Welcome to my new Careers Blog for National Careers Week!

Every day this week I will be posting some great careers hints and tips for people of all ages, from 13 year olds to mature career changers.

I am starting off today with students in year 8 or 9 who are choosing their GCSE subjects. Students and parents are often anxious about making the wrong choices, but you can't go wrong if you follow my top tips below: (If you have already made your choices still check out these tips-it is not too late to change!)

  •  Choose Subjects you enjoy and make sure you have a good balance of subjects
  •  If you have some career ideas make sure you check out the qualifications required for this career. Work backwards so you know what A level or equivalent qualifications are needed and then you can make sure you are choosing the right GCSE’s
  •  There are some subjects that are normally important to take if you are considering:
    o    Any artistic or design based careers – Take Art or a related subject
    o    Any music based careers – Take Music GCSE
    o    Sport based careers such as PE teacher or Coach or Sport and Fitness trainer – Take P.E. GCSE
  •  If you are considering Science based careers Triple Science is useful but not essential. Get more advice on this from your science teacher if you are not sure
  • Questions to ask about subjects you are considering:
    • What will I study in this subject?
    •  How is this subject assessed? Is it just assessed on exams or coursework or a mixture of both?
    • If it is not a GCSE course what qualification will I get?
    • If it is a subject I have already been studying, how different is the GCSE compared to what I have already learnt?
    •  If it is a new subject what exactly does it involve?
  • Finally, some things to avoid doing:
    • Don’t choose subjects because your friends are doing them
    • Don’t choose or not choose subjects based on your experience of the teacher of that subject
    • Don't leave it until the last minute to make your decision!