compared to students without. Cannot confirm that this is definitly the case but it was a director of studies who told me that so I'd expect it to be an informed comment.

Yes, but those self-same universities are going to want to see a pretty much unbroken run of A* and A grades, with perhaps a B here and there (some take "best 8", but they see them all). The chances of getting even a B in a GCSE language, from scratch, in two years, are pretty slim. It's not impossible, but it's not easy, and if it involves reducing the hours for a first MFL (as FBaby is saying) then it's a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul anyway. Schools which are successful with multiple GCSEs in MFL have usually been teaching both languages since year 7.

securityguy

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

It is all relative. Traditional subjects (maths, sciences, languages and 'strong humanities' such as history) are often regarded favourably and indicative of offering academic rigour. Which is all well and good if your child is academically able and interested in those subjects. 'Mickey mouse subjects' such as media, psychology, art, drama can offer plenty of challenge if delivered at the appropriate pitch. I was an A* student but wouldn't have stood a chance at A level art or music, whilst A level languages were an enjoyable challenge. Horses for courses.

General guide:

http://russellgroup.org/InformedChoices-latest.pdf

One university willing to lay down the law more clearly:

http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=604

securityguy

poet123 wrote: »

I don't know either. but I would guess that those deemed more "worthy" would include; Maths, Sciences, English, Languages, History, in general, the traditional core subjects. Some of the "trendier" subjects; Media, Photography, etc, would fall into those deemed less worthy.

The Trinity list, cited in my previous posting, is worth looking at.

Generally acceptable sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics

Generally acceptable arts/humanities: Art History, Chinese, Classical Civilisation, Economics, English Literature, French, Geography, German, Greek, History, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Russian, Spanish, Welsh

Everything else is either only acceptable as a third A Level for particular subjects, or not acceptable as anything other than a fourth A Level (which is normally not counted in an offer anyway).

the_pink_panther_2

angelil wrote: »

Surely only if the child gets a good grade in the language GCSE? Having one is no good if you got an F in it...!

Absolutely!

SUESMITH_2

the_pink_panther wrote: »

Module exams can be taken early, as long as the terminal exam is in the summer of when the student is aged 16 (usually year 11) then those will count. So triple science, which depending on exam board usually includes modular exams can be sat early, giving opportunity to resit lower modular results and can be sat in year 10 or 11, if the terminal exam for that subject is in year 11 the student's final result will count in league tables, if it was taken in year 10 it won't, but in this instance, where there are modular exams then what matters is when the final exam is taken which counts.
.

science isn't modular any more, its gone back to terminal exams.

GwylimT

It depends on the school, at our school if the top set in a subject is deemed capable then they will start taking their GCSE's early, we start with mock coursework, if they aren't getting As and A*s they aren't ready.

Virtually all of our students do their R.E GCSE a year early as it is something can be successfully taught well to any ability as you don't need true understanding as you do in other subjects, and if you could get a decent grade such as a B without even doing the course as you can answer with opinion, you don't have to give detail about various religions.

Most of our students sit their IT GCSE early as the coursework is self explanatory and as children are very technology savvy its a breeze, really it needs changing as it no longer challenges children.