Engineering or Design and Technology GCSE

[Sarjest]

Does anyone have any insight into Engineering or Design and Technology GCSE courses, please? There doesn’t appear to be much between them but both are on offer and DS has to choose one.

Thanks in advance.

DD is doing the Cambridge certificate, equivalent to a GCSE, in Engineering. It may be different for other exam boards. I can’t compare as she isn’t doing DT. What I have observed of the Engineering is:

• business case reasoning is required so not a standalone subject
• 30 hours course work - which as she doesn’t have any other course work is not proving problematic and is an advantage as she has 9 other subjects and 35 hours of exams in 2021
• Those of her friends doing Art have more to juggle on the coursework
• only one short exam
• it is led by a passionate teacher, it wasn’t I think it might be hard to do as so niche and not easy for another teacher to pick up
• whilst not important for an Engineering career it supports and blends well with schemes like the Arkwright scholarships which can be applied for in Y10.

Thanks, PettsWood. The engineering mark is slightly more geared to coursework so he thinks it’ll be easier, but he’ll have to up his game in writing for all the other exams.

I think he’d enjoy the business side.

Any other thoughts, anyone?

It depends exactly what is on offer for the DT course. My DS did what his school called ST - was resistant materials. Involved lots of practical, along with a final product being made around Easter of Y11 accompanied by a very long, detailed write up of the whole process. Also a final written exam. He loved it and has carried on for A level. This type of qualification is perfectly acceptable for many engineering uni courses (alongside eg maths, physics, chemistry etc).

DD started what her school called DT, but was actually under the Fine art curriculum. Basically involved an ongoing portfolio which was very heavy going (along the same lines as an actual art course) with the final exam being 'produce a product during the course of a 10 (?) hour exam' with no written paper. She swapped subjects fairly early on!

I suppose I am saying make sure you really understand what the specific course involves, rather than just going along with a general assumption of what 'DT' is.

Thanks, Seeline. Thankfully the DT is not linked to Fine Art as he would be awful at that! I’m surprised they offer both DT and engineering when they seem to be so similar. Not long to go before he submits his options.

Not sure about the new 9-1 DT course but my dd took DT Product Design for GCSE and most of the coursework marks were for making the product. The marks for designing it , evaluating it were much lower. I would say if your ds is good at making things to take DT, if he is more of an all rounder the Engineering may be a bit more balanced (wasn't offered at dds school though).