PE GCSE Horse riding

[Charmel]

Having read this thread one thought springs to mind - in the grand scheme of things ie general life, career, prosperity and happiness etc. , how important is a pass or fail at GCSE anything, never mind sport (something largely irrelevant to the majority of jobs, I'd have thought)? I'm not sure a good GCSE grade is worth serious financial hardship and especially not worth risking injury for. If this sort of qualification really would be useful to her future, isn't there some other way your daughter could get to where she wants to be?

I don't know about the GCSE but the A level grade is required for university entry. My Daughters second sport is rugby but after at GCSE level her teacher saying she will never get as high a mark as the boys as rugby is a boys sport we decided to go along with the riding!! Perhaps netball would have been a better move...

 

[ycbm]

I find the whole idea of academic qualifications for sport completely ridiculous.

Success at sport is proven by success at sport. Non competitive riding was perfectly well catered for by Pony Club and BHS exams.

When did these sport exams start, they weren't available in my day, or at least not at my school, but clearly they've been going at least ten years.

Sorry I can't help, OP, the whole thing seems mad to me.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I agree with others that a GCSE in sport is bonkers. My lads' comp-turned-academy 'encouraged' all pupils to take the full course PE GCSE, even the very academic ones. At a time when we all want kids to get out and get fresh air and exercise, they were stuck in the classroom doing all the theory stuff. They'd have both much rather have been outside playing sport. A lot of the theory was duplicated anyway with the Biology GCSE that they also did.

Son no 1 remembers being drafted in as a guinea pig quite often in 6th form to be the subject of various A level and BTec PE assessed 'lessons' in basketball and similar given by other students, he found that to be rather fun, though. He'd hankered after doing the PE A level himself, but we persuaded him to stick with sport for recreation and do his hard core academic subjects instead, as those could be useful for any career.

 

[Pigeon]

That's insane!

Do a pirouette in walk, it's easy! It sounds like whoever is marking it wouldn't even know...

 

[Batgirl]

I find the whole idea of academic qualifications for sport completely ridiculous.

Success at sport is proven by success at sport. Non competitive riding was perfectly well catered for by Pony Club and BHS exams.

When did these sport exams start, they weren't available in my day, or at least not at my school, but clearly they've been going at least ten years.

Sorry I can't help, OP, the whole thing seems mad to me.

The academic side is not for the riding, that is only a small part - the idea is to do sports science - quite useful for careers in physiotherapy, sports massage, personal training etc etc

I did sports A Level and it taught all about body, the science behind muscle contractions, psychology in sport, history of sport. It is quite an academic qualification. The physically doing sport is only part of it.

 

[Auslander]

Has anyone done this or have a child who's done it?

Daughter is due to hand her video in next week and we are all but sorted. The remaining issue Is a half pirouette in trot. Is this even do-able? Attempts look scruffy and wobbly at best!
Several people have just said to do it in canter with an accompanying letter stating its just not the done thing!

Reading between the lines, the "trot pirouette" but is just a poorly phrased sentence - they are looking to see all movements performed in walk, trot and canter - it reads as if they want to see trot pirouettes, which don't exist. They cannot expect to see canter pirouettes either, as these are considered to be advanced dressage movements.

Whilst it's perfectly normal to be frustrated about not being able to use your own horse for the ridden element, I can see why they have set a particular standard for the ridden work. If every pupil taking the GCSE demonstrates their competence using different parameters, the process of marking will be very difficult. In the same way that the Maths GCSE is marked on the same set of questions, so should the riding be. Yes - the bar is high, but it should be a challenge, or it wouldn't be right for the pupil to be awarded an academic qualification off the back of it. I have trained a fair few pupils for GCSE and A level riding, and in most cases, we have had to source a horse that is able to do the job, rather than using the pupils own horse. It's inconvenient, but I don't think it's unfair. Under exam conditions, the horse becomes an accessory, like a calculator - if the calculator you own doesn't have the functionality required for the exam you will be using it in, you wouldn't think twice about using a more advanced calculator just because your own calculator is familiar, and easily accessible.

I'm not saying that the scenario is perfect - but it is consistent. What I would like to see is more opportunity for candidates to explain what they are doing, and why they are doing it - and for them to be commended rather than condemned for managing a situation where things don't go according to plan.