GCSE options totally suck

[Windywuss]

My son is in y9. He's got ASC and had issues at school. Things seem to have settled a bit now and I've just started looking ahead to options.

I don't get it at all. He loves computer science and science. The school don't do GCSE computer science at all. Sciences are not single subject but a triple science option instead. The options look awful. There's loads of dance and PE and some Digital creative alternative qualification that isn't a GCSE and vocational subjects.

If his school doesn't do computer science then is he not going to be able to do this at A level? I just feel it's all geared to the less academic kids which make up the majority of the catchment.

It wasn't our first choice school..no chance of moving.

I would want him to go elsewhere for sixth form but I feel like he's already going to be behind, and possibly won't be able to do what he wants. I feel I've failed him (though I'm really tired and emotional tonight and I'm a single parent and just exhausted with everything).

Anyone else been stuck with poor choices for GCSEs?

No you do double science which is effectively 2/3 a GCSE of each or triple science which is 1 whole GCSE of each.

You have never supposed to have been able to drop a science and do 2 separate GCSEs in the others.

Not all schools offer triple science so you can’t be discriminated against if you didn’t do it.

Yes, but very few students do that. Most go for a balanced set of options. We don't offer enough subjects for it to be all STEM (e.g. my DS took CompSci, DT, and Classical Greek as his options). It would in theory be possible to do Art, Music, and Drama as the three options but we'd advise against all that coursework. Intending classicists often pick Latin, Greek, and Ancient History as their three GCSE options. That would tick the EBacc box but isn't very broad either!

Out of interest, do you find that your Economics O level has been more or less useful than your History/Geography O levels when it comes to understanding the world? I've picked up a lot of economics principles but if I had my time again I would have picked it over history at school!

@PhotoDad the easiest one would be having "Combined Science" which it was in my day (so a modular mix) = 1 GCSE.
Or having separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics = 3 separate GCSEs.
But that's too obvious and simple 😂

Also if he wants to go into tech as a career, most AI and data science is built on statistics as a foundation, so it'll be very useful for understanding (if he's the type of person who likes to understand why things work).

@AstonScrapingsNameChange it's not that complicated honestly!
There are two options for GCSE science.
Triple - you study biology, chemistry and physics, sit separate exams in them and get a grade for each - 3 GCSEs. But you can't choose only one or two of the sciences like you could do when I did O levels, they're separate subjects but they come as a package.
Double - you still studying all 3 subjects but there's a bit less content in each and you get 2 grades - 2 GCSEs.
Schools offer these options differently though. At my DC's old school the default was that everyone does triple, except the bottom set. I know of schools where it's the opposite though, most do double and only the top sets do triple. Some schools only offer double and others allow pupils to choose.
In reality, it doesn't matter that much. You can go on to do A levels in any of the sciences whether you do double or triple. A pupil who really likes science may well prefer to do triple and someone who is less keen might prefer double. Doing double might also open up the option of choosing an additional GCSE depending on how timetabling is done, so there are pros and cons, but it's not as important as sometimes people make out. To read some of the posts on MN you'd think that pupils who do double science are doomed to a life of misery and will be unemployable but it's just not true. The next nearest school to my DC's only offers double at GCSE and their science A level results are on a par with my DC's school which almost exclusively does triple. Plus both schools have broadly similar numbers going on to STEM degrees, similar Oxbridge, RG numbers etc. I wouldn't stress about it too much.

@AstonScrapingsNameChange and another PP who had been told by school that Ebacc/an MFL is needed at GCSE for entry to some unis – that's not true and it makes me angry that some schools are still saying that.

No uni asks for MFL at GCSE as a requirement (unless studying MFL at uni obvs). UCL did but even then you could take an MFL module; and it has dropped that now.

Schools are measured on Ebacc hence pushing it. But why not tell the truth - which is:

• It's a good idea to take a broad range of GCSEs, including the compulsories of course and then perhaps a humanity or two, a language, a creative (drama, art, music) or a tech subject. That won't look the same for everyone - might be geog, French, music, drama; or might be history, Spanish, CS and PE (two of my DC). Encouraging a spread will avoid an option choice of (say) PE, dance, drama and art which would be very NEA heavy apart from anything else.
• MFL are great and please please encourage your DC to take one. But they are not for everyone and IMO no student should be forced to take one. Apart from anything else that would be a mare for the teacher.
• The Ebacc “humanity” box only includes history and geog – not RS, sociology, law, class civ, or other options that may be offered. That's a shame as it tends towards narrowing of options.

I did double science at school, my school didn't offer the separate triple science as it wasn't a particularly academic school. I have a science degree from Oxbridge and a relatively high paying career. Not doing triple science is not the end of the world.

Totally agree @clary
I think, broadly speaking, the EBacc is a good concept, because for most pupils doing a broad range of subjects at GCSE is a sensible thing and leaves lots of doors open for the future. I do however have significant concerns about what are probably unintended but real negative consequences for non EBacc subjects in schools which push it very hard, and I am not sure that forcing children who clearly have little aptitude or interest in languages into doing one is doing anyone any favours. But generally, for most kids, it's not a bad thing, there just needs to be some flexibility. Basically it is a good idea, not always being delivered terribly well.
I have no issue with schools encouraging it and promoting the benefits of a broad general education because that's probably true for the most part, but selling the EBacc as a valuable "qualification" in its own right or implying that it will be important for future University applications is completely unacceptable. The main driver for most schools is, I'm sure, to benefit their position in the league tables and I understand that - parents are influenced by such things and pupil numbers matter - but they should be honest about it.
I think it sounds like the OP's school "academic" route is the EBacc qualifying subjects and the "non academic" route covers more vocational type qualifications. Not sure I agree with that myself as I don't think people necessarily slot neatly into those two categories but I appreciate that timetabling constraints, funding and staffing all influence things. But apart from not offering CS, which as many have said is not essential, it sounds like a fairly standard set of GCSE options to me. I don't think you have a great deal to worry about to be honest OP.

@PhotoDad I think Economics for understanding the basics of government finance and decision making on economic matters, but of course History is vital for learning from mistakes. Although in my day, history was regurgitating facts. However economics is rarely available at GCSE but I think young people should prepare for adulthood by understanding the basics of economics regarding government, taxation and spending. I listen to the radio a lot and the knowledge of basic economics is woeful, although I accept few have the opportunity.

@TizerorFizz I studied history at university, even at GCSE level (to a degree) the value of history is much less about the "facts" but the skill of research and debate and the ability to communicate those skills clearly. School history isn't really very useful for learning from mistakes, especially since Gove's "rule Britannia" approach. But as a research concept it is even more important in these days of fake news and information overload from unreliable sources. I think it's a fantastic subject, but I am biased!

DC may find this resource useful. It covers GCSE and A level CS. Programming is only half the GCSE course. adacomputerscience.org/

@lopdoo I do know that. I was asked if my experience of economics was more awful than history. My experience of O level history was what I described. Gcse history is as you describe. Far more useful than my experience. Economics is important when it comes to decisions like Brexit though.

@TizerorFizz apologies, I came in half way through the convo.

typo from me. Useful! Not awful. I am never sure how we should prepare dc for being citizens though.

Yes some schools will still offer them as individual sciences. But triple science does cover all 3 subjects and leads to A levels in individual sciences too.

Try not to worry too much about gcse computer science. It isn't needed for A level comp sci and even A level comp sci isn't needed for a comp sci degree it's all about Maths. Can he access Additional Maths GCSE as well as Maths as that would set him up better for comp sci going into 6th form and beyond.

Triple science is three individual sciences- as lots of pps have clarified.

It's double or combined science that covers all three subjects and leads to 2 GCSEs. Both fine if planning A levels in science.

It will probably be due to staffing. We have non specialists teaching it at my school.

@MrsAvocet

Thanks, this is the clearest explanation I've come across!

GCSE science.
Triple - you study biology, chemistry and physics, sit separate exams in them and get a grade for each - 3 GCSEs. But you can't choose only one or two of the sciences like you could do when I did O levels, they're separate subjects but they come as a package.
Double - you still studying all 3 subjects but there's a bit less content in each and you get 2 grades - 2 GCSEs.

It confuses me because the naming convention isn't standardised across the country or exam boards.

It's not been made clear before that the kids doing triple will get a separate GCSE in bio/chem/phys, rather than 3 in just 'science' iyswim.

My school (years ago) only offered double, so you got 2 GCSEs in 'science'. The lessons were called 'science', we didn't study each one separately like my son does.

It was quite a jump to then do science A levels but those of us that did it managed OK.

OP, it won't matter whether your son does double or triple science, once he's done the next stage of his education journey. Sending love to you, making decisions as a single parent can be overwhelming at times.

There are plenty of families with 2 parents who get confused too!

My dd did old style GCSEs - triple science . Got Astar, Astar, A. No idea how it worked and left her to it.

I am well aware that triple science is 3 sciences. But some schools also offer Chemistry gcse, Biology gcse and Physics gcse with separate grades as 3 individual certifications rather than being branded Triple Science.

At the school I work in an art could include photography or textiles

For triple science you do all 3 and get 3 gcses at the school I work at and at dss school this is only offered to top sets, everyone else does combined science which covers chemistry biology and physics but you get 2 gcses

That is what triple science is! Three GCSEs, each with a separate grade. Possible to take higher of one subject and foundation of another. You could gain (for example) 9, 7 4.

Actually some private schools allow you to only take two of those (a friend's DD has no chem GCSE).

I wonder if you are thinking of double science (sometimes, confusingly, called 'trilogy') where all three subjects are studied but it's just two GCSEs with identical or one grade different results - 6-6 or 7-8

So my DS2 got 9 in biology GCSE, 8 in physics GCSE (how???) and 7 in chemistry GCSE. He did "triple science".