To steer DS away from doing GCSE Child Development?

[dson2]

DS wants to do GCSE Child Development.

WIBU to steer him away from this?

I was forced to do o level physics and chemistry cos i was well clever

I got an ungraded and a grade 3 cse

That learnt them!!!

Wait

I did Child Development as a GCSE back in the late 90s. I chose it as I was interested in the subject. I was very academic and in all the top sets at school. My form teacher tried to persuade me to pick something else but I refused. Then she rang my mum to try to persuade her to make me choose something else. My mum enquired whether it did, in fact, lead to a full GCSE and was told it did so said she was happy for me to take it.

I absolutely loved it, but found it the most work out of all of the subjects. It was definitely not an easy option. There were two massive projects to complete that took hours of work and research. Granted not everyone put in as much work as I did but I enjoyed the projects and my teacher gave me full marks for them and on the cover sheet when she submitted them to the assessors stated that she would like to know how they compared to other students nationally. I'm not sure if she ever got an answer.

I came out with an A*. The teacher was so thrilled because I was the only student who'd ever achieved that. The previous year group didn't have anyone who achieved over a D. Traditionally it was seen as a subject for the less academic at my school and I've always thought that was a shame as it was so interesting and useful.

Unless the course content has really changed I would have no problem recommending it to any child.

Maybe the girl he fancies is doing it.

NapQueen why does there always have to be a reason for a boy picking something like Child Development? Why can't be just like the sound of it? Girls wouldn't be given a reason for picking it.

I ended up with only a B in child development as I didn't enjoy it or put the effort in. I remember cutting out pictures of items needed for a new baby and working out how much it would cost, so dull. I hope it has changed.

Conversely I had to do a language option, which I would've dropped given a choice, but ended up doing really well and continuing it to A level.

Either way it doesn't really matter. Most kids aren't highly academic, despite their parents claiming otherwise. GCSEs beyond the essentials aren't that important. We should be able to make mistakes and change our minds, we will end up working for many decades and being flexible and adaptable is essential. Many of us will change career and there are options to retrain at any time. Funnelling our children into "academic" subjects which will lead to lucrative careers isn't necessarily a good thing. And some kids will excel at university when they struggled with GCSEs and A Levels. We should have more provision for adult education to skill up the existing workforce and create pathways for career change. Kids shouldn't feel that they are blocking their career paths through their choice at age 13/14!

No reason needed at all. He can pick whatever subjects he wants imo. But the OP seems to be wondering why he would pick it which suggests its a random choice for him. I was just offering a random possible explainatipn.

My DD did 7 gcse's, Childcare was one. She got a B in it and enjoyed doing it.
She only did English, it wasn't split in Language and Literature.
Double award science.
No languages.

She easily got into a grammar school to do her A levels, her High School stopped at 5th form.
She's now at a RG University.
Her university couldn't give a shit on what she did at gcse, she needed the grades in her A levels to get in.
I did childcare at O Level and have worked in a SN school ever since leaving college, which I love.

If you are considering oxbridge don't do something like child development that they will see as an easy soft option.

So he's got good solid choices and his final option means he will probably be the only boy in the class. Sounds sensible to me.

Let him do it. I was steered away from doing child development at GCSE over 20 years ago now and I still regret it now

Do you work for oxford or Cambridge, teacakes? Because that isn't entirely in line with what camb puts on their website - for most subjects, gcses just aren't that important.

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/entrance-requirements/gcse-and-a-level-requirements-facts

The OPs DS has 7 unambiguously 'academic' subjects.
English language, english lit, triple science, maths, geography. Art is known to be a lot of work, not an easy option to get a high grade in. The Comp.studies is the best of the bunch available for him in its option block. Not all schools are even doing 10 subjects nowadays so why the heck would it count against him for the tenth to be unusual? Especially as

As a teacher I would recommend him taking what he wants to take. That way, he will do well! If he takes a language he hates, he won't study for it and will resent you for forcing him to take it! May have. It's a long time to spend in a class you hate.

Errol, I do quite a bit of work with teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds who are applying for the top universities.

A-level/Uni etc all they are really interested in is English/Maths and Science to be honest. The rest of it is just CV Fluff with grades.
I would keep ICT/Computing. Jobs like to know people are IT literate. Scary how many people arn't.

I think YABU to discourage him. I would far rather a child took something they are really interested in and passionate about and would do well in, than a language they don't like.

Out of say French/Child Development, i'd rather take a student with an A in child development than one with a D in French. Not saying he would get a D I'm just making the point. He's got 2 Eng, Maths, 3 Science, Let him to Art, ICT, Geog and Child Development. They are good solid subjects!

Unless you have a prodigious talent you have to be really motivated to learn a language - if he's not interested in learning one then that's going to end up being his "wasted" option.
Maybe if more boys studied Child Development at school we'd have less threads on MN about clueless DPs not knowing what to do with their kids! I think it's a great subject choice and one that he might even end up using at some point in his life!

Then you're advising them incorrectly tea cakes. One or two fluffy GCSEs will make no difference whatsoever. Even to Oxford. It's A level subjects and grades that really count.

That's because the interviewer was an arsehole. Not because there was anything wrong with the subject!

Oh, I know that. I enjoyed Textiles, it's why I chose it over Food/Graphics/Resistant Materials/whatever else was on offer!

My dd's school required them to do a tech subject and they were only allowed to do 9 GCSEs unless they were doing further maths and they had a very impressive Oxbridge success rate.........

I don't agree only A levels count for university. You have no A level results when yiou apply for university. The GCSE results and subjects are looked at.

I also don't agree that saying children should always do what makes them happy is a great way to bring them up. Most children would not even attend school never mind clean their teeth if we left things up to them.

Do 8 or 9 core academic GCSEs on the sort on my list above and then if you like do 1 fuzzy extra and that will be fine.

Trust me enormoustiger - just cos you're a lawyer doesn't mean you know everything about university admissions.

Universities look at predicted grades. Very occasionally, e.g. medicine, GCSE points score will be used as a first or second sift. But trust me, no one looked at your twins' GCSEs and made them an offer based on them. They looked at predicted A levels grades.

I don't disagree with the general rule of 7 or 8 decent subjects for a very academic kid, but beyond that anything goes.

One of our students who got into Oxbridge last year did not study any facilitating subjects at A Level. So while absolutely not the norm, the very fact it happens demonstrates that some posters are making some pretty sweeping statements here.

EnormousTiger- that's simply not true.

Only read the first page but can't bare to read further as I'm astonished at the snobbery ! Why is someone suggesting ICT shouldn't be taken as an option ? I needed ICT to get into uni ,it was an actual requirement

I am a teacher and prepare university applications. Unless he wants to do a childcare or healthcare course after then don't bother. Every other subject thinks it's rubbish no matter what they officially say, in fact my understanding is that it has not been accredited for the next round of GCSEs so clearly ofqual think it's shit too. It will not be a prerequisite for any a level.
I would strongly encourage my child away from it.

Two types of people took it when I was at school, those of us that wanted to go on to jobs involving childcare, and girls that were not so smart.

I think it is looked down on, but perhaps it can be looked on a positive that your DS is interested in a broad range of subjects.