PE GCSE - rewards kids for just being naturally sporty?

[mids2019]

My daughter is taking GCSE PE and I have to say looking at assessment I wonder if it is quite fair to rate on sport skills when some children are naturally good at sport and to a large extent skill and ability are determined by such things as hand eye coordination. Also if you have say a visual impairment I don't see how think can be fairly accounts d for in terms of assemsent.

Has anyone got children doing GCSE PE and is it a fair exam with the ability to score a high grade without just being innately good at sport. Seems to me if you are lacking for what ever reason you can't just work harder to be Messi or Emma Raducanu!

DS did well in English Lit and he hasn't picked up a book since Year 8. It wouldn't surprise me if he never actually read the set texts even in class. They are however drilled to answer questions, learn quotes and go and see plays, watch performances on TV.

I see what you mean. I think I read it on MN yrs ago that you couldn't put in for a 'native' language, perhaps it was A'levels? but probably the same principle applies.

@MrsAvocetoh yes 100% the fault of the school. It’s a high achieving grammar they weren’t interested in anyone who wouldn’t get 8/9 even trying. The school down the road that she had friends at were much more accommodating.

Don't know what "native" speaker means for MFL languages but I know several of my friend's DCs who have done French at GCSE and also A level (got 9s and As) that are French speaking at home. I have a lot of French friends!

One of my DD’s did pe and got an a* for doing 3 sports she already was competing in and taking a coaching course that resulted in paid work in the holidays, but there was theory too, easy if you are already good at science. But it’s not alone, my other dd got an a star at music for doing something she was already getting paid work doing!

Just to say I can relate to this. My daughter was struggling with English and the teachers just kept saying 'read, read, read. Develop a passion'. She loves reading but her English hasn't improved a great deal so now we focus on revision guides and advice as the goal is to get a good grade. I know it's not what some want to hear but a lot of GCSE work is hoop jumping but they are important hoops

That's terrible @troppibambini6 and not, in my experience, even realistic. There were quite a lot of 8s and 9s in my DS's class and only a few of them were competing at above county level, particularly not in more than one sport. The second, and particularly 3rd sports are not infrequently done at a lower level. I know it's too late for your DD but just to reassure anyone else in a similar position who is reading, it absolutely is possible to get a high grade at GCSE without being a stellar performer in your chosen sports. You do need to enjoy sport of course and if you're not a top achiever on the sports field you might have to work a bit harder on the theory than someone who is competing at a higher level than you, but it can definitely be done.
It's harder at A level but even then you don't need to be an exceptional sports person. My DS got an A at A level and would probably have got an A star had he not made an uncharacteristic mess of one part of the exam, and he was playing at regional level, so good, but not really good. There is a bit of a misconception that you need to be knocking on the door of the Olympic squad in your sport to do well but that's not the case. You need to be a competent sports person who is good at science!
I'm sorry that your DD was prevented from doing a subject that she may well have enjoyed, that's really not fair of the school.

Yes agree about the reading.

My DS is a keen reader of varied and interesting books and always has been since he could read a book, but he "only" got a 5 in literature. There's not always a correlation. He got a 7 in Language however, which for him was a pleasant surprise.

My dd was absolutely useless at PE. It was a compulsory GCSE at her school. She got a grade b GSCE due to the written work.

The trouble is it has no specific meaning. As I say, I have had a student flagged to me as "they are German" when in fact they could speak a big of very basic German (mother was German); equally I have had a student with a parent who spoke the MFL to them and they were very fluent. Tho IME if they are also going to excel at other subjects and are in England they will have to do a lot of work on the MFL. In which case I reckon they deserve a decent grade.

This is a silly post. You should be good at sports to do GCSE PE in the same way you should be good at music, art, dance etc to gcses in those subjects.

yes hard agree with @MrsAvocet there about ability in sport.

DS took PE A level and got an A on TAGs – he offered footy which he played for a couple of local teams, pretty well but not even close to, say, academy standard.

I agree. I’m not good at music so didn’t pick it for GCSE. It’s not in any way unfair, it’s just expected. You pick the subjects you’re good at

This ties in a little with some of my laments upthread about the way the syllabus assesses. Some of the marking (not the markers' faults) is quite formulaic/box ticking, which isn't always a failsafe way of assessing something that necessarily turns rather a lot on personal response, interpretation and self expression etc.

Hahaha. You must not know much about sport if thats how you see it. My child used to put in hours & hours of training, physical preperation, mental training, travelling, research etc etc for her sport. I would love for anyone to tell her it didnt take.....how did you put it practise and dedication to improve.

Such an insult to thousands of people who spend time trying to improve at something just because it isnt a mainstream school subject.

I agree with this. Of course you can improve at sport if you work at it.
My youngest isn’t naturally sporty at all. She used to get upset that she was never picked for a school team, so I told her if she wants it she has to work at it.
She decided she wanted to play football and she practised. And practised and practised. Was easily the weakest on her team when she joined. Spent a lot of time on the subs bench. Kept going. Last season she was scouted by an academy.
She’s not going to be a professional, but she’s got to where she wants to be.

My DD, in year 11, has not even chosen her 3rd sport yet, the team sport. She's a good runner and rock climber. Very agile and fast moving is her thing, so any ideas on team sports she can pick up for some video evidence would be greatly appreciated! She's a good cyclist too, but that's another individual sport.

@Chobby that's amazing for your DD! Well done to her.

My son has 2 GCSEs in PE. If he played football he'd have got 2 more.

She would make a good winger in a rugby team ! Fast and agile…

team triathlon / relay triathlon or similar?

@cannyvalley ohh rugby, I hadn't thought of that! I will definitely put that to her.

@5hell Possibly, although I think you can only do one running type of activity and she's already doing running for individual. Perhaps if she choses cycling for an individual sport she might be able to see if there's a team running option. Good idea.

I would opt for something she does at school if possible. There isn't much time left really. If I recall rightly evidence usually has to be submitted to the exam board in Feb/March and school may have an earlier deadline. Starting a brand new sport, joining a club and collecting evidence independently at this stage is going to be a challenge. And don't forget the sport has to be competitive and off the approved list so your range of options is not massive. Obviously Summer sports are out of the question now too. What have her teachers suggested? They presumably do some team sports in school and/or have extracurricular clubs that she could join? Netball and badminton (you can include doubles as a team sport) were amongst to the most popular 3rd sport choices at my DC's school as they could be done at school.

Triathalon isn't on the approved list unfortunately and the individual components only appear as individual sports.

@MrsAvocet yes, you're right. The evidence has to be in by feb/march to the school and I think it's May to the exam board. DS did it last year so it's still fresh in my mind. The PE gcse provision at this school has been and still is spectacularly bad, no guidance on the video evidence, deadlines etc etc. We had to do most of the leg work ourselves to get the coursework in and provide the right evidence. If I'd known, I'd have got the kids to choose a different subject.