Choosing GCSE/Year 10 options: is Creative iMedia worth doing with the increasing use of AI?

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It's not actually a GCSE, it's a vocational qualification which DD is considering choosing alongside her GCSE options. She thinks she would enjoy it but I'm wondering if it will be one of those areas where AI will pretty much "take over". Would be grateful for any thoughts/advice, thanks

DD did the L2 BTEC in Creative Media Production and honestly it's probably been one of the most useful things she's ever studied.

She's on a work placement this week from her 6th form and was talking me through a task she'd done really well in yesterday. I said I was impressed that she even knew how to do x, y and z and her response was "Really? I did spend 3 years studying CMP".

It was also great not to have an exam for one qualification. Plus she has found college assignments really easy because she already understands the system and the levels needed for L3 BTEC. It's much more like university/real life than A levels, and because no exams they expect proper documenting, explanation and analysis at a high level.

One heads up - there is significant planning and written work in these courses. It's not all practical.

I wouldn't bother with it. So many people study media and end up working in irrelevant jobs because they can't break into it due to lack of jobs.

I got A* in ICT GCSE back when it was basically a test of Microsoft Office proficiency 😅

It has never been meaningful as a qualification, but I enjoyed it and it gave me a long lasting confidence to try things out and mess around with software, which has been genuinely useful. Sometimes the skills we learn are not the ones on the front of the course handbook.

There’s plenty of time to focus on career advancing qualifications in the future, let her try something for fun! We need more girls in tech annyway and you never know where it might lead.

If she thinks she'll enjoy it, and it's alongside GCSEs not in place of, the only consideration for me would be the additional time/work required.

My son and his cousin have picked creative imedia, it seems like a really great and comprehensive course. Let your daughter pick what she enjoys.

If you think about it as a course in “learning to present what you know succinctly, engagingly and creatively” then it sounds extremely useful long term! And if she thinks she’d enjoy it then no problem. AI might take over all sorts of things but it could help her to think about what she’s seeing as well.

She doesn't have to continue with it after GCSE'S, it could be fun and something different from the norm of other exams etc. However be mindful not a lot choose and if low in numbers they won't do it. My son school had about 4 apply our of 250 ish kids so they rejected those and didn't do the qualification for his cohort.

Creative iMedia is not media GCSE – and no one would suggest taking it would lead you to a career in the media. A friend's DS took it and ended up studying something related to it at uni, but not looking to be a journalist.

If she thinks she would enjoy it then it is a win. Presume it is just one GCSE or equiv out of 8-9-10 which also include English, maths, science, humanity? no worries.

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about what the course actually is - from people not familiar with it.

It is not 'media studies' - it is however a very useful subject because of the skills it teaches that have a very broad application. The way BTECs are structured it also far more like real life workplace skills than any GCSE, but there is immense snobbery around them, generally from those who have no idea what they entail. They are not lesser, they examine things beyond rote learning.

I would take it myself if it was offered online! 😁 I desperately need these skills to expand my own work.

I think people are still underestimating how useful this can be nowadays for various industries actually.

It’s a GCSE level subject, not degree. Not all learning has to be done with a future career in mind. Let her do something she enjoys.