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...

Yep LeQueen, PE is a 'real' A level, in that it isn't a vocational one or a BTEC etc, it's GCE A level in PE. Luckily DD hasn't thought about GCSE PE yet. I will encourage her to just stay on the netball team and at swim club.

Sadly DD's school is pretty well regarded, leafy comp with an outstanding ofsted and well above average results (although now I know why, all the pupils take faffy subjects!!!)

Eh, softness is in the brain of the student. I chose subjects I personally found easy. (Maths, sciences, basically.)

My mother was horrified, and said I would be "over-specialised", and wanted me to take A-level English, etc. I knew that I would fail those/have to work very, very hard, so did not.

I think the sports things are aimed at pupils who utterly cannot stand the thought of having to learn about leaves, or anything that isn't directly related to their chosen career of the moment.

Their brains might melt.

The league tables have a lot to answer for.

The trouble is Jessiealbright that Universities and employers may regard the subjects as 'soft'. Even if the teens work their arses off and get top grades, when they fill in an application their form will be put below one with a lower grade in a better regarded subject.

Yes that's true - but the stocky 'PE' teacher trying to 'sell' her subject isn't about to point that out. And presumably including the subject as part of the school's exam timetable has been discussed at a high level and considered the correct option.

i think the appearance of this as an 'academic' subject is probably related to the prevalence of the 'leisure' culture; you don't need a degree to be a PT or sports centre manager but the field has become so competitive that, I'm guessing, employers have started to demand more and more qualifications.

Everything's broken. I mean, it is personally good for me that my preferences are so lauded, but it's not really as indicative of greater worth as people seem to think.

< @ LeQ >

"But, guys, I'm going to spend my life training human Olympic athletes, not chrysanthemums, innit. What's understanding the function of a chloroplast to me?"

YANBU!

I have only read half the thread, but I can see it's a contentious issue so I'm going to avoid the other responses and just post to the OP. If she's as able as you say, then this is not a case of her going on to get miserable marks in these subjects. I would tell her to choose her favourite two of (whichever of the sciences you think she's best at) then she can choose the rest on her own. or something.

I know we'd all love for all subjects to be valued equally but they are not, and if she is gifted in sciences and/or maths, then she should do them. She can mix them with the other subjects she wants, but there you are. I realise it's hard to do these things, but almost no one I know who is currently successful and enjoying their engineering/whatever career would have made that decision on their own at 13. Parents do have to make judgment calls for their children sometimes. 13 year olds, while intelligent and capable of some degree of reasoning would probably choose all easy courses if they were allowed to do so.

Just my opinion. Worth what you paid for it. ;)

Both I and DH were steered into more academic subjects - me by my parents - DH by a teacher refusing to let him cruse. My parents talked to me like an adult - pointing out future employers would not view all subjects as equal ( and later unis) and why make life harder for myself by giving myself an unnecessary hurdle to overcome. DH teacher tried getting my IL on side - but they said it was up to him not them as he would do the work or not. His teacher had to sit him down and ego stroke him basically - he still took one relaxation subject that he did not do well in.

We both did very well in the subjects we were talked round to and they helped give us options at A-Level and later.

Obviously it is possible to change directions later in life - go to Uni later in life- change subjects but it is not as easy as getting it right now. I think you are right to be worried and to try and influence her options.

What 'professional roles' are fluffy or soft? Not social work or teaching and not Sociology or Psychology at degree level or above.

As gcses and a-level the subjects are not viewed as equal to biology, french etc. This affects uni applications. No-one is saying that the jobs the OP's daughter is interested in are lesser or soft, just that to rule out lots of other options at 13 is unwise and that if she still wants to do the jobs she'll learn what she needs of those subjects at a higher level.

I have an Irish social worker- more qualifications than most professors- and teachers in my family. None of them started specialising at 13.

If OP's DD chooses those subjects now, will she be stuck with them FOREVER? Will she NEVER have the chance to take any other GCSEs or similar level exams? If she is stuck with them FOREVER than I can understand OP's anxiety...
but I am confused, because I would have thought you could take GCSEs at any age, and that you can take them repeatedly if you don't like the marks you got before (that's what a High School teacher told me). If that's a load of tosh and it's a ONCE AND FOREVER decision that will FOREVER LIMIT her choices, then yanbu to OP.

But otherwise, I'd be in the YABU camp.

I am a foreigner and totally don't understand GCSEs, so correct me if I'm wrong about the ONCE AND FOREVERness of the choices OP's DD makes now re GCSEs. I understand you can't do A-levels after the age of 19 (that's what it seems to say in my Journey to UK Citizenship book, anyway).

(It also says in there that it's illegal to leave a child under 16yo at home alone, btw).

narkypuffin
Even if the teens work their arses off and get top grades, when they fill in an application their form will be put below one with a lower grade in a better regarded subject.

This is what my parents said - you may well find the work load the same but the value attached not.

If OP's DD chooses those subjects now, will she be stuck with them FOREVER?

No - but means more exams, study, money and time to open options closed now. Not impossible no - but it does come with a cost.

Why not leave as many options open as possible now rather than assume doing extra work later will always be an option.

As my mother always says there is one chance to do it the easy way. There will be more chances but they will be a hell of a lot harder.

Same goes for Law, I believe - don't take A-level Law, take English and History.

I would say that she should choose an additional science and lose one of the other subjects. Other than that, she should do what she is most interested in.

If she as English, Maths and Double or Triple Science at C or above, and other good passes, her options are kept pretty much open.

has

Less of the teacher bashing please! In the secondary school that I teach in they have recently brought in a swathe of diplomas and BTECs and other uneccessary and soft options that DO NOT benefit the pupil and that we do not enjoy teaching. It is a last ditch attempt by MANAGEMENT (not teachers) to bring up the A-C precentage in an insane race for the league tables. (I do support these courses for the less academic but NOT for A-C pupils)
I suggest you enlist the help of her form tutor who will not want to lose an academic pupil. If she was my tutee or pupil I would strongly recommend that she goes with the Humanities, MFL and Additional Sciences. I don't know where you live, but round here there is lots of competition for AS level places and if she doesn't have academic GCSEs she may well struggle to get into sixth form college. (although the abolition of EMA may do for that problem)