Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

Fair point mmzz but I think there are still may careers/jobs which don't need specific knowledge learnt in a degree but just the maturity and general skills acquired from getting one.

Big worry is that lower GCSE take up leads to lower A level take up so schools won't be able to keep teachers with low take up - or they will choose to leave without the pull of A level teaching. Further reducing the opportunities for DC.

DS loves drama (tho not doing GCSE) and has a brilliant drama teacher for extra curricular drama but there are no takers for A level next year - will she want to stay ?

Bigger issue in state sector though where funding is tight

HMC I lost my mum in January and my dad is 400 miles away and struggling with loneliness. It would have been their golden wedding anniversary on Friday and I'm feeling really sad but trying to keep things normal for DD1's sake. It's tough juggling two needy generations at the same time and I feel for you.

One thing i have discovered is just how many people I know are going through similar. It feels like I've joined some sort of perverse club. Have you been over to the Elderly Parents topic on here? If not, it's a good place to let off steam with people that get it.

And Sticker - rooting for your dd given all the sadness at school and now her grandparents decline

Thanks for the hand hold everybody - it did make me feel better. So many of you have been through or going through similar or have lost parents to other causes - I guess we don't talk about this sort of thing routinely do we? Sending back to those of you who have lost parents or are watching them decline in front of their eyes (Rosie, Teenmum, EllenJane, Sticker, Sandy, mmzz)

Re the employability of arts graduates - I agree it depends upon the adaptability of the person. I did a Politics degree but ended up in senior NHS management.

On the new art GCSE mmzz, my dd struggled with the very issue that Loose describes. Its not enough now to produce interesting, skilfully crafted art you have to explain how you personally engaged with the subject (dd was asked to produce art in response to the concept of "natural forms" for her first sketch book and concluding piece, and then for her second sketch book and final piece she had to respond to "contrasts"). You have to write about your 'journey' in terms of how you responded to the theme and described how your ideas evolved and your emotional and other reactions etc before you hit upon your final piece. Dd is accomplished at Art but did not do this bit well and may not get a top grade despite her technical skills. Not sure that all established artists work like this - I'm pretty sure Tracy Emin would pick up an empty gin bottle from 'My bed' and chuck it at the examiner

Glad to hear that your vertigo is now much better Sost - horrible to feel sick and dizzy all the time, and well done to your dgd - 85% in a practice paper 2 must have been a confidence boost.

Hope you enjoyed the Rolling Stones concert Sticker, a friend went and said that they were phenomenal

Just checking in - so sorry to hear about your mum hmc

All this talk of grade boundaries and how results are calculated etc...makes me realise that these exams won't be 'over' on the last day of taking them - there's still a wait for results (although by that stage I very much doubt DD will want to think about anything to do with GCSEs ever again!)

As long as she gets her A / 7 grades to get to do her chosen subjects at A Level...and there's no reason she shouldn't! And that's now completely out of her control.

Two ill children in the house today. Both have caught the very nasty cold/virus I had all last week. At least there's no exams this week, and DD2 doesn't have to face her GCSEs for another 2 years...when DD1 is doing A Levels. Eek!

Both DH and I did social science degrees but have gone in quite different directions career wise. He has gone into financial services and earns twice what I do. I'm in a Comms related discipline so write and speak for a living. I probably could have had a more lucrative career than I do but have had lots of flexibility and breaks to have the DC and spend time with them. Occasionally I have a pang of regret but on the whole I'm pleased with the way things I have worked out for us as a family.

Yes most people would say they would like to earn more, but not everyone would put a large salary before job satisfaction and working in an area they have a genuine passion for........I think an awful lot of people really value a really good work life balance over a large salary......Plus we need a diverse workforce with a multitude of skills so any that are lost I think in the long term will be to all of our detriment.

Sadly my visit to Warwick is really a visit to Coventry. Warwick university is miles from Warwick of the famed castle, though we did visit it about 10 years ago!

hmc sorry to hear about your DM's failing health. It seems it is the time in our lives when this starts happening. DFIL is currently in hospital with unexplained breathlessness.
Well DD did actually do quote a lot of English and Geog revision yesterday, sent some English work to her tutor (by way of taking a photo and sending it via WhatsApp, how the poor tutor read her writing I will never know!)
Took her to see Rhod Gilbert (her favourite comedian) at a tiny intimate show last night - my belly hurts so much from laughing.
Left her in bed this morning with a suggestion she should wash her hair which I don't think has been washed for a week #minging and do some more revision.

Mmzz no one understood the new art GCSE at our school until around March, it's that complicated! Basically DS said you could be really good at drawing and still come out with a 2! He's done OK but was pretty fed up with the whole subject in the end.
(You're very close on the wire name - begins with D!)

The new art GCSE is a problem for less literary types who like to draw - the amount of reflective work involved is off-putting for them

I'll be honest, i don't even understand this comment! Its so out of my realm of knowledge. I feel a bit thick, tbh!

LooseAtTheSeams at something like Bloomberg or Reuters? I'm impressed!

I agree you have to be flexible, in more or less any chosen career. If you decide to just stick with what you learned at university, you are going to find yourself funnelled into a job that does not pay well. I don't know lab-job based salaries but I suspect that they aren't nearly as good as the jobs where you apply your skills in a way that creates revenue for an employer.

Thinking about it sales and marketing careers are probably really good routes for people who write well, can distill info and make it appealing both verbally and in writing and/ or can speak languages - though probably not so much French or German but more Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin.

mmzz It depends though - I worked in financial journalism (newswires, no paper!) and had a good salary with an English degree, but I did end up in management, which made quite a difference. I knew poorly paid scientists. The issue is how adaptable you can or want to be with English and how many other skills you can learn. You need to be prepared to do more training.
The drop in arts take-up for GCSE reflects funding in schools but it may also be curriculum changes. The new art GCSE is a problem for less literary types who like to draw - the amount of reflective work involved is off-putting for them and the assessment criteria much more demanding than last year.

Good points mmzz
2016 they had 64 doing art GCSE 2018 only 28 in dgds school.

Went to Warwick castle last year with Dgd which she loved and we watched jousting falconry and had a guided tour it was great!
The Tower if London was fan as well and the new Tower bridge glass feature. Dgd does love history but roman and Greek interests her more .

About arts subjects take up, maybe the issue is around employability?

I went to university in the mid-80s. I was in the science faculty and several of my friends were in the arts faculty, doing things like English, French and History . There was mutual respect in that i couldn't do what they did and they couldn't do what i did.

Fast forward just five years, and I'm now the newly appointed head of an investment desk, working for an investment company. My (shared) secretary is an English graduate, as are most of the other secretaries covering the other desks. If they didn't do english, then it was French or something else that is useful but badly paid.
We started on similar salaries but I already probably get paid double what she does, and her salary will creep up slowly in the future years but mine will rocket.
She's highly organised, her writing is exceptional, much, much better than mine, but her skills are not valued in the workplace like mine are.

That was in the early 90s before the internet took off and brought low so many opportunities for English graduates (eg the demise of magazines and newspapers, or the ability to self-publish without paying for the services of an editor).

I think now that people have to pay to go to university, they are more inclined to look into the future and try to judge how much it will increase their earning capacity to repay the loans.

Cross post with lots of you!

The grade boundaries are entirely based on how the DC taking the exams do. It's the proportion getting 4 and above and 7 and above that are pegged. The grades in between are just evenly spaced out with roughly 20% of those getting a 7 and above getting a 9.

I do wonder how long they'll keep the proportions pegged. It means that if a whole cohort does better, either better taught or better prepared as teachers get more used to the new exams and more resources are available, that won't be matched with better results. Still the same proportion get a 7 or above. As was the case with the old O levels. It avoids grade inflation, but doesn't allow for any improvement in teaching and learning to be acknowledged.

Anyway, DS3 and I are off to Warwick in the rain to visit DS1 today. His 2nd year exams start Saturday. And I've absolutely no idea about any of them! How things change in a few years!

I think DS is well an truly off the boil, although to be fair he wasn't at a constant rolling boil beforehand . But in a way it is quite hard for him - he only has 4 papers left now, and none of them are heavy revision subjects (English language, Maths and Music). Its hard to see how you can do 7+ hours a day over 9/10 days on those, I think. He's going to the gym most days, cycling, and says he is sleeping very well. So while I think you can never do too much maths practice, I think I'm relatively good with where we are.

Plus if you look back at the grade boundaries for 2016 (last year of old system) to get a C you needed to get 35% and an A* 85%, so the rise in grade boundaries I think is inevitable but I don't think they will shoot up it will a slow increase (says hopefully)

Yes and with the new content heavy GCSE's if schools do start to cut the number that are taken I think the Arts will be hit the heaviest!

I think 7 is pegged to the % who got it in 2016 with an adjustment for whether our year 11s did better in the year 6 sats than the 2016 year 11s. Level 6 sats results are not included in the calculation.
(I think it works out at the top 20% or something like that get a 7.)

Then a level 9 is the top 2 1/2%. So if 1 in 40 get 100%, then the grade boundary for a 9 is 100%. But that's not going to happen.

An 8 is just set at the midway percent between a 7 and a 9.

The more people who get a 9, the higher the 8 and 9 grade boundaries are.

bluebelle thanks

Here are some of the consequences in the cuts in education funding and the narrowing of the curriculum:
Registrations for 2018 arts GCSEs in England have plummeted by a further 51,000, taking the total fall in entries to almost 150,000 over the past five years.

New data published by qualifications regulator Ofqual show that since 2014, arts subjects have seen a 25.6% fall in entries. Over the same period, total GCSE entries have grown by 3.4%.

The figures give the lie to claims by the Department for Education earlier this month that “the percentage of pupils taking arts GCSEs has remained stable”.

Arts subjects now account for just 1 in 12 of all GCSEs taken, compared with around 1 in 8 five years ago.

sostenueto you are forgetting the 9 in geography that has her name on it ..........so she will be super !

Dgd only needs a 7 to do A level maths so imo I can't see why she should worry about an 8 or 9 but trouble is in the minds if the dc a 9 means your super a 7 means your not which is utterly stupid!