Will the reformed GCSEs be better GCSEs ?

Here's the latest from OFQUAL following the GCSE consultation...


Tiering

We believe that the curriculum content for geography can be the same for all students and that all students can be assessed in the same way. We propose that the reformed GCSE in geography should not be tiered.

Forms of assessment

Our controlled assessment review found a good deal of agreement that carrying out fieldwork is essential for students of GCSE geography. There was less agreement about whether it is possible to assess fieldwork skills as part of GCSE geography assessment, although there was a view that some of the skills – data manipulation, interpretation and analysis, for example – can be assessed through written exams. There were many concerns about the nature of school fieldwork exercises which many schools complete in a single day. Even the most capable students are unlikely to have the time during one day of fieldwork to experiment with alternative approaches to data collection, which means that they are not able to reflect on, further analyse and evaluate their work.

There are also issues of fairness for all students. We found that if teachers designed poor fieldwork exercises then that could prevent students from performing well, or from accessing all of the marking criteria.

The curriculum content requires students to undertake fieldwork, but the related knowledge and skills can be assessed by written exam set and marked by the exam board. We therefore propose that all assessment for the reformed geography GCSE should be by written exams alone and that the total assessment time should be no less than 3.5 hours.

GCSE Results Day

Congratulations to all those who received GCSE results yesterday, particularly GCSE Geography and to the teachers who supported students as they worked towards their grades.
There has been a lot of press and other coverage of exams today, as was to be expected. There has been plenty of talk of political interference, changed grade boundaries and goalposts being moved...

If you want to support the next year's cohort of students as they work towards their GCSE Geography, this is a gentle reminder of the Badger GCSE book which will help you support students to get the best possible grades. I can't guarantee there won't be some external alterations of grade boundaries in the meantime, but at least you can be satisfied that you did all that was possible to prepare students.

Of course, we are still waiting for some of the final awarding body specifications to be accredited by OFQUAL, which a week before the start of the new academic year is a crazy situation....

Changes to GCSE Qualifications (including Geography)

I have spent about 10 hours today so far assembling various sections that I have been working on for the last few months into coherent pages with associated documents / images / downloads etc.
Am pleased with the progress I've made and with the way that the book is looking...

Earlier today, Kate Russell over on SLN drew my attention to the results of an OFQUAL investigation into GCSEs including Geography, partly prompted by the Daily Telegraph investigation into the sessions being offered by some Chief Examiners.

Taken from Ofqual website ...

Awarding organisations are currently revising GCSE qualifications ready for the introduction of linear assessment and, in the cases of English literature, history, geography and religious studies, the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar. The revised specifications will be submitted to the regulators for accreditation soon. 

Given the suggestion that some GCSE qualifications may permit narrowing of the expected course of study, Ofqual, working with CCEA and DfES, are taking the opportunity to look closely at these revised specifications, to make sure that the standards set and the study requirements are what we expect.

The regulators will:

• review all GCSE geography specifications and assessment materials. Awarding organisations must make sure that their specifications meet all of the regulatory requirements, make clear the full course of study required of candidates and that the assessment arrangements support this. Awarding organisations will be informed of accreditation decisions by Friday, April 20, at the latest.
  
  review the current specifications for GCSE English literature, history and religious studies. Awarding organisations will be told by mid-February if there is any further action required to those qualifications before they can be accredited. We will provide a further update on this issue in mid-February.

Centres should be aware of the following:

• For those candidates already embarked on a course of study for GCSEs in English literature, geography, history and religious studies and certificating in 2013 the only changes to specifications will relate to the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and the accurate use of grammar in the examination papers. Awarding organisations will make revised specimen assessment materials available for the current qualifications to illustrate how the requirement for the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and the accurate use of grammar will be addressed.
  
  For courses beginning in September 2012 and candidates certificating in summer 2014, in addition to the introduction of linear assessment and the separate assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar there may be revised specifications in GCSE geography together with changes to or fully revised specifications in GCSE English literature, history and religious studies.