would you let your children make their own GCSE choices

[zippitippitoes]

...it never occurrred to me to interfere at all with what mine chose but in this article about happiness it makes it sound like it's normal for parents to choose them?

it's actually about children and mental well being..a bit woolly to be honest

yep 3 of them have so far
there is life beyond GCSE's ya know

Most children need guidance from home and school - neither free choice nor decision made for them is good. In my view anyway.
Especially at 14, most children have little direction at that age and need to be guided to keep as many doors open to them as possible.

I chose not to do history because I found it "too much like hard work" with all the memorising of facts & dates. I so regretted it later!

I think the key thing is keeping their options open.

And pointing out that all GCSEs involve work....lots of it. I know of lots of kids who do GCSE PE because they think it will be a 'doss' subject, and it really isn't. They do need guidance, but not forcing IYSWIM

Rowlers i think it depends on the child and the sort of education they have had.If they have been encouraged to make choices throughout their childhood and have tried things...I think its ludicrous for a 14 year old to be expected to know what they want to do when they are older.I know some do but i think it is important to teach adaptability and to do things you enjoy,rather than what you feel you ought to be doing[ie.what your parents tell you]

Ds has made his selections, with input from both staff and dh and I.

His school head said that it is important to do subjects that he enjoys - providing that it gives a complete cross section.

He had decided to drop French so that he can do History and Geography. We are a little uncertain about this, but he's never been strong in languages, and is taking a good range of subjects, so we've supported him.

I think that generally parents now are more involved in the decision making that our own parents were - but so long as it's not taken over, I think that's a good thing.

haven't read the whole thread so apologies if i'm repeating, but as a teacher, it can be a nightmare if a parent pushes their son/daughter into doing something they're not interested in. Personally, I think the best way is as others have said, let them choose but with guidance and advice from home and school.
like many of you though, will let you know when the time comes for mine !

DS (year 7) had to choose two from French, German, Latin to do in Year 8. DW and I both wanted him to do Latin, and he chose German himself - but he would have chosen Latin anyway. At that age (and at any age?), the quality of the individual teachers makes a critical difference. The German and Latin teahcers are both better than the French teacher...

My school had certain rules which I was glad about - partly because I think they were right, and partly coz they're a lot easier to swallow coming from teh school than your parents, maths, english, one science subject (in the days when there were 3) and one language were compulsory. I would endeavour to persuade my two of the benefits of something similar but would never force the issue - counter productive imo

dd has chosen her subjects for September. She chose them all herself but I did talk her out of taking Health & Social Care to take French instead as I thought French would serve her better with regard to her future employment and I thought she would regret it. A choice that was backed up when she spoke with the careers advisor. H&SC is something she can easily do in 6th Form if she chooses; more difficult to pick up French if she drops it.

Apart from that she has made good choices imo and I wouldn't force her to change just because of what I thought.

I was a little disappointed ds chose not to do French - largely because he had a dire French teacher until last year, who did nothing to encourage ds, and ds responded in kind! The teacher this year has been fantastic, and his grades have really improved, but the 'I hate French' attitude was too well ingrained. A good teacher is so important.

My school was very prescriptive about what O-levels you could do - Everybody had to do atleast 9, and you had to do atleast one humanity, one science, one language and maths and english. By the time I had satisfied those requirements and included Art and Englit which I wanted to do there wasn't much room for my parents' influence. With DS, I would definitely let him do what he wanted to do - I might be able to persuade him to start a course that he wasn't interested in, but I certainly wouldn't be able to get him to do the course work and revision. Also, as somebody who dropped maths as early as possible but later became an accountant, I know that it is possible to change direction later on.

How can you expect them to enjoy learning if they are not interested in the subjects they are learning about? I can remember looking forward to making my choices so that I could drop the subjects that I hated! It should be their own decision ultimately.

It was a joint thing with dd1 and i

She told me which ones she wanted to do and we discussed her reasons why. On the whole her choices were fine, i think one of them was not realistic, so we discussed it and she changed to another

So she is going to be taking maths, english, textiles, science, drama, history and french, as well as an r.e short course which she has to take, so i am informed

I remember it all so well! What I truly remember is taking home economics, geography and child development because my best friend did. My mom convinced me to re-think geography for history, which I am glad she did. I now wish I'd taken art (which at the time I was pretty good at) and textiles, as i now feel they were my stronger areas (I did pass the others pretty easily though!). I don't think parents should choose their kids subjects, but perhaps taking a more pro-active view in what they want for the future would be a good idea.

Of course, my parents had no involvement in mine. Did yours anyone?

My Mum chose mine, based on the idea that I would become a doctor (I'd muted the notion once in passing after watching an episode of Mash...).

In the end I broke her heart by going to drama college. It does make me wonder though - how important are the actual choices? All mine were science based and I ended up doing an arts subject and having a career in the arts. I don't know if things have changed since my day (I'm talking about the '80s) but having non-arts subjects didn't hinder me. In fact I would say benefited me in terms of having a different perspective. As I say, it might all have become a lot more prescriptive, but if you're not doing something like medicine, does it really matter what subjects you choose?

I think you're right zippy - sciences and languages only open doors, but the decision to only do arts subjects closes some. When it came to A levels and degree I wish to god that instead of people saying "do whatever you enjoy" someone had said to me, well, if you don;t know what you want, you might as well develop a useful skill while you think about it. At my school they thought very much in boxes and the only point in doing languages was to become an interpretor, translator of teacher. what a load of twaddle. am going to warn mine to be very sceptical about careers teachers.

all students in the UK have to do a science GCSE, with english and maths. These are core subjects and cannot be dropped, but the coice of course can vary

I didn't get parental pressure but there was a lot of societal pressure and expectations from teachers who pigeon holed me as 'a girl' and 'one of the clever ones'. This was in the late 70's. I remember wanting to do Art O level but most of my friends were doing Home Economics (it was one of the either/or options with art - along with woodwork , needlework and metalwork IIRC) and I was persuaded to do that and HATED it. All I learned to cook was Chelsea Buns - nothing useful. The teacher was a cow and hated me cos I wasn't 'girlie'. I love cooking now but I was well into my 30's before I discovered it could be fun.

At the same time I also wanted to learn shorthand typing as I wanted to be a journalist and it was mandatory - but was told I couldn't join the office practice course at school as it was for CSE students, not O level students. The only people expected to need typing and shorthand were girls who would get a little job in an office before they got married at 18 and had children. (the teachers' reasoning, not mine)

I had a lot of pressure from my head of 6th form when it came to FE choices. I knew I wanted to go into journalism (I actually ended up in PR) and looked at several Polytechnic courses on TV and radio production and the like - this was before the advent of media studies when these courses actually gave you some useful insight and experience - but was persuaded by my head of 6th form ( a Cambridge classics graduate from the 1940's) that I was 'University Material' and dissuaded me from applying to 'second rate' polys. I got a conditional offer from Kent Uni to do English and French but just missed out on the grades and ended up at Leicester Poly anyway!

This may be a little off subject but it fits in with the general theme of adults making decisions against a teenager's intuition. OK I know some kids don't have the faintest idea what they want to do but I did, and it was ignored. I only wish I had stood up to them. I certainly wasn't a shrinking violet at 16 but they were teachers and they knew best.

not if they detested it

all the subjects i would insist on are compulsery - if only they could fuck the other subjects off anc concentrate on english maths science

I chose all of mine, I remember sitting on the end of my mums bed and discussing with her what I was going to take whilst she breast fed my brother who she had just given bith to a day earlier.

That tactic can seriously backfire- a friend of mine was forced to take subjects he didn't want to by his parents and he purposefully failed all his exams except the one he had chosen which he passed with an "A"!