Well maybe not. I have three children. My first two children are pretty academic.
Emily goes to a local pretty highly regarded high school, where if they really want to learn they will, one which watches and checks carefully, that all pupils are achieving their projected grades.
Emily, will go ahead work hard and get straight As and A*s, the school’s dream pupil. Charlie, my middle child, highly academic, attending the local boys grammar school, will do the same...
Emily works and works and gets it done but never settles till she has done it all right, always questioning herself and her efforts. Charlie, never questions himself and rattles through his work, needs to make little effort and will still get his straight As and A*s. Sickening!
Both schools heavily push the Ebacc. I felt as a parent that it seemed reasonable and logical to ensure my kids got a broad and balanced set of GCSEs. English, Maths and Science, a humanities and a modern language. For Emily my big fish in a little pond with the motivation to really do well off her own back, the Ebacc worked well. Emily knows she wants to be a vet. That meant she has to do triple science, German and history all of which she loves. She was also able to add a bit of variety and do two subjects that she considered to be fun..... photography and textiles. She is great at those. The subjects in which she excels are the creative subjects... the subjects she needs, to become the vet she wants to be, are the ones she has to make a major effort at in order to achieve the A*s.The Ebacc is working for her as she is doing an amazing variety and is enjoying every day at school.
Charlie, does not know what he wants to be but is highly able at every subject he takes. His options choices were interesting. He has obviously done the obligatory, English, Maths science, humanities and language that the school advised heavily that he should do to get the Ebacc. RE (another humanity)is compulsory. He chose to do geography. In one of his options group was Art and History.... He was advised that other people were better at Art than him so he was not allowed to do it which forced him to do History (in so doing providing the school with a ‘reserve’ Ebacc subject).
This opened a crack of worry for me. He now had no subjects that we could consider to be fun as he was expected in the grammar system to do triple science anyway. We were promised that as he was turned down for his first choice of Art, when at the end of year 9 he was allowed to chose the final option, he would be guaranteed his choice. So when it came to it he had a small choice of Electronics, D&T Resistant Materials, Computer Studies or Business Studies. He chose Electronics and yes he is enjoying it. However there seems no reason to do the subject as it appears to lead nowhere and may not be available at A level.
Any way they will both be fine and get an abundance of of GCSEs at A and A*and go on to university and beyond.
Then there is Henry... clever boy, but simply not as motivated or academic, very capable of comparing himself to his siblings in a negative manner.... He is not destined to attack his education in the same way the other two have. He isn't as focussed, his interest isn't captured and he sees no end point for any of his lessons except science (and now engineering) He isn't seeing an achievement at the end, as he doesn't see where he has started and where each topic in each subject is taking him. So he is turning off. He also worries a lot that he is not achieving the accolades that the other two are naturally achieving and doesn't understand why he is not. Fact…. he isn't putting in the work that they are. ....he is bored.
He goes to the same school as Emily and I naturally assumed options evening would be as simple as it was with her... How wrong was I? For starters the school decided to introduce options in year 8 and a 3 year GCSE programme... Ridiculous in my opinion for a 12 year old to narrow down his education and start deciding on his future. He had no clue. He didn't enjoy anything enough to make these decisions. The teachers didn't feel that the had buckled down hard enough to say that he was going to excel at the different subjects. They were telling me that he must do a language, but they were also telling me that a language would be really challenging for Henry. But he must do a language! Henry seemed to accept this and decided upon Spanish.
Well we probably couldn't have made a worse choice...and I regret having told him that he must do this language as he must get the Ebacc. He is now at the end of his first half year of his three year GCSE programme and feeling that he has made a terrible mistake. His report states his target is a C/D in his Spanish which is obviously not good enough for a bright kid. He is forecast an A for science but will not be allowed to do triple science because he isn't in the top group for maths and English. Also after only one term of Engineering he is forecast a B for his GCSE which he is also really enjoying.
He has turned off from a few lessons as he isn't taking enough practical subjects, which is really what Henry is all about. He knows or wants to know how things work. I am really relieved that he is taking Engineering. He has completed his first project and is totally satisfied with the result. He is so happy with the end product, he really has enjoyed the experience. Anyway as he has turned off from his learning, he is quite capable of being disturbed in class or doing the disturbing, and hence getting himself into minor trouble. So, letter after email after meeting with the school to try to change options, all of which were quite instantly satisfying but ultimately never achieved anything, we are now in a situation where he is hating school and a number of the subjects he is studying. He is possibly not able to change subjects because the school say so and hence he may not ultimatley not achieve the grades that the is capable of.
So what to do?.... Like a bright light in the corner, is the local brand new shiny UTC for young engineers. If he went there he could start his GCSE's again on a two year program. They don't want to push the Ebacc. They offer it of course, but it it not pushed down the parents throats. He is invited to build his own programme to suit his likes and dislikes.
He gets the chance to drop a language if he wants to and take a more intensive engineering qualification .....and is allowed to choose triple science, not an option to him at his current school despite the good projected grades.
The facilities are fantastic which obviously blows us parents away. But they blew him away too. He is able to take his academic subjects but they are put into context and delivered in conjunction with industry partners so he understands why he is learning what he is learning in his core subjects. He can embark upon a range of practical subjects as well as the obligatory ones, so he will get to experience a more rounded practical education which is perfect for HIM. He will get the opportunity to progress in a number of different paths of equal standing: A level leading to university degree, or the apprentice/higher apprentice route where he can work, learn and decide later when he has proved himself and possibly be sponsored through his degree by the company he is working with. No competition with his siblings as he is on a completely different path. Yes he can balls it up, as he is a kid but he may just do very well! He is capable of it but not by taking the subjects he is currently working on.
I am lucky to have found this alternative opportunity. How many parents are in my shoes, despondent that they can see their child is struggling in the current so called perfect path, decided upon by the ministers for education and the DfE? How many kids have turned off from education because they have been heavily persuaded by their school and by their parents to undertake the Ebacc subjects that are not right for THEM. Not everyone should be gaining this so called broad and balanced education because some kids simply are not interested in some of these subjects.
I can look at it from both sides. I see it as the perfect option for my first child. It is an option that my middle child has taken and will capably pursue and achieve at a high level because that is what is expected from him at his highly academic grammar school. But sadly for my youngest, it is not the right thing at all. As a parent I am now wondering if the logical pressure that the school and ultimately I, have put on him to take that language to add to that science and that humanity will take its toll and ensure that he achieves less than he should because he is really not enjoying his time at school any more.