Do you need a language gcse

[Lennon80]

Ds has been told his French isn’t good enough for 8/9 and to drop it for gcse - wants to go to oxbridge possibly. Does he need a language gcse? How necessary is it?

No he doesn’t.

Unis generally only look at the top 8 GCSEs. If he’s doing 10, then French with a slightly lower grade won’t mean anything

Does he want to do French? Surely education is about broadening the mind as well as clocking up as many 8s and 9s as possible....

Wow that's harsh. You won’t get an 8 in French so don’t bother doing it?? bit depressing.

But no, you don’t need a GCSE MFL to go to any UK uni (unless to study MFL obvs). As I understand it, some unis for some courses will look for a certain number of GCSEs at 7+. Most will not look beyond your grades in maths and English.

Yes, as @Philandbill says, does he want to take French GCSE? Tbf if he is able enough to be looking at Oxford, then I would expect he could pull a possible 6/7 up to a certain 7/8 on a good day. Especially if he is interested. MFL is my subject and I love it and I hope that interested candidates of all abilities take it at GCSE.

No he doesn’t want to study languages and hates it by DH insisting he needs it - I feel grades more important than subjects

No you don't need a language.

But who on earth has told him to drop it because he won't get an 8 or 9? Thats ridiculous.

Will only get an 8 or 9? Surely that is the target?

Read it again, @Littletreefrog…

Leaving aside grades required for competitive university entry, I think it’s a shame to go through one’s entire school career without having studied a single foreign language to GCSE level. While it’s true that the UK doesn’t teach languages well, any academic exposure to a different one helps you to see your own first language through a different prism. You become conscious of its structure because the other language doesn’t work the same way.

So, he must do whatever seems most advantageous, of course. But he’ll be less ‘educated’ without it.

He needs to make sure he studies enough GCSEs and that when his school writes the UCAS blurb about the school saying what the average no of GCSEs taken is, he isn’t lower than the average….if he wants to apply to Oxbridge.

A language isn’t needed. A decent number of subjects is needed and GCSEs are looked at in contextual fashion, so against the cohort of the school and he needs to be in the top group for his school for Oxbridge. If he has 9/10 without the language and these will all be 8/9, then, could be okay to drop. If it will leave him with 8 subjects and most at school do 9/10 then not so good.

What kind of a school is it? Lots of independents start off with 10/11 and many will drop one during GCSEs and still have an excellent range and without a weaker subject result. This is selective schools. It is unlikely a non-selective would be recommending dropping as not on for level 8/9.

Ah yes I obviously wouldn't get an 8/9 in English comprehension! Either way doesn't sound like he would fail it so seems a shame to drop it at this stage. My DS tried for all of year 10 and 11 to drop his language as he was predicted a 3 they refused to allow him and he ended up with a 2. Now that was a waste of time.

If he’s at a selective school, to get anywhere with Oxbridge, you really need a sweep of top grades at GCSE and to be performing above the average of your selective school. So, without sounding negative, it might be an indication that he he might not be Oxbridge material….as usually such students aren’t advised to drop subjects….unless he school have a policy of everyone starting with an extra and dropping one.

Applications are contextualised when Oxbridge decide who to interview. That means looked at against your school where GCSEs taken. Someone from a less high performing school can ‘get away’ with a weaker grade possibly. Whereas someone from a selective or selective independent would be seen as a weaker relative candidate with the same grades.

If in doubt, it’s worth asking the Head of Year or UCAS advisor about the implications of dropping (positive and negative) from a uni application point of view.

What year is he in @Lennon80 ? I took it that he was in year 9 and finalising GCSE choices. But I see @WombatChocolate presumes he is in year 10 and looking to drop one of his GCSEs. If the latter, that would explain better the "low" predicted grade - easier to say a grade at end of year 10 than end of year 9.

But if he is in year 10 then I would really suggest keeping going with the MFL. Less than a year till he takes his exams. And I agree with @WombatChocolate that if, in year 10, he is struggling to get his French grade up to a 7/8 , then maybe Oxford is not the best uni for him. An student able enough to go to Oxford should be able to get a good grade (not that a 6 or 7 is not a good grade!) in pretty much any GCSE, unless SEN is giving them a very spiky profile.

Agree also with @AFrolicOfMyOwn that learning another language to any level gives you real insight into how to learn any language, and most of all perhaps, how your own language works. I never cease to be entranced by the connections and patterns across the languages that I know.

Thanks everyone for replying - it’s a selective grammar - year 9. DS has adhd so if he doesn’t like the subject zero effort appears to be given.