Ethics and Life Skills in year 10........anyone know what this means?

[BodenGroupie]

Daughter has just been told she can't do RS GCSE cos the course is full - she's got to do this instead....but what is it? All she knows is they watch films and talk about them afterwards. Help.........

[SqueakyPop]

Have you googled it?

[BodenGroupie]

Yes.....haven't found much that's specific to schools, but lots of mentions of Philosophy and Ethics at A level. Just a bit worried that it's a timewaster and couldn't get anyone to answer the phone at school! Think they know it's me - panicky parent of new girl.

[SqueakyPop]

I had a look around the 3 exam boards and couldn't find any mention of such a course.

TBH, the first thought that I had on seeing your title was that it must be some kind of combined Citizenship (ie ethics) and PSHE (ie life skills) class.

Do you know if she is to do a GCSE in this course?

[twinsetandpearls]

It sounds like the schools attempt to keep within the law by doing RE and PSHE, is it a GCSE?

[roisin]

It sounds like a time-waster to me. How many hours a week is she doing it? Was RE a GCSE option she had chosen?

I would go in to school quickly to sort it out. There may be a possibility of switching to another course if you get in early enough. If you wait a few weeks and see what develops it may be too late to move onto another course.

[BodenGroupie]

Thanks to all of you, think you've confirmed my suspicions, sounds like a non-GCSE stay legal time waster. Two lessons a week. She was allegedly G & T in RS at her old school so I'm annoyed they just assumed it would be OK for her to drop it without discussing it with either her or me. Will go in tomorrow.

[FluffyMummy123]

Message withdrawn

[StellaDallas]

DD1 has just started secondary and they apparently do something called Philosophy instead of RS. Does anyone else's DC do this?

[StellaDallas]

When I say, something called Philosophy, I mean from what she has said so far, it doesn't sound much like what I would call Philosophy. In fact, it sounds very much like RS.

[BodenGroupie]

Had the first lesson today. Apparently it's half a GCSE and they can't call it RE/RS cos it doesn't cover all religions. She'd already done all the work at her previous school in her RS course. They are now trying to tweak her timetable so she can do the "proper" GCSE now. Fingers crossed - thanks for your help.

[SqueakyPop]

My DS is doing AS Philosophy. He had a choice of RS, Critical Thinking and Philosophy. He opted for that because he got an excellent grade in his GCSE RS, and because CT is not really rated very highly.

His Philosphy lessons are only 2 a week, compared 8 a week for his other 4 AS levels.

[Elkat]

Squeaky pop, If your son is only doing 2 hours of Philosophy a week, then I really would query it, and see if there is a reason (like a class of three or something). I teach all three subjects - Philosophy, Religious Studies and Critical Thinking at 'A' level and Philosophy is not an easy choice. There is a lot to cover in the syllabus - we struggle to fit it all in to 5 hours a week, and seriously could not do it (properly) if it was any less than that. I would be concerned if my child was attempting to study the subject in that little amount of time - having examined the subject, they do want to see evidence of the student being widely read etc, and that's just not possible if the student is not given enough hours to do the subject justice.

[Elkat]

Unless of course, he is not taking it as an 'A' level? If he is, it should be with AQA (they're the only board that offer it as an 'A' level).

[SqueakyPop]

That's what he told me, but I could have misinterpreted.

Also, he made have covered half the material in Y11, as they did their RS in Y10, but continued with lessons in Y11.

I'll find out.

It is an AS though.

[SqueakyPop]

Wow, that was a brick wall that I just got through ..

I did misinterpret. He does 6 lessons (x40 minutes) per week of Philosophy. The 2 lessons that I was thinking of turns out to be PSE.

[Elkat]

That makes more sense

[twinsetandpearls]

It is very unusual that schools allow KS$ subjects to have 2 hours a week of a non exam subject.

Lots of schoools do the short course RE programme which has a philosophy and ethics option, I teach it myself.

[twinsetandpearls]

Boden that is the course I teach, although may not be the same exam board both the full and short course.

[twinsetandpearls]

Right have read the whole thread and that makes sense squeaky, I also teach philosophy AS and level.

[scaryteacher]

Which board do you use for GCSE twinset - I mark for Edexcel and have looked at the new spec for the GCSE and am appalled...it's GCSE lite now.

[twinsetandpearls]

ocr, what do you mean by gcse lite.

[scaryteacher]

I quote:
Edexcel?s new GCSE in Religious Studies offers increased flexibility of unit combination and lighter content and assessment, while maintaining the range of topics that made our previous GCSE successful and popular.

It wasn't hard anyway!

They have also shortened the exam by 30 minutes and taken out the section 5 which replaced the need for coursework, so no more Wealth and Poverty, which was a great section to teach.

I suppose it gives more time for revision and exam technique though, and that is sorely needed from the evidence of some of the GCSEs I marked this summer. However, it makes it harder when they go on to AS level, as they haven't got the grounding or the skills.