GSCE English, anxious child, gothic horror

[StrongLegs]

Hi,

My ASD son is extremely anxious and would really rather avoid the gothic horror part of GCSE English. The teacher said it would be fine for us to pay a tutor for him to learn a different text. However she said that the exam will contain an unseen text, which from her experience tends to be pretty horrible (she gave the example of "the shooting of the elephant" by George Orwell, and then a train wreck in another year.)

We are seeking professional help for my son's anxiety. However, I just wondered if anybody knows of a different exam board that has a GCSE English qualification or equivalent that doesn't have a load of horror in it? Even the Scottish or Irish qualification board might be okay if we could access it from England. Alterantively, would the exam board have any way to help, with special provision? It's AQA for language and OCR for literature.

I really would like to avoid having my son exposed to even more horror as he's had enough. His ASD makes his life extremely hard, and he had a lot of forced medical treatment as a baby/toddler, and what with covid and all that, he's really had enough.

He's diagnosed level 1 ASD and is not eligible for an EHCP becasue he is doing fine (thriving even) in all other areas. He is at smart as a whip intellectually, and gets 7s, 8s and 9s in most subjects.

Thanks so much in advance for any ideas.

Thanks for posting this

I don't have any advice but I have a y9 DC with similarly issues of anxiety and difficulty dealing with having to read about traumatic issues so I am really grateful that you posted this, gives me a heads-up for a potential future challenge.

Thanks for saying so. I hope we will get some good advice.

As the teacher said he can do a different text. There isn't a unit of 'gothic horror' but the choice of texts for boards includes at least Jekyll&Hyde, A Christmas Carol and I think maybe Frankenstein. They are all shorter novels which is why they can be good to study. I don't know what else is there (DD did J&H).

A Christmas Carol might be a better option for him if his board includes it? Apparently A Muppet Christmas Carol is a pretty good adaptation.

wrt Unseen texts for language I don't know how they are picked. I think it is pot luck whether you get something you can relate to.

I am going to tag @MrsHamlet as she is an English teacher and knows far far more than I do on all of this.

This shows you the options for set texts for OCR English Literature: https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/english-literature-j352-from-2015/specification-at-a-glance/

Your 'gothic horror' is probably J&H?
Select one from:

• Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

From that list if choosing an alternate I would go with A Christmas Carol. Nice and short, and some good film adaptations. Taught a lot so study guides and related youtubes easily available.

Though I guess you could stay away from anything scary and do P&P and watch the BBC adaptation.

Unfortunately, there’s no way round the unseen texts for GCSE English Language. For Lit, the choice of texts does vary somewhat, you can see what the options are on the exam boards websites, so it’s worth looking at them. DS may be entitled to access arrangements, but he will still have to sit the papers.If DS is struggling he could sit just one English GCSE rather than both.

You could look at iGCSE syllabi. I think, although couldn’t be certain, that iGCSE English Lang often includes a non-fiction excerpt. You could also consider functional skills. These also have unseen texts, but like iGCSE they are often, at least in part, non-fiction.

I have no idea about other qualifications.

As an aside, if DS’s anxiety is this limiting along with you saying his ASD makes his life extremely hard then you should consider requesting an EHCNA. EHCPs are about far more than academic ability.

Thank you very much for tagging @MrsHamlet.

I should say that the head of English has been super-helpful and is very approachable, so that at least has been a great weight off the mind. It's just the exam unseen text is tricky, because obviously she has no control over that.

I wondered if there might be special arrangements with the exam board that can be made for a very anxious child.

Just to be clear, in case you aren't:
Lit has unseen poetry
Lang has 3 unseen texts, 1 in paper 1 (fiction) and 2 in paper 2 (factual)

You can see the JCQ’s policy on access arrangements here.

You called, @TeenDivided ;)

I don't know the OCR lit spec but I've just had a look and I wonder whether Pride and Prejudice might be your best choice for the 19th century novel. Any of the modern texts should be okay.

As for the Lang, the boards can't make special provision - it's simply not possible.

Incidentally, I'm not sure I agree with the teacher that the texts are "pretty horrible". Last summer was camping, we've had surfing and cycling and sweets, the Orwell was about the elephant but not about it being shot... I'm actively looking at yesterday's paper now and the "train wreck" is described as "sprawling foolishly".

*Actually looking, not actively. Although I suppose it was more than passive looking.

Thanks so much, this is really really helpful.

@MrsHamlet How do I find the past papers? It would be great to see these train and elephant exerpts so we can get a sense of what they're like. DS can be okay with some things and not with others. It's possible that he would be quite happy with these. It would just be so helpful to have some really concrete information on what's coming.

@TeenDivided I think that pride and prejudice and possibly war of the worlds are our good options as DS can manage science fiction much better usually (killer robots are not as scary as real people somehow). I have bought copies of both, and DS chose the edition so the cover was to his taste, which often helps.

I didn't realise that Jane Eyre was an option. I will look at that too.

We already read a Christmas Carol and it was not well received at all because it was about ghosts, one of whom had a jaw bone that tended to fall off during conversations. Eeeek!

@ThomasWasTortured Thank you for mentioning the EHCNA. I do wonder about that. I have an appointment with a man who used to be a social worked and now consults privately on help for ASD kids, so it's possible that he will be able to give us advice on that. The problem is that DS masks heavily in school and so we only see at home what he is having to cope with and what he actively enjoys. Getting an outside perspective from someone that DS can be honest with, will help, I think.

Thanks also for the mention of the iGCSE syllabus. I will look at that too.

@StrongLegs if you go to the AQA website and look for GCSE English language, all of the un-embargoed papers are there.
Elephants was November 19. The paper 1 last year included a scorpion sting.
There is no "theme" to the texts, although the questions are entirely predictable.

If you search aqa gcse english language past papers you should find stuff on their website.

Jane Eyre has some nasty bits, I'd avoid that myself for an anxious child. She is bullied by her cousin and aunt the school is tough, Bertha Mason, ..

I definitely agree to avoid Jane Eyre! Great book but hard going

Thank you very much, we'll avoid Jane Eyre, and I'll look for the past papers.

This is really such great help. Thank you very much.

Oh that's odd. It says in the paper that the elephant text can't reproduced online because of copyright restrictions. How do I get to see the actual text?

https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-papers-and-mark-schemes/2019/november/AQA-87002-INS-NOV19-CR.PDF

PM me your email. I have it.

Thank you for that @MrsHamlet. It's positively bland isn't it, and the elephant doesn't even get shot. It just eats some grass while a man thinks about possibly having to shoot it. Well that's a great relief. Phew!

@StrongLegs yes. Which is why I was honestly a bit baffled by the teacher! I can't share the train one but it's in the same vein.
I'd like to say that I doubt (and I've been teaching 22 years) that an extract that could be classed as "gothic horror" would be picked for the exam. I can't say that because I don't know, but if you look at all of the papers we've ever had on the spec, it seems unlikely.

Have a look at IPSEA and SOSSEN for information about EHCPs. I would request an EHCNA even if school/other professionals try to put you off. You can get an EHCP for academically able DC who mask.

That's really great weight off my mind. Thank you very much. I told DS about the elephant and he is so relieved too.

Do you happen to know if Jekyll and Hyde is actually scary? I read the plot description on wikipedia and it didn't sound nice at all and I don't want to read it to find out, because I'm also really highly strung.

I did read the first 62 pages of " A Monster Calls" to help DS and it messed me right up for months.

The English teacher says it would help if DS could do Jekyll and Hyde rather than do something else with a tutor, because all their teaching materials (preumably for revision and mock exams and stuff) are geared around that. It doesn't sound like a very nice book at all though.

I think it might be better if I pay a tutor to do war of the worlds with him one year and Pride and Prejudice the next year. That would be during the 6 week slots when they would be doing proper horror in year 8 and Jekyll and Hyde in year 10. DS likes science fiction and DH thinks he might be okay with war of the worlds, though DH has not actually read it.

It's tricky though, because I know the more we diverge from the mainstream teaching the harder it is going to be for DS feel secure in getting a good grade and to know what he's doing.

He's going to be doing the exam on a computer in the computer room too, not in the main exam hall, because of motor problems.

Avoid Jekyll. It's not very nice. I've read approximately 27535886227 essays about a character "trampling calmly" over a child.
I wouldn't do two novels from the list though. The potential for muddling what needs to be done and infringing rubric is bad enough without adding to it.
I can't help with OCR but I know AQA like the back of my hand, so let me know if I can help.

Thank you very much that's really good to know about Jekyll and Hyde. It does sound grim.

If it's better to just stick with one book from the list, do you think it would be okay to ask a tutor to use the other time to do Henry James "A Portrait of a Woman" with him, or something like that?

I showed him the first page during lockdown school, and he smiled so broadly and said "This man is my kind of writer."

We also did one of Mozart's operas and he loved that.

I side-stepped all the school books during lockdown as they were all really grim.

It's such a shame that there is a struggle with texts, because DS is considered to be a "greater depth writer" and writes very articulately. Since he started typing his essays in school I showed them to relatives, and they are all dumbfounded at the adult way he writes. It's so complicated when one bit works so well, and another bit not at all.

Also, if I bought books of past papers, would they have the copyright excerpts in them? I don't know much about this because I went to school in Scotland, so it's all new to me.