Is the new PE GCSE considered very difficult and if so why?

[blockbustin]

I'm asking because DC's school is doing BTEC instead of GCSE PE. They say it's too difficult to get the higher grades in the new GCSE PE. Just curious as to what's so difficult about it?

Because the standards of prowess in individual sports is so high! Unless your child has been playing above school level, they're unlikely to get the higher grades (i.e. town/city/county team, grades 6+ in dance etc).
On top of that, they have to be able to do all the academic stuff too. It's really tough.

The new GCSE has 60% theory compared with 40% in the old GCSE. DS would have got a higher grade in the new one.

Our school is running PE GCSE and Sport OCR.
The PE Dept produced a list for the curriculum meetings, detailing which course they thought the child could/should do.

DS is really concentrating on his rowing at the moment. DS needed to list 3 sports for PE GCSE - which he has, but the Rowing Club have already said that Rugby poses a greater risk of getting injured & that he should not play - he's also listed swimming (he used to be part of a swimming club and feels he can take that up again)

But yes - emphasis was on the 60% Theory!

My son is in year 11. The school offer BTEC and GCSE. For a higher grade at GCSE you need 3 sports and your main sport needs to be at least County level. His main sport is swimming - plus handball and rock climbing. There is a lot of very detailed anatomy and physiology on the exam paper. It isn't an easy option.

It’s just not true that one sport needs to be county level.

The student needs to excel at one spirt and be more than proficient in 2 others. My son's pe teacher expects him to achieve an 8 or 9 playing football in a local team and the school team, badminton at club level and then either table tennis or trampolining - both just for fun. It's categorically untrue that you need to be at County level

When we asked about GCSE PE at Options evening the teacher said she would have to be doing three sports outside of school. We both thought this was too much of a commitment - she too does Rowing (four times a week) and that's enough.

If one sport needed to be “at least county” level, hardly anyone would take it!!!!

Apologies - only speaking from my own experience and the selection criteria at my sons school. Students taking GCSE all have one sport to county level. The school has two groups taking GCSE in Yr 11.

I dint know if anyone in DSs OR class who plays at county level. DS plays two pairs at club level (one well, one not so well) The school are getting outside coaching in a third sport to intensively train the pupils and will gain evidence this way. I think the thinking is, if the kids are reasonably sporty anyway they should be able to pull it off (its worked in previous years) but parents have to pay for that.

TBH DS is finding the academic part the hardest.

What sports are considered acceptable for the new gcse. Is it any sport or are some more acceptable than others. Did plays for the county and region (at her age group and the age group 2 years above) but it is not one of the common school sports.

Hersetta - if you Google GCSE sports you’ll see the list

One team, one individual and last one either

Thanks. DD's main sport is on the list as is her second however they are all team sports-our issue would be the individual sports. She is a very decent swimmer but turned down joining a club when invited. Food for thought.

My dd plays football and is in Yr11. It seems most of the team (except dd) are doing GCSE PE. One massive challenge for the parent is collecting the 'evidence'..... there are parents filming week after week, trying to capture this that or the other. Of course, you need to get permission from all the team to do this, and then from all the opposition teams. You also need a better camera than your phone. You also need someone who is prepared to come out early in the morning in the col d and rain, who isn't really interested in the game - parents find themselves distracted by the game and miss things a lot .
Of course, you have to hope the team doesn't fold, or you aren't out for 6 months with an injury, or that your dc isn't 'dropped' from the team. I'm really glad we dissuaded dd from doing it - too much seems to depend on things beyond her control.

Back - I thought all the evidence was collected by School?

Hersetta - the individual sport list is below the team sport list

Ds does rugby, volleyball and gymnastics. He does rugby and gymnastics at school, and plays volleyball at the local lesuire centre on a Saturday. None of which are at county level. I'm sure his teacher said the exam is 70% theory and 30% practical.

And the school films all the evidence. 2 Dcs at 2 different schools. I have never had to film nor attend a single PE related event.

I suspect it’s one of those that parents decide to get over involved in....!

My Ds is in Y11 doing GCSE PE and as one of his sports is cycyling which is not carried out at school we do have to provide video evidence and the same is true of any sport that is not carried out at school otherwise the school provides the evidence.

Also the 60% theory exam against the 40% practical is a little misleading as the 40% is broken down into 10% for the 3 sports and 10% for their coursework.

When we asked about GCSE PE at Options evening the teacher said she would have to be doing three sports outside of school

We asked at options evening in the last month, at a state school, and were told DS didn’t need to play any of the three sports outside school!!

unless the school had a selective intake how many students in each school play a sport to county level? surely the group would be too small to teach in a state school

We also asked at options evening, the head of pe confirmed we do not need to do anything outside of school. I imagine if it's a sport you can't do in school it's up to the parents or student to provide evidence but that's their choice. The pe teacher did say he'd come to watch some league football games later on but that's it.

Taffeta the comment about sport outside of school I think probably means the school wanted committed sports people ie football not just played in PE lessons but also part of a local team that kind of thing. If your DC is keen on doing GCSE PE that you shoud be guided by what your school is telling you it doesn't matter what other schools are doing.

You don't have to be county level, but to get the top grades you have to be good.. It's not just performance and skills (I've got a précis of Edexcel spec by me as I type), and it includes decision making skills/strategies/compositional ideas (if relevant) taking into account personal strengths and weaknesses; there are also assessments on ideas/problem solving in play, psychological control, adherence to rules and fair play, teamwork/communication, and post match analysis/evaluation.

The coursework is all about making an activity plan, carrying it out and evaluating its results, not about the level of performance/skill at which it is carried out.

It's not just general performance skills, but even if it were, quite a lot is accuracy of movement, something which can be achieved without county level coaching (though of course those at that level for at least one sport are likely to score highly in that sport at least)