Science mandatory for GCSE homeschooled private candidate?

[mamtaberi]

Hi Mums,

My daughter, 14, has chosen homeschooling. She is appearing as private candidate in GCSE exams. She recently scored A* in GCSE Mathematics. Compared to physical sciences, she is really interested and keen in social sciences like Sociology, Psychology and Economics.

Question 1:
Our challenge is regarding subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Not that she is not good at those, but whether any of these is mandatory for her to take at GCSE level. Spending time in these eats away from her time in subjects she is deeply interested in, sports and free play.

We've heard that English Language and Mathematics are mandatory (even if you are a private candidate), but we are not clear about whether the same is true for Sciences.

Question 2:
We've also heard that one should take 5 GCSE subjects at a minimum, if you are a private candidate. Would you know if this is correct? We are going for English Language, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, and remaining two between Sociology / Psychology / Economics.

It's not mandatory but it would stop her being able to access science A levels.

5 GCSEs is a common entry requirement for college courses at post 16.

Maths and English are the ones that are really essential.

Nothing is mandatory if you are home educated. But what does she want to do after GCSEs. English and Maths GCSEs are a rerequisite for many jobs and many university courses so it is advisable to do these if she can. Again 5 GCSEs or more is not mandatory but keeps more options open.

Science and geography are not as easy to take as an exam when home educating because of the practical exam, though there are private exam centres that will cover this element, sometimes you need to take classes with them.
But back to your question, no it's not mandatory to have a science GCSE in England (or it wasn't when we home educated a few years ago). We also didn't do 5 GCSEs. College accepted his application without this, and University also.

Ok it is NOT mandatory to take GCSEs at all. There are NO mandatory subjects. In schools, they make certain subjects mandatory because, unless a child has a special provision to do part-time school, the school have to be educating the child for a certain number of hours a week. If the child doesn't select to do a certain number of GCSEs they will have to be in school for more time each week than the lessons they have takes up and that simply doesn't work.

The other aspect is what will further/higher education and jobs want? For many jobs they will reject a person without Maths and English. For sciences, if she might want to go into a science related field, she will probably be rejected without double or triple science. Many jobs will ask for a minimum of 5 GCSEs including English and Maths and would reject her if she had 5 that didn't include these 2, or less than 5 regardless of whether they included these 2. You really need to be considering what she wants to go into. If she might want to do something in say sport or exercise science, then I guess she would need a minimum of 5 GCSEs including maybe double or even triple science.

I don’t think she’s having an adequate education without science. She may not know this as a young person but surely you do as an adult?

DD didn’t do science GCSE at her online school. There are certain professions you need it for, obviously some medical and also primary school teaching which Dd wants to do. Could she just do one science? DD is now doing an equivalency course in Biology to get into uni which is ok but in hindsight I would have got her to do Biology GCSE with her others.

The basic standard for employability and/or access to further education courses is 5 GCSEs at grade 4+ including Maths & English. It's quite normal to take English Language and English Literature as two separate subjects but not a requirement. I would recommend that she enters examinations for at least 6 or possibly 7 subjects if she can, because if she only enters for 5 and then gets a grade 3 or below for one of them then she's not reached that benchmark.

Look carefully at the syllabuses available - there are some boards who offer sciences (and some other subjects) at a "foundation" grade with a much easier syllabus but the maximum grade you can get if you do everything near-perfect is a 5, but a reasonably able candidate who has paid attention will find it quite easy to get a 4. It may be wise to take these foundation versions for some subjects but the full version with grades up to 9 accessible for her favourite subjects.

Nothing is mandatory if you are home educated.

You can do whatever you like if homeschooling.
If she is planning on university, be aware most prefer GCSEs to be taken at the same time (it’s obviously a lot easier to get a high mark if you are only taking 1 GCSE).

Yes as others say, there are no mandatory subjects if HEing.

But yes also – she should certainly take or attempt maths and Eng lang as these are needed for many post-16 courses, apprenticeships, jobs and university courses. Not all jobs certainly but all uni courses I would say.

Science yes – you need this if you want to be a primary teacher or obvs if interested in STEM career later on. But it is not essential (though I would say study of science, even if not taking GCSE (tricky for HE bc of practical but not impossible) is useful for general education).

Btw it's not the case that unis want GCSEs to all be taken at one sitting. A poster on another thread confirmed this – unis understand that HE candidates tend to stagger their GCSEs.

Being home schooled she doesnt have to do any gcses at all if that's what you choose. Nothing is mandatory when home educating.
DD didn't take any gcses but that hasn't stopped her progressing in life.
She works for a mental health charity and they trained her for the job.

Maths and English are the ones that it's a good idea to have.

Having 5 overall incl English and Maths should tick enough boxes to access most things in future.

Obviously subject specific requirements may come into play depending on what she wants to do.

As others have said, nothing is mandatory. However the lack of a science at GCSE might hinder her depending on what she wants to potentially study at college or university. For example a young person I know who failed her sciene GCSE for various reasons is having to resit now she wants to go into primary teaching.

This isn't correct. iGCSE exams have no practical requirements and many home educated students take this instead of standard GCSEs.

Nothing is mandatory but you as a parent should be ensuring she has a balanced education and science (perhaps just the basic integrated science curriculum) is part of that education. Higher education and employers will be asking for her grades and science missing would raise alarm bells. I would also remind you that sitting 8-10 in a session is the norm, only taking 5 again would raise questions

Nonsense.

You don't even have to state subjects when applying for jobs. Most people just put 'x number GCSEs including English & Maths at grades x to y'

Higher education also couldn't care less unless you are applying for a course that requires them. I know this in practice. I also know people at Oxbridge with 6 GCSEs in total. Plenty of universities are happy with 5.

Not learning any science to gcse level isn’t a balanced education in my opinion. I would talk to your local centres who allow home educated students to take exams with them about how they can support your dd to do at least double award science. There are practical elements that need to be formally assessed.

You really need to be looking and thinking well ahead at this stage. Some top ranking universities look at a candidates’ best 8 GCSEs as part of the application process, so only having 5 would put your dd at a distinct disadvantage.

Nothing is mandatory, but depending on her future plans then very good universities (oxbridge etc) would likely look unfavourably on her only having four or five GCSEs.

If your daughter is currently scoring 9s in maths, unless she is VERY asynchronous in her abilities I’d be wary of closing doors this early.

Having spent the past 5 years doing 6th form college admissions and also being a college UCAS advisor I agree with PP who said anything under 8 could put your young person at a disadvantage, and not having Science would mean they really haven't got a very broad and balanced range of qualifications. If they intend to go to a sixth form to take A levels, many colleges require 6 GCSEs at grade 5 or higher for studying A level courses; requirements will probably be lower for BTECs and other level 3 courses. It does depend what they want to do later. If they know university isn't for them and they have a vocational course or level 3 apprenticeship in mind, it might not matter so much.

I am not sure if additional maths is a full gcse, do check.

In my local area there is a special 1 year programme for post 16 students who were either home educated or recently arrived from abroad. It basically means they have to do a foundation year before commencing A levels/Btec

WJEC additional maths is a level 2 certificate qualification rather than a GCSE.

There is an AQA one as well, further maths rather than Add maths but yes, a L2 cert not a GCSE.

@mamtaberi you can see there are varying thoughts here. Certainly many post-16 settings (if that is a likely destination) ask for x number of GCSEs which could be 6 or more. It's worth checking. There are also some unis and some courses where the best xx GCSEs are looked at – for example medicine tho clearly that is not going to be relevant here.

OTOH IME (I have worked with a number of HE students) many HE students stagger their GCSEs, taking them a few at a time, and they don't always have eight or nine. Universities and post-16 settings are often fine with this. I think it would be worth looking at the requirements of a few possible uni courses, if relevant, to see what they say.

I would reiterate tho as others have said, study of science to some extent, even IMHO if not taking formal qualifications, is useful and important for a rounded education. I would also want to add English literature, maybe history or geography, and something creative – again, perhaps just for the learning rather than taking an exam (as I guess the pratical side may present issues) – music, art, food tech.

5????!!

at my school in 2007 we all did between 10-13 (10 if you struggled).

English lit
english lang
double science
maths
a language
a humanities (geog or history)
art or music or dance
IT
RE

(then further maths or another language etc if you excelled).

The thing is @Tammygirl12, there has been a sweeping reform of GCSEs since then – the specs all changed from 2017 exams onwards. Now most DC in schools take eight or nine. Some will take 10. Very few will take more than that. The specs are more challenging and very exam-based with barely any coursework, so schools have been scaling back for the last 10 years to reduce the pressure.

Yes, five GCSEs is fewer than any child in a mainstream school is likely to take, but not an unheard of number for a HE child.