in thinking that DD will get nowhere with these GCSE options...

[PosyPanther]

DD is 13, so, in my opinion still a child, she changes her mind about pretty much everything daily, school shoes, whose her best friend, her favourite colour, you get the picture...

She has just had the first leaflet from school about GCSE option next year and want to pick health and social care (double award)human health and physiology instead of additional science, child development, psychology and sociology. She says she wants to do social work or primary teaching (or win the X factor )

I think she's mad. She's in the top set at school, level 5 across the board at primary school and is working at solid level 7s now. I would much prefer her to take at least two science GCSEs, history and geography instead of psych and sociology and a language with one choice left for whatever she fancies (but I'd prefer a second language or triple science.)

I can't see that having History, geography, french, german, separate science would disadvantage her in applying for ANY degree/career pathway? How do I convince her that some subjects actually are better than others? Her teachers are insisting all GCSEs are equal but I can't see that sociology is as hard as German or Physics? I'm worried she's going to close doors at 13...

Of course narky social work is just a shit job isn't it? Unlike the non-existent executive jobs the disappointed GTPs from unis including the Russell Group who come to my school thought they were going to find! Suggest you do some research into the current graduate employment market. BTW DDs' fees were paid so they are now in well-paid secure employment with half the debt of their friends who have eg English degrees ...

albertcamus who said social work is a shit job. Re-read what narky said.

Social work is a great job for those who want to do it. To have a 13 year old make decisions that cut off other avenues for her on the basis that she will still want to be a social worker at 18 is stupid.

The policy of pushing more and more children through uni courses gaining huge debts for limited prospects is shameful. Unless it specifically qualifies you for a job eg medicine degrees don't offer any guarantees in the way of jobs. Languages in particular are over catered for- every uni seems to have dozens of 'and' courses for those who don't have good enough results for a straight language degree- french and business; german and law.

Are you, by any chance, a 'senior teacher' with Sociology as a subject specialism?

'young people should do what they feel is right for them' No they bloody shouldn't, and I'm very glad you were not advising my son when it came to options; or lifestyle if they feel what is right for them is dropping out of school for instance.

Just because someone is over 30 doesn't mean that they don't know about applying for uni and jobs. I did my PGCE at 35, having done other things for a decade; even at over 30
that must make my experience relevant especially when I saw what the education system was churning out, and was singularly underwhelmed.

At 13 it is rare to know what you want to do - I think the traditional academic subjects are the way to go with a mix of sciences, humanities and preferably a couple of MFLs thrown in as well. You should try getting a job where I live. For the most part if you don't have the three languages spoken here, you haven't got a hope in hell and that includes the ladies on the check out at Carrefour.

And a 13 year old is not a young person - a 13 year old is a child who has a right to th guidance of people who are older and more experienced than them.

ST you live in Belgium, non?

YABU, She will have to take some science anyway. Give her advice but let her decide in the end. She might change her mind before she has to give her options in.

Raven - there were no ologies available in my private boarding school, therefore I had the most traditional education possible. I teach French & German from KS 3 - 5 and Business Studies BTEC from KS 4 - 5. I am currently mentoring two PGCE students who are disappointed career changers. My daughters are happy with their Social Work careers. They live in a different world to that of the early 80s when I worked in industry and there were many more opportunities. I agree with Narky that there are far too many MFL etc. degrees which are largely pointless from an employment pov. The lack of attention to the Western demographic is astonishing on this thread. What jobs do some people seriously think await their highly-qualified DCs ? I know my students haven't found them, even when they have pursued traditional subjects to uni level.

Yes....so as a basic where I live you need Flemish, English and French (the latter really not preferred where I am). It's different if you want a NATO/EU job as English and some French is all that is required.

hiya,

I'm pretty insulted by some of your comments.

I found this thread whilst googling for ssomething random...i'm 19 and not a parent but a full time uni student...

my GCSE's were...
English lit
English lang
Double science
french
history
geography
RE
Food and Nutrition
i came out of school with 3Cs, 5Bs and 1 A...in decent subjects
i could have done a heck of a lot better had i been given more choice but when i was 14 there wasn't more choice..
i went to college and took
Sociology (a supposed sof subject)
physchology (a supposed sof subject..well you should have seen my stress levels!)
biology - the 'softest' science
and AS Geography
i loved them and found them very stressfull but came out with 'BCD' at A level and D at AS
not that great...i'm now at uni studying 'diet and health' hopeing to have a career in public health nutrition

i can tell you that not one single one of my friends had trouble getting into uni because of their GCSEs..unless it's one of the russel group unis you litterally need a C grade in maths and english

you lot need to relax and let your kids make decisions...we all make mistakes you know...i was left to make all mine on my own and i researched etc with support from my mum

Snowy - I sniff a joke. Are you trying to tell us that you got into Uni without grammar ever being of interest?

(My grammar is shocking too).

You took history, geography, double science and french. That's the kind of balance the OP was looking for. You might not have chosen those if you weren't made to, and might've gotten higher grades, but it still allowed you a wide choice at A-level. The OP's daughter would struggle to do biology at A-level with her first choice of gcses.

You're studying to work in public health nutrition- you seem to have done fine without studying health and social care (double award) and human health and physiology at gcse.

Thank you for the apology Albertcamus.

Snowy - thank you for a voice of reason among all the calls here for parents to make ill-informed decisions for their children. Good luck with your studies and well done so far :)

Snowy - how do you have time to jump on MN in between student protests?

Are your 23 year old daughters social workers ? I understood that you had to be over 21 to begin the course in ye olden days so they had a bit of life experience behind them. Another change for the worse then :(

Oh and I know for a fact I cannot apply to at least 2 universities because of my GCSE results, I have C's not B's in the subjects they require which would be a bummer if they were offering the style of learning that suits me best or logistically the best option.

Whilst I'm not for a moment seeking to disparage Snowy's studies, she says herself that her A-Levels weren't fantastic.

There are rather a lot of University courses which wouldn't've accepted her, because they require A Level grades much higher than BCD.

If the course you want to do is asking for AAB, say, then I doubt you'd be setting a fantastic foundation for getting those grades by studying Health & Social Care Double Award GCSE, as the OP's dd wanted to do initially. The rigour just isn't going to be there - the 'jump' from GCSE to A Level is difficult enough to bridge when reasonably demanding GCSEs are chosen.

Sorry albertcamus, but if you were advising any of my (academically able) dc on their subject choices, I'd be telling them LOUD & clear to ignore you, & bribing them shamelessly with netbooks.

I am a social worker but I also wanted to go to redbrick Russell group universities for my degree and my Masters. I did not take any of the subjects your daughter is taking. At that age it is way too early to limit your career choices later on. Besides to get on a Masters degree in Social Work you are far more likely to be able to do this with a degree from a proper university so this needs to be her objective.

M - they graduated with 2:2 from Uni at the age of 21 and went straight into employment with two London authorities where they are much appreciated and have already been promoted. Sorry if you don't think they are old enough to do the job but that's life for you - I'm sure they do it better than I could at the age of 47. The second two years of their three-year degree were field work placements in which they were succesful. Do you think this is wrong? The service users and their tutors didn't seem to think so, neither do their current employers. Or does Granny know best?

BA uni Northampton and Msc London Metropolitan, I now its not Oxford or Cambridge, it was a while back though

I'm certainly not a Granny my love, my best friend was a social worker and admits now that she made many a cock up in child protection simply because she had no comprehension of what it was like to be an exhausted mother. Older and wiser she would do things differently.
I guess in the inner cities they are grateful for all the hands on deck they can get.
It's a thankless job I hope they don't get too jaded and worn out with the systems and protocols.

Boffin I was honest when completing my UCAS forms, but I guess that i was a mature student so they were a bit more lenient. My lack of GCSES did nto prevent me from getting good degrees, it was really hard but i studied and studied, i also enjoyed what i was studying so it made it even more enjoyable.

I really think that the ops dd should do a mixture of traditional subjects and a few that she enjoys. Even now I am not sure what path to continue, whether its down the Health Psychology route or doing clinical psychology. The op dd still really young to make that kind of decision, it can change regularly even as adults.

"Service users"

PMSL So basically after one year at uni they were working? No wonder social services are screwed. I bet they've been snapped up by local authorities. They're cheap. Just like schools hiring newly qualified teachers because they're cheaper than experienced ones.

Ireland has the right idea about social workers.