For many children the die is cast and the GCSE choices are made. The timetabling for the Year 10 cohort in September will be underway, accommodating as many of the students’ choices as possible. But how critical are these choices for your child’s future and how do you know if they have made the right ones?
Most pupils would expect to study between 8-10 GCSE’s which allows them to have a broad spread of subjects. However, in reality many of these choices are predetermined, with compulsory elements being English, Maths, Sciences and, in some schools, a Modern Language. Once you have factored these in, taking up at least 6 of the slots the free choices are rather limited. This means some tough choices trying to select 2- 3 subjects out of a possible range of Humanities, Arts, Sport, ICT and additional languages. Do you keep Geography or History? Is it sensible to do Drama and Art? If you are thinking of doing Maths A Level can you fit in Further Maths at GCSE?
This is the time to do some crystal ball gazing and look towards the future for your child and think about possible career choices they may want to make further down the line. For example, if you think your child might want a science-related job then make sure they at least do double science. Or if they dream of studying abroad in the future, it would be a good idea to take a foreign language.
However, this can be more of a precise science than future gazing, by using a careers profiling tool. The online assessment, which takes about 45 minutes, can be very revealing; not only does it match a student’s interests and abilities with suitable career families but it then goes on to look at a range of jobs that come under that ‘family’ with an introductory description and a range of recommended resources to investigate further. Whilst this is not a test to decide if a child will be a brain surgeon, it does open their eyes to the possibilities out there and also helps them to understand how their current education fits into the larger picture.
Armed with this information it is then a simple process to work through the GCSE choices and identify the ones that will provide the most opportunities to open doors into future career pathways. It also forms a valuable discussion document for the family to really think about their child’s education and how it will shape their future. Gabbitas are experts at helping you make these key decisions, get in touch to see how we can help.
