Is computing compulsory at GCSE?

[Painaupain]

I know that students don't have to choose to take Computer Science GCSE. But is it right that they DO have to had some level of computing education (even if they don't choose CS as one of their options)? In the same way as even if you don't choose PE GCSE, you still have to do some PE!

From googling, it looks to me like you do have to.
But my son's school seems to be saying, you either do CS for GCSE ... or you never study it again!

Your students were probably following another specification. When some of ours couldn’t cope, we switched them to an easier option.

I taught the GCSE as I have described above from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s, when we moved to the applied double award. Management thought that could be taught by non specialists, and it was a disaster.

You are completely and utterly wrong in your assertion that the ICT GCSE was universally easy and could be taught by anyone. You seem to be basing this on conflating it with the basic ICT skills required by teachers and a particularly undemanding course followed by your students. The idea that using a MySpace account is equivalent to learning principles and techniques of good website design using industry standard software is laughable.

Do better.

I don’t need to do better. My students can more than cope. They do exceptionally well in everything they do.
IT GCSE was specifically replaced by Computing due to it testing basic skills the students all had. They now don’t have them as the world has moved on and using phones is v different.
Computing is a rigorous course. It’s also the fastest growing in our school. To the consternation of the head of Computing who is unable to hire enough staff.

Replacing ICT with Computing did students a great disservice, as they now arrive in the workplace and at University without many necessary skills. There was plenty of room to teach programming within the old GCSE spec (and in KS3). It too was rigorous, but often badly taught because many schools’ managements thought, erroneously, that it could be taught by anyone.

I’m pleased that your students are such paragons of achievement. But you are still wrong in your assertion that the old ICT GCSE was very easy and could be taught by anyone. I’d be astonished if you, for example, could teach the specification we offered.