Year 9 options - lots of BTEC instead of GCSE

[MojoDojoCasaHouse]

Year 9 DD has options (‘guided choices’) this month. She is ambitious academically and doing well. Didn’t sit the 11 plus due to anxiety. She has dyslexia but was undiagnosed at the point (big regrets).

She is aiming high to a traditional academic subject at Uni with the plan to be a secondary teacher in that subject.

Of the 14 optional subjects 7 are at GCSE (including history, geography, French) and 7 are technical awards only (including IT, music and business). At my other DCs school there are several subjects with an either/or technical or GCSE. They have also cut RS out which she is currently exceeding at and loves.

Should I be concerned about the lack of GCSE options?

BTEC Level 2 qualifications are taken as seriously by universities as GCSEs so don’t hesitate to pick BTECs if they float her boat.

Not everyone can pass level 2 qualifications so I think it’s good that everybody is given a chance to pass something.

Well as long as the options she wants to take as GCSEs are listed, which I assume they are as you've said Hist, Geo, Languages, then that's fine surely. One or two BTECs won't hurt if she wanted to pick one of those as well.

There were lots of BTEC options at DC school - but there were also enough academic GCSE to mean they took all GCSE in subjects they wanted.

They only had an option choice of 3 as everything else was mandatory up to 16.

Level 2 BTEC are equivalent to GCSE so count as the same - are accepted by A-level providers as the same level - they may suit her better than end of course exams so I wouldn't rule them out but ask more questions about the courses.

Thanks for all the replies. It is reassuring that the technical subjects will be acceptable for a-levels and beyond. She isn’t interested in the technical subjects offered. I think she should do French but she is reluctant as in her words ‘I can’t even spell in English’ plus she is nervous about the speaking as she struggles due to her slow processing and tends to trip over her words. She hates Geography so that’s out. She was intending to do RS and was encouraged to at the recent parents evening so I assume removing it was a recent decision.

I was really surprised that so many subjects were technical award only which I thought of is traditional GCSE subjects but I know that really suits some people. My other DD is doing travel and tourism and loving it.

We've gone with a mix for DD - she's also dyslexic. All the main academic ones are GCSE and then BTEC for one of the options. It's a big plus as no exams, so reduces the amount of subjects she's revising for in the run up to GCSE.

Just check the course content if it's something that she wants to potentially take at A level.

DD is looking at L3 Extended BTEC for 6th form and plenty of kids go on from that course to RG universities.

Most qualifications including BTECs and other technical awards have at least one exam now.

DD's current L2 BTEC is entirely assessment based.

The L3 BTECs she is considering for 6th form also have no exam components so that is probably subject dependent.

My dyslexic DS has done 2 Btechs amongst the GCSEs... very successful for him due to the coursework option. Both have an exam module but the majority is coursework based.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow Check the degree courses. Some want a specific A level as well. Not all degrees accept BTec only.

For GCSE, @MojoDojoCasaHouse is this a small school? Overall 9 GCSEs is fine but put in a BTec if she wants. I would check the degree she needs for teaching and work back to A level choices and GCSE choices. Many teachers teach more than one subject so look at complimentary A levels, eg Politics if she does History for example. What does she want to teach?

TizerorFizz it’s one of the smaller comps in the city, 7 form entry. The biggest let down is that she was so keen to do RE but the teacher has just left and they’re not planning to replace her. She’s now struggling with what subject to replace it. She was planning on history (her plan for degree subject), art, RS and something else. Now I think she will do history, art French and food tech. It’s fine but not what she wanted. The school used to have a bad reputation but has put a lot of effort into improving it’s reputation and is now rated Good and over subscribed. There has been a drop in ambition and support for more academic students since the MAT took over just over a year ago. I’m trying not to let the views of disenchanted teaching friends cloud my judgment.

@MojoDojoCasaHouse As RE is a core subject I’m surprised they cannot teach it to GCSE. I agree it’s disappointing. I agree it’s not a small school but maybe not so many academic dc? If she wants to study History for a degree, she can take history but I’m surprised she gets 4 more GCSE choices. Years ago, my DD did, but it’s rare now. DDs had to do a MFL, a humanity and an art/tech subject for breadth. RE was compulsory at their school! I agree it goes well with history. What A levels do they offer? Would she be better off moving for 6th form.

History will be one of the 4 choices. I feel guilty for not getting her diagnosed with dyslexia sooner and for not pushing harder for grammar. Her current school were all about valuing and encouraging more academically able students when we put it as first choice. It’s our local school and we were impressed 3-4 years ago.

Yes, she’ll have to move for sixth form I think. It’s a shame as she could have benefited from the contextual offer being at an inner city school.

Would you consider moving her for GCSE so she can do the GCSE option she wants to do? Especially if she will move for A levels?

As long as she is doing 8 traditional GCSE's then it doesn't matter if the others are BTEC type qualifications (with a few caveats)

eg If she is wanting to take A level music GCSE will prepare her better but if she is wanting to go down the more vocation/pop route Btec is fine. Similar with a couple of other subjects.

It's a shame about RS, my son's school didn;t offer it but my daughter's did and she continued it to A level. She loved the philosophy side of it.

DD has got over lack of RS and made her choices. She only got 3 and chose art, French and history, so quite traditional subjects. She looked into some of the technical awards but decided they weren’t for her. Her school is offering one less option than her sister’s school but with English being two grades she will have 8. The school have decided to do less subjects to get better grades in core areas.

DD is happy, the reward system in school benefits her really well and the art GCSE support offered sounds amazing and will really suit her.

No school is perfect but this is the best fit for her right now.

I appreciate all the responses.

They really should offer triple science to the better scientists. 8 is ok but lots do 9 because of triple science for the ambitiously academic.

School doesn’t offer triple science. If she was that way inclined I would move her. She’s definitely arts/humanities focussed.