GCSE thoughts please. Drama and Eng Lit

They are two completely separate qualifications Romany - even for IGCSE. It is rare for a school to allow students to drop one of the subjects (& is usually only done for SEN or very low ability students in order to concentrate on just the one subject) but ut is entirely possible to pass Lang & fail Lit and still meet the criteria for having passed English.

It was the board that says both have to be passed, not the school.
It's igcse though, so might be different to other boards.

No, he goes entirely on the audition and whether the candidate demonstrates an understanding of what they are performing. Basically if he and the rest of the panel think they have the potential for a professional career.

As long as they have the requisite number of UCAS points to satisfy the university. (most drama/musical theatre schools either deliver a degree on behalf of a university or they have a university accredit their degree)

My dd is training to be a musical theatre performer and ds aspires to be an actor/singer. Dh also teaches in higher education in this sector.

English & maths is required to access performing arts further education courses. But I disagree that someone who cannot manage English lit gcse is unsuited for acting work.

It is true that actors need an understanding of the plays they are studying, the characters, themes etc. But my ds has an innate understanding of these things, yet due to his autism is unable to organise his thoughts in a written essay.

Saying that there will be a written element to most drama school courses whether they be the Level 6 Trinity Diploma or a degree. To access these courses you generally need A Levels or a Level 3 Btec in performing arts (& to pass the audition procedure). You need a wide knowledge of plays and literature in general and will be expected to talk about them in your audition/interview.

I tend to think if you cannot manage English Lit at GCSE, your future as an actor will be limited. It is a case of being able to read and memorise lines and texts. Not being able to read and understand "literature" will be detrimental to a future career
Interesting as quite a few very successful actors are dyslexic so they must be able to compensate. How does your DD read and learn her lines 1805?
I can see the benefit of photography for somebody who may be heading towards theatre studies /drama school.
Would her school still give her lots of drama opportunities if she does n’t do drama GCSE?
If so (or she act outside school), I would advise English Lit and photography. She will enjoy the English Lit less but the skills and qualification from it will be useful for the future including keeping her options open for courses post A levels.

I would class drama as an art subject. I would just add the caveat that there is a lot of group work with drama, and if your DD is in a group with students who don't pull their weight it it pull her marks down.

DD hated group work because she always ended up doing the most work.

Loads of essay writing with psychology. Basically the low or non essay subjects are sciences and maths.

I tend to think if you cannot manage English Lit at GCSE, your future as an actor will be limited. It is a case of being able to read and memorise lines and texts. Not being able to read and understand "literature" will be detrimental to a future career. Plays are literature.

I think the thing with all the new GCSE specs is no matter what you choose there is extensive writing.
Drama in addition to write exam you have to submit a written log book to go with your devised piece.
Dance written exam and critique of various dance pieces.
Yes they are less writing than say history, but still a fair amount of writing.

DS's state school had 5 cameras which they all had to share. Fortunately a kind uncle bought DS the same camera the school was using which meant he wasn't in a queue for a camera to do a shoot. You also need to add in the expense of processing - DS did a very specific set of shots that needed to be in b&w and that wasn't cheap but if you have access to a school camera and don't get arty with film cameras then it's not so bad.

Isn't there the expense of buying a decent camera for photography? DD's school didn't provide them.

Just a word of warning about photography - it requires a lot of writing - not essays but they have to keep extensive portfolios with every photo shoot written up. There is also the need to do a photo shoot every week to cover the syllabus. It's really not an easy or let-up subject at all. Friend's son thought it would be easy with no writing and he was horrified when he discovered just how much work there was and barely scraped a pass. DS just about managed to keep on top of his portfolio and is a very good photographer with a real passion for it and he did fine but it was hard work. He hasn't gone on to take it at A level because he simply couldn't face another 2 years of having to go out and photograph something on a topic that wasn't of particular interest (In the Eye of the Beholder was one GCSE topic and that's not as easy as it sounds).

If your DS is working at a borderline pass level for both Lang and Lit, I would suggest doing both as he would only need to pass one.

I thing the Op is asking English Lit or Photography? I would look at the syllabus for the photography and see whether it is something your son would enjoy/could do well in. If he is doing Drama GCSE that involves writing too! If he is stronger at English Lang than Lit and may fail English Lit, than maybe go with the photography

Drama gcse also includes a significant proportion of essay writing and analysis akin to English lit, 60:40 essay to performance.

Drama schools all seem to have slightly different requirements. You need to do a bit of googling.

Some seem to want Eng Lit/Lang GCSE's, others not. Some want A Levels, others not.

They all need an audition, often with two contrasting pieces, including a Shakespearean monologue, so some Eng Lit or Drama GCSE would be helpful with that. Otherwise you definitely need some Drama input, via a Saturday school perhaps, or some LAMDA.

I am always interested in replies to these threads as my DD wants to pursue Drama. I think we are going the post ALevel/Uni or Drama school option though, and she has done Drama and Eng Lit GCSE and she will do Eng Lit A Level, as well as others.

You definitely don't need both. My ds1 passed one and failed the other and has 5 conditional offers for university in the autumn. I didn't know that you could proceed with training/education without GCSE English.

The OP has said its not compulsory at her dc’s school.

The national curriculum only applies to LA run schools, so private schools and academies don’t have to teach it. Nowhere has to insist on a GCSE in it (or in language actually).

It’s the schools that make it compulsory because if pupils don’t pass it, their Progress 8 mark would be massively reduced. P8 makes no difference whatsoever to pupils; it’s the league tables it effects. This is probably why Romany has been told you need to pass both.

It’s seriously immoral as the Lit GCSE is too hard for many children, but the progress 8 system forces schools into this. It’s a mess.

OP, Lit is a great subject, but there are eight essays in the exam. If he’s a great actor, his GCSEs won’t matter. If he’s not, GCSE Lang is what he’ll need for employers etc.

I think Eng Lang counts as one of the compulsory subjects at GCSE - doesn't have to be Eng Lit. DS has just graduated but he did not do Eng Lit at GCSE but did Eng Lang. He did do Eng Lit A level. At his school Eng lit was not compulsory at GCSE.

If you want to be an actor, GCSEs won’t help much. It’s talent that gets you noticed. Getting that training place. Work back from the post 18 courses and see what’s needed. Often GCSE drama can be badly taught. Try and join a drama club or theatre school.