Tell me about Citizenship GCSE. Which is apparently compulsory at my DD's school. She doesn't want to do it.

Our school does PSHE - is this the same thing? Tbh this is the dds least favourite part of the week so they'd be horrified if they had to take anything like it at gcse.

a lot of schools split year groups into two or three and timetabling for several hundred pupils is very complicated

Yes, it is very complicated, but that doesn't mean a school should force a worthless GCSE on a student

(I'm not saying the content is worthless - it sounds useful and interesting and I agree it's good as a compulsory subject, but doing it to GCSE level seems ridiculous)

This year's year 9s may well be 'behind' on their core subjects due to online learning.

I would have sympathy for a school who decided to drop down usual number of GCSEs to ensure sufficient time in the time table in y10/11 to cover maths/English/science. Then if they decided to use a small amount of time saved to throw in a life-skills-GCSE such as Citizenship then I can see their logic.

It still comes down to how much time the school is allocating. An hour a week or a 'full option' allowance.

4amWitchingHour

I agree. I can't see any parents of kids at dds school going for this setup! RS is compulsory at their school either as full gcse or half, but all mine did full and then did A level Philosophy and ethics.

Citizenship sounds like a fat waste of a gcse.

So doing French instead of Citizenship will only matter if your DD goes on to take French A level

Well no. It matters if you want to be able to speak a basic level of French. Schools should not just be exam factories.

I'd want to avoid it too - it's a waste of a subject, your daughter is effectively being limited to 8 GCSEs. RE was compulsory at KS4 when I was at school, but those who did RE GCSE had extra lessons with their exam cohort, rather than the 30mins a week with their form group.

I suspect the school is doing it to boost their exam results as it's an easy A, which is shit for students who are capable of more challenging subjects.

Sorry, no advice, just solidarity, and a recommendation to see if you can get the school to budge.

So doing French instead of Citizenship will only matter if your DD goes on to take French A level

So much more interesting and useful and academic though.

but not worth clogging up a GCSE slot. I will ask about what it clashes with on the proposed timetable.

I doubt very much that is will clog up an entire GCSE slot. I don't think the same amount of slots are dedicated to Citizenship as there are to the other subjects. It certainly wasn't when DD was doing her GCSEs. As TeenPlusTwenties has pointed out, a lot of schools split year groups into two or three and timetabling for several hundre pupils is very complicated.

If RE/PHSE/Citizenship is a compulsory part of the curriculum then it sounds like she will have to take either Citizenship or RE anyway. DD's school took the view that if it was compulsory then the student might as well gain a GCSE out of it, and I also doubt that the school will allow her to swap Citizenship for something that isn't RE or Citizenship.

Another point to remember is that, given it is compulsory in all schools to take maths/English/science subjects anyway, universities and employers don't care what optional subjects they take. So doing French instead of Citizenship will only matter if your DD goes on to take French A level.

I expect it only "clogs up" half a GCSE slot in timetable terms then, the other half being her PSHE slot which she would have to do anyway.

Our experience is that there is wiggle room around "compulsory" subjects, but mainly for those needing extra tuition or more vocational routes. Given she will have to do a period a week of PSHE I don't think there is going to be a way round this. But it's a perfectly sensible question for you or your daughter to ask the tutors about, politely.

I would also add as a science teacher that science is probably one of the gcses least suited to remote learning due to the practical elements.

Have you asked the school how many hours a week it is? If it takes a full option slot, I can very much understand your objections. In some ways, this will make it easier though - because there will be other lessons taught during that time, so it could be swapped for something else.

If it is just an hour a week, then that's different and there probably isn't a work around. The statutory requirements for pshe have changed recently, so that may be why the school have recently gone down this route.

I do think it's worth explaining to your daughter that in an institution like a school, decisions are sometimes made for the greater good and not everyone's individual desires can be fully catered for.

There are a lot of suggestions here, but it appears not one other parent has noticed the existence of on-line learning. It has been a useful option IME but nobody has responded to my previous post, including the O.P. who has the difficulty. It is a work-round. It does work.

At DD's school they split the year into halves or thirds, but then everyone does 'core' subjects at the same time, and they all come together for 'options subjects'

So Citizenship (or RE in our case) for one band would take place at the same time as a random Maths/English/Science/PE lesson for another band. So dropping the subject wouldn't enable an additional option to be taken.

It's the pshe curriculum that's compulsory which leads to either citizenship or re but it's not a full gcse in many schools, a half course unless they choose to take the exam and self study the extra material (both my DD's did and got a* as it's easy) they had to do the course even if they didn't sit the exam. Most schools do 9 or 10 GCSEs, it's been reduced from a few years ago as they toughened the syllabus

That's it - whether it's called 'Citizenship' or 'phse' or included in Religious Education it's basically a compulsory subject. If it's important to someone to have X amount of GCSEs then surely getting a grade at the end of two years would be something they would want.
Personally I think the system expects far too many GCSEs to be done. No one needs 9 or 10 (or even more). If I was in charge it would be no more than 6 GCSEs required and everything else is either compulsory because it's important life information (like PHSE) or because it's something a child wants to learn to use at the next stage of their life (6th form, college, apprenticeship, whatever). But that's my personal opinion.

I wish it was compulsory in every school. At 18 people get the vote, it's useful for them to know what they are voting for.

It’s basically a way of getting a qualification through pshce that is compulsory(ie the government says you have to do)-it’s not taking up an option slot.

I don’t think it’s desirable to make non- core subjects like that compulsory given that maths, English and science is compulsory for everyone, which means that there are not that many options left. Citizenship issues should be included as part of PSHE.

...and, as you say, how much time is allocated to the subject.

@Teenplustwenties sure. It's all supposition without knowing the bigger picture of the options OP's DD has.

I've had a look through the OP's posts.

• Nowhere does she state that an MFL is compulsory.
• Nowhere does she state the school doesn't offer triple science.
• Nowhere is she clear whether Citizenship is allocated the same time as an option subject.