AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

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honscupboard
Posts: 119
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:06 pm

AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by honscupboard »

Hi
The dilemma we have is this - choosing GCSEs.
Have to do 2 English, 3 science , maths, language , geography and 3 others. Chosen PE and Drama but cannot decide last one. She is v science based, wants to be a vet. My concern is although citizenship is AS will it distract from the business of getting good grades in sciences. She does RP at the moment but the year 11 girls have said the GCSE is more religion based and she prefers the philosophy side.
We have a meeting at the school on Mon but would love to hear your views !
Thanks
yoyo123
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Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by yoyo123 »

My son did RE and Ethics at GCSE, Philosophy and Ethics at A level and is now studying Philosophy at uni. He loves it ( he loves arguing, has done since he could speak!)
Snowdrops
Posts: 4667
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:20 pm

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Snowdrops »

My dd excels at the RE she is doing at the moment. She needs to make her choices in the coming weeks and I know she will be including RE in those choices. I look forward to people's thoughts on this.
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Looking for help
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Looking for help »

I thought they had to do RE GCSE ? My son has the opportunity to do a fastrack where they take the GCSE in y10, and the AS in y11, but I'm not sure this is such a good thing, given the discussions on doing all GCSEs at the same time
Amber
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Amber »

Because the study of RE is compulsory through KS4, many schools compel students to do a short course in it anyway, resulting in a half GCSE. Does your school not do this? At DD's school they can then opt to complete the full course in Year 11, thereby delaying the decision for another year. IMHO if the child has to study it anyway there is little point in not taking the exam. If your school doesn't do this, remember she will be studying the subject in some form, and often it is more the ethics side, until the end of Year 11 anyway.

(cross posts LFH :D )
Minesatea
Posts: 1234
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:08 am

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Minesatea »

Some schools chose to make GCSE RE compulsory but this is not a national thing. DS1's school provide the compulsory RE to year 11 during the weekly (non-examined) personal development class. GCSE RE is an option.

DD on the other hand is apparently taking GCSE RE at the end of year 8 ! so I have no idea what she will do for the next 3 years?

OP there is more than 1 GCSE RE syllabus - it may be worth checking which one or if she has a choice. I think with AQA it is spec A that is very religion based and spec B that is more philosophy/ethics, but I don't know about the other boards.
Sportsmum
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:00 am

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Sportsmum »

DS1 is taking GCSE RE, is not at all religious - in fact he states that he doesn't believe in God, preferring scientism - but loves the course. He especially loves the discussion/opinion/argument side of it. They have covered some fairly meaty topics - Animal welfare, abortion to name two. It really does depend on the exam board.
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by yoyo123 »

Sportsmum wrote:DS1 is taking GCSE RE, is not at all religious - in fact he states that he doesn't believe in God, preferring scientism - but loves the course. He especially loves the discussion/opinion/argument side of it. They have covered some fairly meaty topics - Animal welfare, abortion to name two. It really does depend on the exam board.
My son said exactly the same and he's really enjoying his degree course now. Gives him something to argue about rather than just for the sake of it! His first word was no, we should have known :roll:
Looking for help
Posts: 3767
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Looking for help »

:lol:

My son and daughter both took A Level Philosophy and Ethics, it is a really good course. As yoyo says, it's great for the argumentative amongst us :lol:
Snowdrops
Posts: 4667
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:20 pm

Re: AS Citizenship or GCSE Religion and Philosophy

Post by Snowdrops »

But is it considered a strong subject?

My dd really is good at this (scoring 100% and working way above everyone else) so will be considering this for GCSE and A Level (possibly with English and 1/2 Sciences) - she's thinking along the lines of journalism, but hopefully leaving it flexi with the sciences (which she's also really good at).
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