S2 into S3 subject choices - reduced from 12 to 9!

[chestnutmares]

Our secondary school held an online event this eve to discuss making subject choices for the S2 pupils going into S3. This year, thanks to COVID, they are apparently reducing their options from 12 choices to 9! 2 of those must be English & Maths. My DD is gutted - she was really looking forward to S3 and had already planned all her subjects. I can't believe they're reducing it by 25%. They say you can pick some others up again in S4 but, no matter how they dress it up, it really feels like these kids are missing out on a chunk of their education and opportunities. What will this mean for Highers, and for their Uni chances - won't they be disadvantaged? Would love to hear from other parents in the same boat, or teachers too. Thanks.

Sounds normal to me. I have never heard of a school doing 8 subjects at Higher.

It does feel wrong to restrict their choices at S3 when they still don't know what they want to do later, but the more subjects they have the less depth they can study. When I went to school we had to choose our 7 subjects at the beginning of S3, imo it is much better they now get to continue with 9 and drop 2 they are no longer interested in when going into S4.

In hindsight ds should have continued with Geography for what he wants to do now, but he picked Modern Studies in the humanities column in S4 instead, he now has the option to do a Crash Higher Geography in S6. Some of the skills he has picked up when studying modern studies (learning content, research and assignment layouts) are transferable so he is comfortable doing this.

@dementedpixie

Our school now has them pick the subjects in S2 that they will do through until Nat5. They take only 7 subjects! Dd had to pick 9 in S2 then drop to 7 at the end of S3 so it changed in the 3 years between dd and ds. Ds is S3 and is doing the 7 subjects picked at the end of S2.

Ours this year is still pick 12 mid S1, 9 at end of S2 and then drop to 7 at end of S3 which I think is fine. 7 at the end of S2 is tough, have they said why they are changing?

Ours goes down to 6 in S4. Which when you take out two for compulsory Maths and English is not much.

I find it bizarre. How is it fair that in some schools your child is having to learn, revise and then sit 8 different subject exams (in normal circs) and in others only 7 or even 6? That’s a huge difference in workload. My kids are going to do 8 and the thought that they could drop a whole subject or two would make such a difference to their young lives. They could go into greater depth with the subjects they’re taking for a start. This would be much fairer IF that’s what everyone else was doing - then it would be a level playing field. I think taking 8 subjects isn’t necessarily bad and if everyone did 8 that would be fine. Some kids could maybe do better overall ie. good grades in all their final exams if they only did 6. Some kids maybe fair less well overall because of having to spread themselves more thinly.

I still don’t fully understand how schools can have this pick and mix approach. Or how they justify it.

With fewer subjects my kid, who is not adventurous and is refusing to consider changing subjects, is "stuck" far too early into higher subjects.

Our school gives them the option, depending which short/long courses they choose, to take either 8, 7 or 6 Nat 5s.

That sounds good.

That sounds amazing Chestnut, personalisation and choice in action. My DDs were 7 N5s and English, Maths and a MFL mandatory. French was a disaster for my wee dyslexics so effectively 6 and considering Maths was a scrape they had picked their Highers in S2 . Still rather bitter.