Ebacc - why should the kids care?

Our school requires at least one Ebacc option. That's it. A nice compromise, I think?

Just wondering also, whenever the Ebac is raised in a thread it is usually the MFL that comes up as then sticking point.

With less free choice being available with options (DD1 only had 3 choices as triple science counted as one), what if they want to do 2 MFL and a creative, or MfFL creative and a tech, or MFL and 2 creative?
On hindsight for her, any of those two combinations would have meant a better grade. Ie German, Catering or Drama would have been a better option than Geography which she ended up hating. But she thought at the time that the Ebac was a good thing.

When DD1 (now yr12) chose options, I thought the school were being half sensible by not making MFlL compulsory for those in the triple science pathway. Obviously recognised that many keen scientists were not strong at languages. But the other academic pathway was compulsory Ebacc subjects.
Where the problem arose was that Spanish and German were only available to those above level 6, which meant many being pushed into French that didn't want to be there. As well as those for whom it was compulsory, those in the less academic pathways that wanted to take a language.
Add to that a teacher that openly admitted that the mixed ability classes were being taught to B/C level only.

How fair is that both to those to those capable of higher grades on French and to those that could have achieved a higher grade in another subject.

DD had extra tuition pre-GCSe in the end, and did get an A. But was still very ill-prepared to start A level.

If MFL is expected to be taken by the majority, it needs to be taught properly, preferably not in such wide mixed ability groups.

DD's geography and history teachers both said she was capable of an A grade, but she chose RS, so she won't have ebac subjects.

If the desired goal is to increase language skills then they should just make a language be required (there was such a req in my school, too).

They are a broad, academic selection of subjects that provide a good grounding for future study in a wide range of subjects.

As a teacher I encourage all students who are capable of it to pick the EBACC subjects + one fun option. This means their options are open post-16.

Our head teacher stood up in front of all the parents and told us Ebac is for the school only and should not influence any child's choices.

You already have your answer, this is about the school and the league tables and not about the child.

I was in a similar position at my options time, I was being pressured to do French which I was crap at, I'm also dyslexic butt he school didn't believe it existed.

I had the advantage of being able to point out that an O Level was better than a CSE and the Art teacher was prepared to teach me in the MFL slot.

I'm a year 9 tutor. My lot have just picked their options.

The advice I've given them is that they really should continue with both a language & with a humanity to GCSE, if they are able to achieve a C or above & unless they utterly hate the subject.

Like OP I've found that the Humanity subject isn't a problem; it's MFL that is problematic for some. I agree with senua that we shouldn't be tolerating a culture of 'can't do languages' when the rest of Europe seems to manage; & yes we should be starting languages earlier & raising their profile.

Computer Science & Electronics are both great, but tbh if my dc was an aspiring programmer, I'd still definitely be advising choosing one & continuing with a language. It's way too early to be specialising if that means dumping a whole subject area.

Having said all that, there is precious little point forcing anyone to do a subject if they are going to a) loathe every minute of it & b) not come out with a useful grade anyway.

So I've been asking my tutees (we've just had tutor review meetings to discuss options) what they're minded to take. If a mid/higher achiever has no MFL in the mix, I've pointed out that no-one's quite sure how important the Ebacc will be in future & suggested that taking a language would almost certainly be a good idea. If they react like they're Christopher Lee & I've just shoved a garlic baguette at them, then fairynuff, it's their choice.

If I'm talking to a kid whom I know to be projected a D or lower in MFL, I'm going to ask if they enjoy French. If so, great; if not, & they could get a higher grade in a subject they do enjoy, it seems a no-brainer - choose something else.

At no point did it occur to me to worry about the league tables! The Head & SLG get paid to do that. I'm doing my job as a form tutor by advising my tutees to take the combo that'll most benefit them, not the school's Ebacc uptake figures.

Computer Science and Electronics are not necessary for anyone at GCSE either though! These subjects are specialising too early and a broad range of subjects is still best. Computer Science and Electronics can be studied later by pupils who have Maths and Sciences. History is more demanding than RE imo. We just have a society where no-one is allowed to fail so we allow children to pick subjects which are not balanced or a good preparation for academic A levels. There are plenty of children who could do academic subjects but prefer easier ones thereby limiting their opportunities later. The league tables mean that schools agree with this stance.

AFAIK UCL is the only university that specifically mentions a MFL. My daughter is in Y13 and none of the unis she looked at specifies Ebacc.

Our teaching of MFL is an issue. We need to start in infants and have proper language teachers. Teacher training for primary does not even specify a language, and yet we are now expected to teach it. It's not like you can "read up" on a language like you can if you're rusty on certain periods of history.

But if we are going to value MFL, we cannot sweep away years of neglect over night.

We can not suddenly fill every secondary school with inspiring MFL teachers when they don't exist (or only apply for jobs in non comprehensives).

We need to to teach MFL in primary schools so DCs enter secondary ready to study them.

DD2 did French club at primary and has a way better attitude to French than she does to German. Their German teacher threw them in at the deep end, lost 90% of them and now resorts to being the only teacher who puts them in detention. Understandably they think he's a jerk.

If set one think your getting it wrong, you are getting it wrong. Even if it's not you who choose the syllabus and the class are a bit prone to chatting.

Senua. I totally agree with you. We have to put years of poor teaching behind us and value languages. English speaking people from abroad are able to get jobs in more countries because their skills are more portable. We still think we are too exclusive to bother.

They should care if they might want to apply to the more rigorous universities because the Ebacc is a shorthand for "reasonable spread of academic subjects". Yes you can omit a humanity and do say RE and art and it won't make a huge difference, but the principle behind it is of a broad based general, but academically oriented, education.