Starting GCSE syllabus a year early - not sure what to think

[Akiddleydiveytoo]

So I have a DD who is currently in Yr9. Last year her school decided to change the way they approached GCSE preparation by getting the DC to choose their GCSE options in Yr8 instead of Yr9 and actually starting the GCSE syllabuses in Yr9 rather than in Yr10. The DC will still take their exams in Yrs 10 & 11 (so no exams in Yr9) but, in effect, they will be doing their 2 year GCSE courses over 3 years and I'm not sure how I feel about this.

The school say it's because they often struggle to cover the whole syllabus in just 2 years and this way they can spend more time going into greater detail and teaching them the skills they need to be effective in the subject instead of just giving them the information that they need to learn. They talked about developing their analytical and reasoning capabilities and teaching exam technique etc.

Part of me can understand that reasoning but part of me is also thinking that they are just doing this to improve their exam results (which are already very high) at the expense of the DC wider education. That they are maybe just teaching them how to pass exams rather than providing them with a well rounded education. It doesn't really sit right with me that they have already narrowed their field of study and are effectively missing out on a whole year of learning new things. I also think this is also going to result in a much bigger jump from GCSEs to A levels (which IMHO is quite large enough already).

Getting good GCSE results are important, but so is receiving a well rounded education - I quite enjoyed learning a wide range of subjects when I was in Yr9, even if I didn't then go on to study them at GCSE level.

Would appreciate the thoughts of others on this policy as I really can't make my mind up if I think it's a good idea or not

Lots of grammar schools do this so that they can fit in an extra GCSE of further maths or whatever. It works to get great results but means they drop arts and languages too early ime.

I thought the government had put a stop to this about two years ago.

My school has done this for at least 15 years.

They're a bit late to the party. Lots of schools did this when the new gcse specs started because of the content. Lots of schools are swapping back because oftsted have been critical of 2 year KS3 curriculums which don't always fit everything in. In my subject there is no way we could teach it in 2 years.

Lots of schools already do this.

It gives them more time consolidate their learning and bridge gaps. Lots of schools have started it since covid when they realised anything can happen and recruitment and retention became an issue.

Better to have 3 years doing a subject rather than 2. Especially if you struggle to get specialist in the subject.

Ofsted frowns upon it but the reality is course content has increased and it’s often the only way to fit in teaching the full course.

For what it's worth, we are in Wales so are not subject to Ofsted (although we do have our own regulatory body - ESTYN)

Sounds like school are probably stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. I wouldn’t be happy about dropping extra subjects early, but I can see that they don’t really have a choice if that’s what they need to do to ensure good GCSE results.

It doesn't really matter what you think, though, does it? The school has made the decision to do this - as have many other schools - and either you keep your DC enrolled there or you look for another school. Schools can't run their academic decisions through parents, all of whom will have different opinions.

FWIW we start teaching GCSE in my subject at Easter in Y9 as it is massively content heavy and it's the only way we can cram it all in. The alternative is to let students sit 3 exams thinking, 'Golly I hope there is nothing after Pg 23 of textbook 3 on the exam paper as that's as far as we got...' And yes, that will affect our exam results.

It's not a happy state of affairs.

This has been pretty normal for many yearss - my DC both started their GCSE courses in Yr9 after choosing options in Yr8. There's pros and cons - the massive amount of content in the new style GCSEs means more time is beneficial, and for those DC who already have strong ideas about what they want to do, it means they can ditch the subjects they have no interest in pursuing. This was an enormous benefit for my DC who were beyond glad to get shot of DT, Music etc. For other students it's a narrowing of the curriculum that just comes too early so it's very much swings and roundabouts.

I think its fine. Easter would be a good time. As long as there are tests to assess them so they know which subjects to pick.
there are say 18 tersm ks3 and if it wers to be easter they would have done 16/18
If they do all y9 they would only have done 12/18 though

an issue would be for those who like a lot of subjects and cant take all at gcse. They may miss music art or d&t.

i did spanish gcse in 1 year and a level i n 2 years of just 3 hrs a week.

I took my GCSEs 12 years ago at a state school. We began GCSEs in year 8. I took 3 exams in year 9 (humanities, french and IT). Then, in year 10, I took Maths, English Lang, and a couple of others such as media studies and catering. Did the rest in year 11, plus two AS levels.

Overall, I left with 14 GCSEs at A and A* and 2 AS levels at grade A.

I think it worked quite well because the top-set kids had an opportunity to study AS levels or subjects such as further maths, statistics, economics, etc., that weren't offered as standard.

We still had variety in years 9 and 10. The only difference was that we got GCSEs out of some of the more creative subjects.

Also, because everyone took Maths and English in year 10, there was plenty of opportunity for resits if necessary.

It took a lot of pressure off because the exams were spaced out. If I'm honest, though, by the time I went to college, I was 100% burned out.

Overall I think it depends on the child.

I agree with username doing some early would be ideal.
Personally i think doing say 10 subjecrs at once is part of the issue.
I have a bad memory so so many tests at once isnt great but doesnt change my ability.
I would have taken languages early and may have done better.
However sitting eng/maths early probably would be bad news fpr the youngest in the year as they are already just 15 and would be 14.
My dd is in y7 and tbh i think she could be ready for gcse mfl maybe in y8.

They do this at the school my DC attend. They argue that it's to ensure that they cover the content and also so that they can continue to fit non-GCSE lessons into the timetable too. So they do more sport than most schools in Yrs 10 & 11 for example. Or that's what they say!

DD's school do this.

It's great - they take some GCSEs early, and the others they seem to spend Y9 doing a kind of preparation for GCSE course and then start the actual course in the summer term.

For kids with SEN it can also help with a more manageable workload.

Loads of schools do this. My school does this. I don't agree with it, but we cannot possibly cover the whole curriculum in just Years 10 and 11.

Mine did this about 15 years ago. Worked for them although there was a very strong push to ensure all core areas were covered (science/maths/humanities/arts). I think it allowed them to pick the area they enjoyed the most and cover in more depth. Eg drop geography but more history. Both of mine have a strong lean in one area (humanities for one, science/maths for the other) but also are pretty strong in the other areas

where it could cause a problem is when they are equal across the board at year 8. That’s when the broader curriculum for another year could help

Don't most schools do this kind of / partly anyway? I mean in year 9, if you had any common sense you'd be teaching them the stuff you thought they needed to know for gcses's. Even if some schools don't do it / announce it so brazenly, they'd be stupid not to. If you know the syllabus and you know you can't fit it in, to 2 years, 10 & 11, then the only sensible thing is to start teaching basics / some of it, in year 9.

At DD2's school they used to start GCSEs in Y9, then split taking the exams over Y10 and Y11, as follows:

Y10: maths, physics, chemistry, biology, ICT, PE (option), RE (short course). You could do double science and then have another option.
Y11: English Lang, English Lit, further maths, statistics, MFL, history (option).

There was one serious consequence of this, which I can explain further if anyone's interested.

i would be interested to know the consequence, thing47

We found it impossible to cover the edexcel gcse history in 2 years - the content was just too huge. We started in year 9 and even then only just managed to finish with a bit of revision time. It made us sad. And yes, ofsted don't like it! We're a private school though. The size of contact has been a key factor in pushing us to the IGCSE.

I was worried about this from the broader education stance but it worked well for my son.

The reality was a lot of the subjects he dropped were only taught once a week on a carousel so he was missing say 12 hours of art education.

The behaviour also improved in all his options as everyone had picked them and saw the point.

DD did this. Good for the reasons already mentioned plus she could drop a few subjects she didn't like (music, German, computing, geography) She still had a good variety of subjects and enjoyed the greater depth. Plus it just about made time to do maths and further maths for some.

There’s pros and cons to this.
Some kids are happy to drop some subjects eg my kids all dropped drama and started new subjects - they started psychology, media and business studies between them. Some subjects are only taught once a fortnight so not really teaching them anything.
As you say for some it’s too hard to drop subjects because they don’t know or their interests are wide and don’t match option blocks. Eg my son would have liked to have done Food Tech and DT but had to pick one. In year 8 he had them for a term each (the other term was Art)

Not where we live, the grammars are often still introducing entirely new subjects in both year 8 and 9, that way students have a wider choice of languages etc at GCSE as they've had chance to try more, and the arts are thoroughly championed!

There are some schools in my area that do take options in yr8, I personally avoided those when choosing schools for the reasons others have mentioned as down sides, that being said, I can see for some children it would be a real benefit so it's good those schools exist too.