A friend has called me this evening to ask for some advice about her sons GCSE options and the school trying to change one choice. I'm trying to write a diplomatic email for her and struggling.
Her son is 13 years old and will be starting year 9 in September. His school extend the GCSEs over three years rather than the usual 2 years. The teacher who is dealing with this took her son out of a core lesson and basically told him she feels the computer science will be too hard for him and that he could change it. Being put on the spot he choose health and social care which is has no interest in and in my friends opinion is more likely to fail due to not putting as much effort in. He was shown no information on this course so doesn't know what it entails.
The boy understands he's going to have to work hard at computer science and ask for help if struggling. My friend is also willing to pay a tutor if he's struggling over the next few years.
The school have been known to be more interested in their results than pupils being happy.
So what would you do if it was your child? What would you write to this teacher? Surely it's better that he does a subject he will enjoy for the next three years and possibly fail than something he's not going to enjoy?