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Which subjects would you make compulsory?

If you were in charge of the curriculum for students yrs 10-11, which subjects would you make compulsory?

Personally I would keep English and Maths, and then also make at least 1 language, PE, and possibly computer science compulsory. I'm not sure why sciences are seen as so important for all students to learn.

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A language, other than English.
English, Maths, PE, ICT, RE/PSHE & Separate sciences (at different levels for different abilities)
Mmmmm my best friend and I have actually discussed this during luncj tine wjere we designed our dream school! Personally, i would keep the english compulsory and one art subject would be compulsory. Just biology would be compulsory(im being biased here its my favourite lol) and history since i love history. :smile::smile::smile:
Reply 4
English Language but not literature, Mathematics, Ethics and Philosophy - perhaps a new core GCSE which focuses more of the philosophy and moral side rather than theology, Computer Science/ICT Skills
Reply 5
Drama, I never took it seriously and avoided it, but have come to appreciate it's importance
English Language and Maths. That's it - and purely because they'll be very disadvantaged in life if they don't take these. I think a wide selection of courses should be offered, but by year 10 there is no point in forcing someone to take subjects that they may have zero interest in or aptitude for, when there are other subjects they have the potential to do well in.
Reply 7
English, Maths, Science (double), a language, a humanity subject (Geog or Hist) and PE.
Reply 8
Original post by A.N123
Mmmmm my best friend and I have actually discussed this during luncj tine wjere we designed our dream school! Personally, i would keep the english compulsory and one art subject would be compulsory. Just biology would be compulsory(im being biased here its my favourite lol) and history since i love history. :smile::smile::smile:
Omg I forgot about history, it's my favourite subject. Not sure I would make it compulsory though, just on the grounds that although it's awesome... I don't think many people see it as that relevant or useful anymore? There's the whole argument that it's useful because it warns us not to make mistakes of the past, but even people who know the history seem to ignore it sometimes all the same
We had to do PE (not as GCSE) in Year 10 and 11. It was obvious to the teacher during both years that most of us really weren't making an effort and couldn't care less. We supposedly had a choice in year 11 what we wanted to do - but we didn't really.
Original post by mirlotta
If you were in charge of the curriculum for students yrs 10-11, which subjects would you make compulsory?

Personally I would keep English and Maths, and then also make at least 1 language, PE, and possibly computer science compulsory. I'm not sure why sciences are seen as so important for all students to learn.


I don't see why we need to force Children to do subjects such as Philosophy, ethics and Computer Science. Language at GCSE is useless unless you want to take it further onto A level because you will not know enough after GCSE for it to ever be useful. Even contemplating Computer Science to be compulsory before Science is ridiculous. The only compulsory subjects should be English Language and Maths. Would also suggest that it is necessary to study at least one core science. Philosophy and Ethics is required in some schools and it is considered a joke by some, in no way should it ever be compulsory (I chose Philosophy and Ethics at GCSE and A Level).

I think GCSE's need to be more flexible, from personal experience I was forced to study a language and it was the biggest waste of time i've ever experienced. I can also agree with PE being required, for exercise. Me going to Uni and doing a Science may add bias to my answer so i'm just going to leave Sciences for now.
English Language (not Lit), Maths, PE or some form of health class and a language.
Reply 12
Original post by harry1208
I don't see why we need to force Children to do subjects such as Philosophy, ethics and Computer Science. Language at GCSE is useless unless you want to take it further onto A level because you will not know enough after GCSE for it to ever be useful. Even contemplating Computer Science to be compulsory before Science is ridiculous. The only compulsory subjects should be English Language and Maths. Would also suggest that it is necessary to study at least one core science. Philosophy and Ethics is required in some schools and it is considered a joke by some, in no way should it ever be compulsory (I chose Philosophy and Ethics at GCSE and A Level).

I think GCSE's need to be more flexible, from personal experience I was forced to study a language and it was the biggest waste of time i've ever experienced. I can also agree with PE being required, for exercise. Me going to Uni and doing a Science may add bias to my answer so i'm just going to leave Sciences for now.


I think if we're made to do philosophy/RE, it's supposed to promote a more accepting world view, but I personally believe that a school can promote this through assemblies and one-off workshops almost as effectively. By computer science I perhaps should have said IT skills- learning to use computers more effectively would be very useful in the age of technology, I feel, especially as computers are being utilised in more and more jobs.

Languages, I think are absolutely crucial to learn. Going abroad to countries speaking the language you learnt at GCSE, no matter how "useless" you felt it was, your GCSE knowledge will undoubtedly be of some use. I think that expecting people from other countries to automatically speak English is rude and comes off as pretty brutish. I do think, however, that the manner in which we're taught languages at school is really quite boring and not that effective. If we were taught foreign languages in a similar style that children in Europe are taught English, I believe that this would be the most beneficial thing.
Reply 13
Original post by Tiger Rag
We had to do PE (not as GCSE) in Year 10 and 11. It was obvious to the teacher during both years that most of us really weren't making an effort and couldn't care less. We supposedly had a choice in year 11 what we wanted to do - but we didn't really.


PE really is important though, as it's the only form of exercise that some students will be getting. I think the reason it becomes so dull for many in y10-11 is that the teachers themselves no longer expect the students to try, so don't put real effort into lesson plans or anything like that. If the teachers tried more and set up serious lessons,I think the students would too.
Original post by mirlotta
PE really is important though, as it's the only form of exercise that some students will be getting. I think the reason it becomes so dull for many in y10-11 is that the teachers themselves no longer expect the students to try, so don't put real effort into lesson plans or anything like that. If the teachers tried more and set up serious lessons,I think the students would too.


We did the same thing year after year which didn't help. Nor did having to do PE on a Monday morning in year 11.
Reply 15
Original post by Tiger Rag
We did the same thing year after year which didn't help. Nor did having to do PE on a Monday morning in year 11.



Yeah, ours were similar (my PE lessons throughout y10 and 11 were literally just table tennis or orienteering, it was crap). My PE lessons in earlier years were good, t hough, and people genuinely tried! It was such a weird change when y10 started and the lessons became total chaos.
English (both language and literature), maths, and at least on core science followed by either geography or history.
Original post by mirlotta
PE really is important though, as it's the only form of exercise that some students will be getting. I think the reason it becomes so dull for many in y10-11 is that the teachers themselves no longer expect the students to try, so don't put real effort into lesson plans or anything like that. If the teachers tried more and set up serious lessons,I think the students would too.


We continued doing PE throughout year 10 and 11 but we never got graded based on how well we performed in the lessons, they were merely lessons in which we could "mess about" and relieve stress due to GCSEs.
A language such as French, Spanish or German, ICT, English Language, Maths and a science
Reply 19
I think Psychology should be compulsory so people know how to not f*** up their children.

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