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

I feel for your DD, it's unfortunate that the school is forcing them to sit citizenship, but it doesn't sound like there is much that you can do.

You could raise the issue with the school of course, and in my experience schools can be quite flexible when it comes to subject options - at my DD's school, many students ended up dropping the "compulsory" subjects (modern languages, triple science, etc.) if they wanted to.

Personally I don't understand why some schools insist on making citizenship/general studies/other niche subjects compulsory - it seems very unnecessary and a headache for the students, who could have used the slot to take up a subject they actually enjoy.

It sounds to me more like a general studies kind of set up - they have to do their one period a week of ethics-kind-of-thing anyway and they are squeezing an extra GCSE out of it so it's not really taking anything away from her options.

You say they do 9 mostly. English x 2, maths, MFL, 2 sciences, a humanity and Citizenship makes 8 so are you saying she only has one choice left of doing a second humanity, 3rd science, 2nd language, and all the art, tech, music, IT etc etc? If so, that does sound rather limited.

My girls did Citizenship in year 9 and RE in year 10.
By the time ds got there they decided citizenship was a waste of time, which I agree mostly.

However some children love it (not mine I'll add). There was a lot of looking at not so much moral issues as current issues and local issues. So discussing things like whether a pelican crossing outside school was a good idea. Some of the projects took wings and actually morphed into something that did happen for the local community.

Op you've had lots of good information on this thread.

It seems that unless you move her, your dd is going to have to do this GCSE. It's not something I've heard of often, but RE as a full or 0.5 compulsory GCSE is not unusual. IME it is then an extra to the normal options, taught in maybe one lesson a week.

You need to find out if this is the case here. Assuming the usual compulsories of Eng X 2, maths, science X 2 or 3; does she have three other choices or only two bc of Citizenship? And what's the "wiggle room" for a 10th subject? A twilight after school? Triple science as a 10th in the same time as double?

Are there other compulsories - hist/geog and/or MFL? Worst case - her nine are all compulsory - English X 2, maths, science X 3, history or geography, MFL, Citizenship. This seems unlikely tho as then no one would do DT, computing, PE, RE, music, art, drama...

So I imagine she will have at least one choice, which is not that unusual, and maybe (with the wiggle - or if. MFL is not compulsory) she'll have two - which is pretty much as many as you get in most schools.

Firstly I would check out does it definitely take an options slot and /or what is timetabled at the same time. Our non-religious school has compulsory RE for 0.5 but only thing timetabled at same time is extra English lessons so if you opted out and school agreed (very rare) you would either be in extra repeating English or maybe in library / support hub. I would try and see how many in year above do citizenship gcse is it 100% or are some people allowed to drop - our school says a Mfl is compulsory but then 50% drop, you just need a good reason.

If triple science is an alternative after that I would just make the case to school, saying things like your DD wants to study science A levels if that's true. Both mine hated the compulsory RE as it was full of kids who didn't want to be there just disrupting the lesson though in the end my DD got out of that by doing the full RE gcse and that stopped the disruption. Though if normally almost everyone does it and there's no SN school may well say no and she may just have to get on with it.

@Woolff I take your point re some pupils preferring other things, especially with the set texts definitely being overdue an update.....But in both my DCs different schools English and Maths both have 6 lessons per fortnight, options have 4 hours, so not quite 2 for 1, but not a "whole GCSE" either.

At DD's school, English & Maths get the same time as each other, though more than an 'option' subject.

And that's the point. No one really knows whether the OP's DC is really missing out on a different GCSE by doing Citizenship, as we don't know how much time is being allocated compared with option subjects.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

That's not quite right though is it? Because of English Baccaleurate/Progress 8 etc have requirements. English Lit and Lang get done, generally in 1 GCSE slot as well

Well no, either Lang or Lit can be counted, but pupils are timetabled both both - 'English' is on the timetable as much as a double 'Science' and half as much as 'Maths.' It takes twice as much time, which arguably (although noone really does argue) could be for something a pupil would prefer.

If it's compulsory, it's by definition not a choice. It's not taking an option, a slot, a 'choice' for another GCSE.

That's not quite right though is it? Because of English Baccaleurate/Progress 8 etc have requirements. English Lit and Lang get done, generally in 1 GCSE slot as well (though I tend to agree, it does mean everyone does one "humanity").

Citizenship is a perfectly valid GCSE, it's just more of an issue as it is one of 9 rather than one of 10/11/12 (though god knows that would be a lot of pressure). If not taught to GCSE it can be an hour a week/fortnight, not 6 hours a fortnight.

If it's compulsory, it's by definition not a choice. It's not taking an option, a slot, a 'choice' for another GCSE.

It takes time to teach and has to be taught in some form, even if not as a GCSE. So that time would never be allocated to a different subject. Gaining a qualification is at least some recognition in addition to the skills achieved.

You could argue the same about something like English Literature. It's not core, functional English, but most schools teach it alongside Language. It takes up what could be an extra GCSE in another subject and can be aligned with other humanities subjects (which usually aren't all compulsory, even if one has to be selected for the school's results 'bucket') as much as English, but people don't complain or try to remove it.

I doubt the chance exists within the timetable (as in both there won't be enough hours left to cover another GCSE, and there won't be the staffing/rooming to offer something additional at that time) for anything else.

In some schools, as an example, pupils can choose triple science, and because of how it's timetabled, then can't physically then accommodate a language and a technology, forcing two of just one subject type.

My child went to a school with compulsory RE, the taking up of options is a pain. But it is what it is, and ultimately they can do their best, or tread water if they don't care.

My son did Citizenship, and didn't really enjoy it. However, it was an easyish exam, the coursework/group presentations was interesting and he is now quite pleased that he knows something about his legal rights. A bonus was that his school started it in Y9 and they take the exam in Y10 and it was done as an 11th GCSE.

You seem to think your dd is only taking 9 GCSEs - 'though there may be wiggle room for a 10th'. I would suggest getting her wiggling and making sure she takes 10. Then she can use Citizenship as a chance to have a less pressurised lesson during the week, and be confident that it will probably give her a high grade to boost her CV. And she may find it more interesting than she thinks after all . . .

It would help if the OP could tell us how many hours per week/fortnight will go on this v normal options subjects.

Citizenship is a very soft GCSE and a waste of time for an academic child.

I'm not surprised she's being awkward if shes anything like the OP. Maybe a please in your next demand/question ffs

I do get the feeling there are now two groups of people talking past one another on this thread.

The issue is not "is citizenship important and should it be taught?" (answer: fairly unanimous yes), or even "is citizenship GCSE a worthwhile GCSE?" (again, fairly unanimous yes).

The issue is "given that, once you've eaten up a substantial chunk of GCSE time with the rightly compulsory core subjects (maths, science, English, MFL), should citizenship be compulsory even if this means a child may have to give up history, or music, or computer science, or... as a result?"

Citizenship and RE are pretty different.

I’ve not taught citizenship for a while; but when I did I found it very fascinating. When I taught it they had to do a research project of their choice about a social matter.

Why AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies?

Students will gain a deeper knowledge of democracy, government and law. They'll learn how to create sustained and reasoned arguments, present their own viewpoints and those of others, and plan practical citizenship action that delivers benefits for society.

They'll also gain the ability to recognise bias, critically evaluate argument, weigh evidence, and look for alternative interpretations and sources of evidence. Higher education and employers value all of these essential skills.

Slightly tongue in cheek, but not entirely.

My extended coursework suggestion for citizenship would be "Read Robert Altemeyer's The Authoritarians then look at online discussions like this thread, and see if you can separate posters into those who are instinctively 'authoritarian followers' and those who are instinctively suspicious of authority."

It's not really "additional" if they only offer a total 9 GCSEs. Even if FE choices are based on the top 8.

My DC have to so RE/Citizenship/PHSE and in one case it is all moshed into 1 hour per week, so they are doing 11 GCSE subjects. The other does compulsory RE (and loves it) as one of her 10 and Citizenship/PHSE alternates each week - an hour a fortnight.

All students have to cover citizenship. Support the school. Tell her to suck it up. And stop being a melt

It won't use up a whole slot though. It'll only use up the one hour a week that they'd have to teach it anyway.

(It's very very unusual to find a school which teaches either RE or citizenship GCSE for a full 3 hours a week (or whatever time other subject have.)

I am going to admit I don't know the syllabus but I am surprised that people seem to be saying that citizenship isn't an important or interesting subject. I would have thought learning how to be a good citizen and how your country works (eg politics etc) is the most important subject a school should teach.
(I don't see why this should be a graded subject though. It's just important life knowledge)