Triple or dual award science, wanting advice from teachers, parents, sixth form teachers if possible

[Ilovespringandblossomandrobins]

My daughter is in year 11, she’s in set 2 for science and has just received results from latest mocks and averaging 5/6 across all 3 sciences.

a few children have been moved to dual award, so losing one gcse but potentially better grades. My daughter hasn’t. I think I would like her to move to dual award as she doesn’t want to go into a scientific field and her strengths are English history RE and maths.

Is there any benefit to her in doing triple award and getting a lower grade to potentially a higher grade from dual?

If she doesn’t need them because she’s not looking to do science A levels or at degree level, I would think it would be better to have the higher marks than the extra GCSE.

My only concern would be how well the emphasis in the material would transfer over to double science. I don’t know the answer to that.

YABU!

Why?

Speak to the school and see what they say.

There's nothing wrong with grade 5/6

It's most likely the children being moved to dual are in danger of not getting a pass grade. That's not your DD.

Depending on how the school manage this, there will either be a small class of those moved to dual taking up the options lesson or they will remain in the triple classes. It may not be of benefit to your DD to be in a class with children who are in danger of not passing.

It is tempting to drop triple science, but I think it is important that all children have a good grounding in the sciences at least to age 16. Dropping triple science means they learn less biology, less physics and less chemistry before they can stop all science in post GCSE study. I think a 5/6 doesn’t indicate she would have lower grade if she took triple science than if she dropped it.

I think it’s better to be well rounded and keep your options open at least through GCSEs. Just because her strengths are maths, English and RE that doesn’t mean she likes them or would want to pursue a career based on those 3. In addition, even if she doesn’t do anything scientific in the future, we need all adults to be scientifically literate. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to read articles by journalists who only took science up to GCSE and will misunderstand and then misreport on scientific papers. Not just that but say she needs to make decisions about her health or medical care in the future- she needs to be able to confidently read scientific research papers and understand what they mean. She needs to not be vulnerable to the wellness influencers peddling cure-alls that have no scientific basis.

As a retired science teacher I would definitely advise the dual award . Sadly her predicted grades are rather on the low side to take an A’level in any science but her interests obviously lie elsewhere.

Definitely dual award if she doesn't have a passion for science. But even if she did you can do a levels following dual award.

Is she doing foundation or higher? I might be tempted to do the foundation and guarantee a 5.

3 grade 6 in the sciences are better than two grade 6 in double. At this stage, stick with triple. I’m a science teacher. She’s no more likely to get grade 7 in double than she is in triple at this late stage. She’s doing well.

Depends a lot on the other kids taking those options. The content won't compromise their ability to do Science A levels.

What does your daughter want to do? They are her GCSEs.