PE as a GCSE

[Orangeandgold]

Who did PE as a GCSE? Is it a decent qualification?

My DDs school has significantly cut down on the subjects they have for GCSE (No law, sociology, computer science) - they have the compulsory ones, languages and a few sporty options as they take pride in their sports facilities.

We are wondering if we should move schools or just select PE - but what is it like as a GCSE subject? What do you learn?

My AIBU is thinking that it’s not a “proper GCSE”.

Of course it's a proper GCSE. Stop being so snooty. It's been offered in private and state schools since I was at school.

They choose 3 sports from the list.
1 team, 1 individual a d 1 from either.
It's a free choice.

I think it varies by board as ours was two sports and I don't think one had to be a team or individual sport.

It was reduced to 2 during and for a couple of years after Covid and therecwas more flexibility due to the difficulties with cancelled events and difficulties accessing sport. My DS did his GCSEs in 2022 and only had to do 2 sports then. I'm pretty sure that anyone starting the course now will have to do 3 though as it's a centrally agreed list of sports available on the .gov.uk website, not something individual exam boards decide.

The AQA is definitely 3. Dd is doing hockey, equestrian and swimming or handball

Yes, AQA definitely 3 - my ds did football, cricket and climbing. Lots of choice though.

^^This. Our ds's school advised students to pick subjects they either 1. Enjoy or 2. Are good at (or both, hopefully!). Core subjects like English and Maths are mandatory anyway. GCSEs are basically just a pathway into further education, which then leads to career choices. If they enjoy something, that's a great basis for a career choice, but kids at 13/14/15 rarely know exactly what they want to do when they're older. I think we can fall into the trap of over-emphasising the importance of GCSEs, which stresses them out. Use the optional GCSEs as a means to gauge their interests, with a view to setting them on the right path to one day doing a job they enjoy, rather than loading them down with all the responsibility of 'right' or 'wrong' choices.

My dc took gcse and a level pe.....its not a soft option. There is a lot of biology content.

Same as what's already been said about it being quite biological/sciencey. The practical exam was a whole day which needed to be filmed and submitted. But also, she had to have evidence of being involved in a sport outside of school to submit.

Our local supermarket selective girls grammar offers PE GCSE. I'm guessing they don't see it as a soft option

Funny isn't. I would see sociology on par with geography or psychology or economics. It's a social science and the skills for all social sciences are basically the same.

Learning facts
Analysing data
Writing reports
Essays
Long and short answer questions.

There is nothing inherently different in terms of workload, complexity or assessment between them

Disappointing that any school wouldn't offer computer science.

Same experience as @Rockschooldropout with my son.
He wasat Grammar School, very sporty and when he chose GCSEs, he wanted to train as a physio. That all went out the window during A levels -he took PE, Geography and Sociology and got good grades. Decided against university as had enough of education.
He's seen how well his dad and other adults in our family/friends have done by learning a trade
He's now doing an apprenticeship in joinery/carpentry so the GCSEs/A levels have no relevance!

There's a shortage of teachers. Maybe it's a subject that teachers in subjects that have fallen out of favour should consider retraining for.

And tbh it's a subject which kids who are interested and have an aptitude can self-teach coding. I know that's not all CS involves but it's probably the most relevant bit in a ks3 level course. I'm not sure how often the CS curricula are updated, some specifics taught at age 16 may be obsolete by the time the kid is grown up.

The majority of employers just require 5 GCSEs and English and maths at whatever the modern equivalent of A-D is. Once you go past a levels nobody cares what you studied. But the grades are important.

so an average, not very motivated academically ability child could get 8 GCSE's with 8s and 9s in PE, drama and food tech, a 6 in English and dual award science and a 5 in maths and MFL. They really enjoy PE and find it really helps with their science then get interested in sports physio as a career. They are motivated to study because it's interesting and it opens up a career for them they wouldn't have thought about and they carry on to further study at which they excel.

Or they could be forced to do all academic subjects because their parents thought pe, drama and food tech were a doss and get 5s and 4s all across the board because they couldn't cope with all the extra academic work. they don't really engage in school because they are struggling, hate all the essays etc and can't get out of education quick enough and are put off learning and studying completely.

in my opinion the second scenario is a ridiculous situation but one that happens all to frequently in our academically obsessed education system.

That makes sense, we must have been in the the covid exemption period as he only had to do two sports for AQA.

In Ireland but asked the teacher here at pt night about pe and they said it’s only really for people who want to get into a fully sport/ fitness/ nutrition career. He said ‘not trying to talk people out of it, but if they don’t have an inclination about their life only revolving around sport or fitness they should opt out. Very theory heavy to give them a great start.’

I see GCSE PE as a bit of a silly subject. HOWEVER:

Unless working towards a specific career field, most of the jobs i’ve had only give a shit about maths and english GCSEs. I did other subjects that could be seen as more ‘serious’ or ‘respected’ or whatever the right term is, such as ICT and History, but they quickly become irrelevant and no one asks about them. So let her do it if she wants. GCSEs are stressful enough as it is.

My son did GCSEs last year and got a mix of 9s and 8s and one 7 in PE. He’d worked hard and was disappointed. He enjoyed it (is very sporty) but don’t see it as an easy option. There’s a bit of overlap with biology.

While I was supportive of my son doing it, I couldn't get the image out of my head of Neil forgetting his shorts for his GCSE PE in the Inbetweeners so he had to run round in his undies.

Out of interest, do you also see music / drama as "silly" GCSEs?

In edexcel there are 3 sports some sort of course work and the exam. My DS found it hard (he got a 7, where he got 8s in the sciences). He did rugby, cricket and swimming as his sports. Definitely a lot to it.
If you want easy I think RE is the one to do! (He got a 9 in that and we were not expecting it.)
My DD is doing dance. The exam for that is notoriously hard and high marks are hard to get.
At her school you are advised not to do dance and PE.

I did PE as a GCSE twenty years ago and loved it. I wasn’t overly sporty, I was very academic but enjoyed PE. As far as I can recall, it was something like 80-90% theory and it felt really easy to me. We did four hours a week of ‘practical’ lessons and two theory lessons. We could choose what sports to be assessed in, but most of us chose the ones that we were good at in school. I think I did netball and dance. I also chose horse riding as I did that as a hobby outside of school and was shit at trampolining, which we did in school 😂 I vaguely recall having to do coursework about the riding? But I definitely didn’t take photos or videos of me doing it.

I did. I did it as my 'soft' subject and boy was I wrong 😂😂😂 full of anatomy and physiology and technical technique work.

My dc went on to study for A level PE alongside biology and chemistry. Now training to be an occupational therapist.
They did a sport outside of school and there was no issue.

Check with the school. I think they need to choose sports that the school has the skills to assess, which depend on their staff.