2 GCSEs to choose from DT, German, Geo, RS - critique is welcome please

[pasok1000]

My son is choosing :
Maths
Triple science
Engl
Comp Science
History

Now he needs to add 2 GCSEs from:
DT, German, Geo, RS

Please what woudl be your critique?

@3littlebeans
There are bright Dc who are good at everything. They need guidance. Taking the “wrong” GCSEs cuts off A level progression in lots of subjects. If a Dc is poor at lots of subjects but decent at a few, that’s pretty clear what a Dc should do. When dc are good at most things and are possibly trying to keep options open that are not sciences, there should be discussion so routes are not closed down as far as that is possible.

For example: History gcse is good grounding for Politics A level. Photography less good. RS is useful for Philosophy A level, as is History. Dance not do much. Geography A level is best studied after gcse. Geography goes well with Biology for some careers. Biology is compulsory but Geography is not. So a wise choice is vital.

If you like arts, do more arts, but A levels for some careers do matter and therefore GCSEs matter. Very few people getting into elite universities for hugely competitive courses don’t have academic A levels studied after suitable GCSEs and, importantly, guidance.

But he's already doing plenty of academic A levels!? If he wants to do A level German or Geography then I presume he would have chosen those at GCSE. If he doesn't want to do one of the four choices at A level then it really doesn't matter which two he chooses!

Very few people getting into elite universities for hugely competitive courses don’t have academic A levels studied after suitable GCSEs and, importantly, guidance

Oh fgs. He's doing plenty of academic gcses to take his pick of A levels. My dc got offers from Durham, Exeter, St Andrews and Edinburgh and had 9 Gcses, one of which was DT and - horror - a btec in Sport!

Certain elite universities don't even do arts. Well, not design courses anyway.

All rounders need guidance, but the guidance is still the same to do what you will enjoy, not what you think might impress a future employer, unless you already have a path in mind which requires 3 single sciences etc. Otherwise you toddle along through life trying to looking impressive but gradually giving up on your dreams.

Most at the grammar school are all rounders in the sense of being capable at most subjects - but really if they don't enjoy history for example there's no point t taking it to "keep your options open".

A humanity, an art and a language is a good guiding principle however if they hate all music/drama/art then taking one to be "rounded" isn't worth it.

Similarly if they have 0 language skills and hate speaking in front of people then, controversial, but not taking a language isn't the end of the world. I only remember snippets from my A* grade in France for example.

A balanced ks3 will give them a good grounding and then it really is best to choose the subjects you enjoy. Particular as maths/English/science are required so that's the main bases covered.

Taking geography if you hate it to keep options open is pointless. Instead it's the other way round - a love of history might lead to an interest in politics for A level. A love of music might lead to music A level. A love of RP might open up philosophy as you say but it stems from an interest.

Subjects like psychology and philosophy don't have prerequisites but look instead at your other grades and interests.

And yes as for the OP her son already has 7 academic choices. The extra 2 really should be up to her child.

He already has a good spread. Plenty of academics and has English Bacc (if anyone cares any more)

So unless he is particularly interested in one of those subjects for later, because it complements his future choices, then he will find it easiest and do best in subjects that he likes and enjoys.

Because he is doing 11, then he has a broad choice.

I would always encourage them to keep a broad spectrum unless they are heading down a specific route, but he already HAS a broad spectrum.

I would say - is he enjoying/good at essays? Two of mine got rid of as many essay subjects as possible at this point. (grammar school, 10 GCSEs etc etc)
Also, would he benefit from having one completely non academic subject like DT? It is nice to have something in the week which is completely different/creative.

I am all in favour of a broad spread of GCSE (where appropriate) and continuing with language and humanity if possible. But as I and others have already said, OP's DS has that here. YY if he longed to take Geography A level, surely the GCSE would be automatic? He should choose what he wants at this stage.

DS2 took PE GCSE and then PE A level and still got offers to take his science degree from RG unis. He's at Lboro which is not RG but IMHO it's fab anyway. They didn;t seem to mind his non-academic A level tbh.

And whatever anyone says (and I know not many people are saying this) you cannot avoid closing doors with your GCSE choices. And that's fine. It is literally the nature of the beast. As long as any possible A level choices (science, geography, MFL, art, dance, whatever) are covered in your GCSE (excluding things like sociology or psych or gov/pol, which don;t require specific GCSEs) then you are good.

One point - RE can vary, it can be heavy on ethics and philosophy. That is actually a really good grounding for debating and discussion.
So if he is interested in anything like PPE at uni, then that might be a good one to choose.
Less so if it is mostly an account of the major religions

It's half of both at gcse

Yes RE seems to have veered back towards being a bit more "religious " it appears from the outside. It was heavily philosophy and ethics when I took it. Or maybe it was just the emphasis of the teacher

I did similar subjects (double Eng lang and lit instead of Comp Sci). I was, and remain, really, spectacularly crap at art and music as an academic subject. I did plenty of “expressive” stuff in my own time (dance, visiting galleries, attending ballets, operas and concerts). I play an instrument. I play a lot of sports. My GCSE choices haven’t restricted me in any way.

If your DS is better at academic subjects than creative ones, let him pick them. I’d have been absolutely miserable if I’d been forced to do GCSE art, would probably have ended up with a C (I got A/A* in the subjects I picked), and definitely wouldn’t have found it relaxing or creative. I would have found it intensely stressful. Whereas I loved history, languages and sciences, and found them very straightforward to study.

I also dropped French because I hated the teacher! And she hated me. So I think that is totally reasonable (I did German).

you've got all the important bases covered so I think it's best you step back and let him choose freely. it's important that he feels "ownership" of the choice and this will be helpful when the going gets tough - it's so much more difficult to get a child to pit in the required work if they can say "I never wanted to study xxxx anyway"

yes, my DS loves philosophy and ethics but the course offered at school is heavily into the religious aspect with the elements that are most enjoyable being less than 15% of the course. he's not going to carry on with it

Jeime yes that's what my daughter has found. Lots more emphasis on Christianity and bible verses than I imagined there would be!

I'd go for R/S because it's really interesting and German because a language is always useful.

He's already doing French.

RE has always had a variety of syllabi. Some look at world religions some have a narrower focus.

Even if the school uses the same exam board and specification eg AQA has a syllabus aimed at RC students so it mainly looks at RC teachings and only looks at one other faith either Islam or Judaism.

I am sure I did mainly philosophy and ethics with a bit of Christianity thrown in. And even then the Christian bit related to the ethics so we could do situational ethics/catholic/c of e viewpoint/Liberal. I think the way it was taught it was woven in and the focus was on the ethics/philosophy.

My daughter is having tons of lessons on the nuts and bolts of Christianity, Jesus as saviour, lots of Bible verses. It's not a religious school. She thinks they're doing Buddhism as well (it must have used to be just 1 religion when I was small in the dark ages) which she was more interested in but the full on Sunday School approach was something I told her RP wasn't anymore . Oops.

Anyway sidetrack!

I would say go with what he is good at and enjoys. Languages are always of course so useful in life he's good at then I would go with french as that's easier to pick up other languages from should he choose to kive in Spain or Italy later in life

Why not do German, which is on offer, so he could live in Germany or France and get a whole host of other careers?

He's said he's interested in DT and German - so it makes sense to do these to be honest.

Any from the 4 would be fine.

Why not do German, which is on offer, so he could live in Germany or France and get a whole host of other careers?

Do you mean due to language skills? At GCSE level?!? 😂

If he has a love for German and intends pursuing it much further, sure. Fluency would come, much further down the line.

But I did GCSE German. At 16 I could have had a lovely conversation with you about my likes and dislikes or a handful of other carefully pre-learned, specific topics. I could have counted to a thousand, asked where the nearest toilet or cafe was or told you all the colours 😎 Plus probably a couple of hundred key words.

But the suggestion that a second-language GCSE in any language would somehow open you up to the foreign job market of that country is...optimistic...at best.