Choosing options

[theredhen]

I have a DS who is currently in year 9.

How important is the English Bac going to be for A levels and university?

My DS only gets three options at GCSE level at his school, as triple science, maths, english (x2) and RE are compulsory. He definitely wants to take ICT and would need to take a humanity and a language to enable him to get the English Bac and up to now this is what he has said he will do.

He is average at History and Geography but is in the top set for French/Spanish (as he is for science too).

Like most boys he is computer game mad and has a dream of being a games designer (probably like a lot of boys) however, he is also the kind of boy to take a computer apart (he has sourced old computers himself and done this) and he is also working for 1.5 hours a week at our local computer shop for nothing more than experience, because he loves computers.

Having just started having a few GCSE talks at school, he now thinks he should drop the language and the humanity and do "electronic products and graphic products" at GCSE as well as ICT and the compulsory subjects. I think this is making his options a bit limited for the future but I do appreciate he has a real passion for electronics / ICT and don't want him to be unhappy.

We are having parents evening / careers talks after Xmas at school but wondered what peoples thoughts are on here?

Its difficult to see how important the english bacc will be in the future as it is effectively a league table measure and will be no doubt be changed by subsequent education secretaries.

A language is always a good idea and he arguably has a humanities subject in RE (though not currently included in the bacc measure) but I would be wary of limiting options too early and for games design I think the most important thing will be computing/maths.

To be a computer games designer he needs good Maths, I'm not sure anything else at GCSE is important really.

Not a teacher, just a Mum who works in IT and have a year 10 DD who went through the option dilemna next year.

In my opinion, the ICT done at school is not worth much for IT employment. Employers much prefer maths & sciences. Likewise, for electronics type degrees.

It sounds like your DS is academic, so should stick with academic subjects.

No-one knows yet what will happen witht he Ebacc, but some Universities are already making an MFL at GCSE compulsory again. So if he is capable of a good grade in French or Spanish, should opt for one of these at least.

You may find the school will be making the Ebacc subjects compulsory - have you checked?

If he is unlikely to gain a decent grade for either History or Geography, then maybe a second MFL if he is that good? If it's more the essay writing that puts him off, Geography has less of this and is closer to the sciences.

That still leaves an option for one of the technologies.

Good luck.

last year NOT next year !

My friend who actually is a Games Designer did Maths and Physics. Nothing soft until he had finished his degree.

Thanks for all your replies. I will be showing him later.

Agree with others that ICT only if nothing else is possible, generally not well thought of - at least that was the advice we got and have stuck with, happy to be shown evidence otherwise. Drama or Art or Electronics are all fine. If the reason for not meeting EB is that Ancient Greek/Latin or a second MFL were taken instead of History/Geography, most top universities will forgive him...

schoolhelp - so you're saying that DS should take Electronic products rather than ICT? Why is ICT no good? Would a uni really prefer him to have drama than ICT?

He is much better off sticking with traditional subjects. He can do his games designing later on.

It is incredibly difficult for parents to encourage the right thing when schools seem intent on steering students towards the "softer" options after English and Maths. Perhaps to increase chances of more students getting grades A to C, the cynical part of me thinks?!

ICT just involves using existing software packages such as spreadsheets and Powerpoints - it does not involve any programming skills or information about hardware.
Electronics would be most useful because it is needed for building computers and understanding of how they work.