Too IT heavy? GCSE's

[pansycake]

DD wants to do the following GCSE's;

Compulsory
Maths
English Language
English Literature
Combined Science
RE

Then her additional choices would be;
Citizenship
Computer Science
IT
Business

Using PE OR Media as a back up in case she can't get a place on one of her choices.

Wants to study politics & law at A level and college confirmed she doesn't need history for this.

Monger I think in this context ebac choice refers to the need to fill 3 of the 'buckets' for Progress 8 with a Ebacc subjects, 2 of which are automatically filled by Dual Science, so 1 more 'ebac' is needed.

teen CS is a basket 2 subject (history, geography, MFL, CS) so all progress 8 baskets are covered

IT is a moribund subject (with a quite poor reputation). I am surprised it is still offered tbh, and much as I believe that teens do best when they do subjects they are interested in, I think this is one I think I'd at least attempt to talk a DC out of.

And I would suggest replacing it with history. BecUe even though it's not required, it's still both relevant and desirable.

@Cricketballs
I agree, I think Business is a very relevant subject that gives young people knowledge that is useful in the working world no matter what career they choose. I am surprised that this subject is not encouraged more and that it isn’t sometimes seen as a soft option.

Is the IT an actual GCSE (thought it had been discontinued) or a vocational equivalent.
When dd chose options they could either take Computer Science or IT, but not both as they were "too similar" qualifications. The tie-break for deciding who took each qualification was predicted grade for GCSE Maths (based on performance in Y9).

For those asking, yes it is an actual IT GCSE.

The Department for Education announced in November 2015 that GCSE ICT would not be redeveloped under government changes to GCSEs, and exam boards could not offer ICT as one of the new 9-1 GCSEs.

Maybe they changed their minds. Or it could be an iGCSE or a Level 2 certificate.

I just googled it. Edexcel do an iGCSE in ICT, so could be that?

IT & Computer Science are too similar. IT will either be something like a Cambridge Certificate or an IGCSE meant for those not capable of computer science.

Citizenship is also not very well regarded. Unless she is fairly low ability id try & persuade her to do an arts, technology or humanity subject instead.

RS however is an excellent gcse for someone interested in politics & law.

Those are not good choices for someone who is very bright, in top 10%.

What about Further Maths if she's good at Maths?

Is RE really compulsory?

She should do a humanities subject for breadth - either Geography or History.

I've never even heard of Citizenship and would assume it was a subject for non-academic students. A bit like PE.

I think these options are narrowing down her choices and if she is academic you might need to give her a steer. If she is middling they are absolutely fine.

PE is pretty academically well regarded extinct (very sciency) as is RS.

But IT & Citizenship are not.

If your DD is putting red lines around things like Citizenship, then I'd have her make informed decisions.
Take a university and look up it's entry requirements for both law and politics. Then trace back those A levels to what you need to get to do them in the sixth form.
You won't find IT or citizenship anywhere, but you will find subjects like History.
Age 14 is horribly young to be making decisions that will limit your own life options.

Unfortunately not all GCSEs are equally regarded. There are tiers of prestige and Citizenship is on t the lowest tier. Why have a highly able student do one or more GCSE that won't be any use to them for getting onto A level courses? If she is interested in the subjects, then just read books at home for pleasure.

I have an academic DS who is sitting the new RS GCSE this year (compulsory). His other subjects are all ebacc but he finds RS one of the most difficult, mainly because of the vast amount of memorising he has to do.
It's a shame that RS isn't more highly regarded because it is quite challenging compared to some others that are thought of as "hard".

My DS does computing (which is hard, a lot of programming and only 50'percent get a C or higher), he had to drop ICT (which he said was easy, just microsoft really, like using excel). So what is "IT" in your case? Is it computing or ict?

Our school dropped ICT last year, thought it was phased out?

Anyway, I let my DS choose what he enjoyed and is good at. So tech heavy.

A real shame about the poor history teaching but I think citizenship if she loves it sounds quite good. I can't work out from these choices what she really wants to do in the future, and I'm a bit concerned about her lack of a language - I would aim to replace IT with a language and leave the rest. I would focus quite a lot of effort on getting her a variety of work experience placements - does your local MP or MEP offer any?

Sorry but they sound like awful choices for a supposedly bright child.

Law is also not a great A level.

Is triple science an option?
RE is a good one.
I would encourage :
Computer science
Geography
PE
business
And a language

Please don't make the mistake of thinking Politics a level is going to be sitting round having debates about trump and cyber bullying which is basically what citizenship is.

She will need to write. Long complicated essays.
RE is partly ethics and she may enjoy that at a level but again, essays.
She sounds like she's choosing the easy options which will give her a huge shock at a level.

At my dds school top sets wouldn't be allowed those choices.

My son's school wouldn't allow those choices either.

They had to take a humanity and a language.
What sorts of grades is she aiming for?

DDs school offer IT but not at GCSE level-for those that are bright they are steered towards computer science. Doing both seems a little over kill to me and restrictive. And they wouldn't be allowed to do both anyway.

I'd encourage her to add a humanity-probably geography if she doesn't like the only history teacher.

Has she considered triple science? If she's bright her current choices look very samey and she will get bored.

DD had to pick her options in March of Year 8 and they started them in Year 9-I though it was far too early to be making life choices but her school sticks strictly to the ebacc so she only had 2 free options to pick anyway.

Can she take another look at geography? I studied politics and economics and was surprised how much of my GCSE geography background has been useful. (E.g. development models (incl Malthus in economics), cost benefit analysis, considering issues spatially (I've never had to do a central business district map, but core/periphery theories in politics felt similar). It's not the topic knowledge but the methods that have been useful, and I think there were essay like questions.

If she's dead set against history, which is the closest prep for law & politics, replacing IT with geography would be a good call. And who knows, she might get a taste for development economics or the political side of human geography later.

Sorry OP but the government haven’t changed their mind with ICT/IT GCSE- it has been discontinued (last Year 11s this year) so your DD cannot being doing the actual GCSE in ICT. It’s not even that it doesn’t just count in the league tables but it hasn’t actually been completely scrapped by all exam boards.

If it’s an IT/ICT qualification, then your DD may well be doing the Cambridge Technicals or similar but they are not a GCSE.
Of course, your DD can choose what she would like (and yes, Computer Science is an Ebacc subject in the Science bucket so you are correct there!) but do make sure you or she actually clarifies what she would be studying first and good luck! It’s a very stressful time!

Correction in line but it has actually been scrapped by all Exam boards - annoying phone!