Computer science GCSE?

[bloolagoon]

My son will be picking his options very soon. He's doing ok at school, is academically pretty average. His only real love is sport, but he doesn't mind maths and there are a few other subjects he quite enjoys.

He keeps changing his mind about his final GCSE option. Alongside the mandatory maths, English, science, he wants to do PE, Geography and business plus...what? He's flipped from drama to RE to history but with no real love for any of them. He hates languages and isn't interested in anything art or design-y.

All along I've said he can chose what he likes, as he'll be the one doing them. But, over the last week or so I've been campaigning for him to pick ComSci. My reasoning is that so many jobs in the future will rely on computing skills. It seems like an opportunity missed.
He used to enjoy it and did want to do it, but he's found it harder the year. He also told me he messed up a recent test as he didn't listen to the instructions so answered the questions in the wrong way.

His dad is a programmer so can support him wit the course as needed.

Is a comsci GCSE desirable regarding employability and life skills? Or am I thinking too much about it and should just let him get on with choosing a subject that he'll feel more confident doing as at the end of the day it's the grades that matter?

Bump?

Tbh I don’t think CS GSCE is necessarily required in life. You can take the A level and do a degree in it without the GCSE as I understand it. Maths is key there.

DS2 took CS and didn’t love it. Not that that proves much. It was his choice but I wouldn’t have pushed it to him if he wanted to take RE instead.

What is your DS saying he wants to do? If it isn’t CS then let him choose. Tho I might steer him away from drama if not a passion tbh – people who are not committed to drama are a bit of an issue in the group work.

I agree that I'd say no to drama if he doesn't love it. RE requires a lot of writing in the exams - but it's considered one of the easier GCSE's if that makes a difference. History is also a lot of writing - and far more difficult than RE IMO. Comp sci is not that exciting at GCSE but if it might be something he'd do at A-level then doing the GCSE will make that easier.

If he wants to go into something related to PE though then it probably doesn't matter much which he chooses - and I'd probably just go for RE. Then I'd suggest biology and psychology/sociology as his other A-level choices.

CS GCSE won't give him any real advantages in life. If he ever wants to go into computing he can teach himself how to code.
There are two parts to the GCSE. The coding part is most enjoyable if you love coding in your spare time. Some in the class will be doing that already so have a head start over the rest.
The other part is very dry and is about data types, networks, the 5 layer TCP model, Boolean, binary and hexadecimal stuff. If you're not very interested, it's quite hard to learn as it is so dry and doesn't relate to real life like eg science and geography.
I would encourage anyone with a real interest in computing to do it, but if not then I would only recommend it if there really is nothing else they could do

Thanks all, that's really helped. I'll stop "suggesting" he takes CS as I sounds like it's not that helpful unless he really likes it.
Back to him making his own choices. He has to do all the really important ones so he can have free reign with the rest!

Is a comsci GCSE desirable regarding employability and life skills? Or am I thinking too much about it and should just let him get on with choosing a subject that he'll feel more confident doing as at the end of the day it's the grades that matter?
~

Agree with what SaveTheNHS said - there is no particular employability advantage with a CS GCSE. Plenty of opportunity exists to learn it later if he really likes it.

The syllabus is not ideal for someone who is not already into it. Some areas like computer architecture will be excruciatingly dull if he doesn't love the subject already. Sometime back I had a moan about how poor GCSE CS syllabus is and number of parents and teachers shared their experience here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4752091-gcse-computer-science-how-do-dcs-feel-about-the-syllabus?reply=124241253

I work in this area and have hired graduate trainees for software development jobs and never looked for GCSE CS. A degree is CS is highly relevant and helps, but many people from other numerate degree also enter this sector without any issues.

I agree that the theoretical parts of GCSE CS are incredibly dull and not easy unless you have a mind for it.

Another issue is that schools have real difficulty recruiting CS teachers. My son has had 6 teachers in a row over the course of his GCSE, 4 of them without teaching qualifications. 5 of them knew less about CSci than my older son who took the A level. It's a total shitshow. Fortunately for ds2, he can already do the coding part, and the dry-learning part is easy to teach yourself (or get your big brother to teach you).
The school are still offering both the gcse and the A level, despite knowing how incompetent the teacher is.

I think this is a two fold situation, one, he needs to try to take subjects that he likes or will at least tolerate because the goal here is to get the highest grades at GCSE. This then usually leads onto higher grades at A level which in turn leads to more choice with universities or jobs. This is the most important thing for you to talk to him about. He may need to supplement what school teach with finding other resources online to improve his understanding of a subject. Youtube is great for this.

The second part is you don't have to like the game to play it. See it as a game, unlocking levels, grafting through bullshit and boring topics to get the highest scores. Learn what gets marks, read the English books ahead of studying them ie in the 6 week summer holidays.

In terms of subjects, don't push CS if he doesn't like it, even for those that do want to study it a lot of it is boring content. History is a heavy workload in terms of learning dates and what is happening in the world at certain times. However, it feeds really nicely into English lit in terms of knowing what society was like when books or poems were written. Depending on what topics they cover it can really help.

The other thing to look at for yourself is if you don't know that university is going to probably cost you an arm and a leg look into that now and start saving, or selling a kidney. Two hopefully useful resources for you

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/674348-progression-from-gcse-to-a-level-2018-2020.pdf

https://www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html

RE sounds the easiest out of the options he has.

If he goes to school with people from other religions that are covered on the syllabus it will seem even easier as he can relate what he's learning to people he knows.

My DC's school didn't even offer CS at GCSE, but it was a popular A level choice (the new spec had just come in) - I think that shows how little it's needed for computer science later on.

AFAIK the GCSE is a good choice for those who are keen on the subject. But it isn't going to bring any particular advantage.

If anyone is reading this because they have a DC who is interested in computer science, the most important subject is maths (and for the few most competitive entry courses, FM is normally expected unless the school does not offer it).

Hi @bloolagoon !

I would relax and let him do what he wants. It will not matter in the long term. Kids also change their minds about subjects and university courses and careers, often well into their twenties. (My daughter did a major U-turn on her university subject choice after Year 12 and then another major U-turn, about her career, after her university first year.)

In terms of studies and training, I know many successful adults who did some sort of conversion course to get onto their eventual career choice. For example, from a Music degree to technology and now working happily as a programmer.

The technologists I know all say that Computer Science is mainly Maths and the hardware stuff is all Physics and Engineering. Practical specialisms such as web design are best learned through focused, certificated courses and enthusiasm.

Ds chose CS over media studies. He wasn't sure which one to take because he was worried he won't like CS. But I think it's better to try it now rather than in A levels only to notice he doesn't like it.

He goes to an incredibly diverse school and has a very diverse group of friends. For example, he already knows more about Islam than I do from learning from his mates.

I'll try an have lots of little no-pressure chats over the next couple of weeks to try and help him make a decision.

Thanks all!

My dd was very academically able. She got all 7-9s at GCSEs and As and A stars at alevel.

She decided to take cs as one of her options as she felt she wanted to keep her choices balanced and it would be a good way of doing this. Her other choices were drama, re, history and Spanish with no further maths and double science.

She hated it. She said you need a natural flair for it and she didn't have it so found it very hard. Has he had a decent amount of time studying it?

I would not push him to study CS now or in the future unless he has a heart for it.
Especially that considering university degree those who want to study anything to do with IT are also taking Advanced Maths

Dd chose computer sceience. And hasn’t stopped moaning that she wishes she had chosen RE!

DS did CS GCSE as he loves computers and found it interesting in yrs 7&8.

He hated the GCSE course though - super boring. Also as pp said, his school struggled to get Cs teachers, he had several over the 2years. One left 6 weeks before the exams and wasn't replaced so they had subs.

Most kids did v badly in the actual exams - only 50% passed. DS was predicted a grade 8 and got a 4 despite getting great results in all his other 8 subjects.