GCSE Media

[Hello1290]

Has anyone's DC studied Media at GCSE or above? DD has options evening coming up and I've looked at the syllabus and think it's probably something she would enjoy. She's creative definitely not strong in sciences or maths. Did Media actually prove to be useful to anyone's DC?

Dd1 year 10 is enjoying it, I couldn’t tell you much else.

As long as you balance it with a range of more academic subjects I think it's fine to have something fun they just enjoy. DD did drama, Ds1did cooking, etc, alongside geography, MFL, triple science.

A mate of DD's took art, drama, music and sociology which did make me a bit, you'd not be allowed to do that at any school I know.

Thanks - I want her to choose subjects she enjoys. She isn't academic but will take the core subjects of Maths, English, Science, RE, plus one humanity then two choices which will both be on the creative side I think. The problem is there are a lot of option subjects which the students haven't previously studied so it's a bit difficult to make choices on that basis. There is an options fare at the end of the month though so I'm hoping it may become clearer then!

I think it can be quite helpful to look at the revision guides for the subjects (available for perusal at WHSmiths, and possibly also at the options evening). Then they can see whether the info looks interesting.

Definitely check how much is doing versus analysing and writing.

You cannot really describe it as useful. It is a GCSE. To be honest, Drama and Art are more useful because they require an obvious talent to do well. DD who is arty did both of these but we would not have encouraged Media because she did English Lit and English Language, History and RE plus Drama so it would just be another "essay" subject. Drama is excellent for confidence if it is taught well. It also goes very well with English. Art gets you on to Art courses you cannot access without it. Media does not access anything. You do not need Media GCSE for any further study so many schools do not offer it. However if she likes it, why not?

I think in today's jobs market you can't get anything more relevant than media unless it's computer science! The world of work is changing and being media savvy is important. My son is doing it at A level and all the unis have looked on it favourably. It isn't just watching telly! There is a huge English element as well, analysis of different genres and awareness of stereotyping. He really enjoys it which is half the battle!

Personally I think this would be a very good subject to do. So much of people's lives are affected by media. Official media (BBC news, newspapers), social media, fake media. Advertising could come under the 'media' umbrella - how adverts work and influence people - how do we learn what is truthful, what fake. How people use media to spread a message and so much more. It may not 'lead' to an A-level or whatever but this is an important part of 21st century life. It's life knowledge.

Thanks for all opinions. I will look for a revision guide that's a very good tip. I'm kind of thinking now it probably is useful as life knowledge like you say bookmum but that's a huge positive. DD does enjoy her English lessons so if it links in to English too it could be a good choice for her.