- What are the changes?- What is the Practical Endorsement?

Chae Cruickshank, Subject Specialist

GCSE & A Level Sciences from September 2015

A Level Science Specification Event– January 2015

What are the changes at GCSE?

KEY DATES NEW SPEC

First teaching Sept 2016First GCSE exams June

2018

OLD SPECLast teaching Sept 2015Last exams June 2017

- 100% external examination

- Ofqual consider it to be a 2 year course

- 15% practical weighting

- Increased maths weighting

- Practical questions in exam and proposed teacher judgement of list of practicals.

- Criteria already sethttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gcse-subject-content

- Specifications will not be published before July this year and will only be draft

What are the changes at A Level? - Linear

KEY DATES NEW SPEC

First teaching Sept 2015First AS exams June

2016First A level exams June

2017

OLD SPECLast teaching Sept 2014Last exams June 2016

- AS decoupled from A level

- 100% external examination (longer time)

- Extended response

- 15% practical weighting

- Increased maths weighting(10% Biology, 20% Chemistry, 40% Physics)

- Practical Endorsement (will be reported separately to the A Level grade)

Practical Endorsement• Centres complete a minimum of 12 practicals. • Teachers decide whether, across the 12 activities,

whether each student has demonstrated the required competencies defined in:– Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC)– Use of Apparatus and Techniques listed by DfE

Between 12 and 17 for each subject

Guidance cannot be finalised until Ofqual have responded to the results of the Practical Endorsement trialling carried out in a number of centres across the

country in Autumn 2014. IT IS A TRIAL ACROSS ALL AWARDING BODIES.

Practical Endorsement Trial

Practical Endorsement Trial• Teachers reported being most confident in the

assessment of practical skills and techniques with fewer problems on the identification of pass or fail.

• “Students felt that it would make practical work more important to them to take seriously all the time rather than just during controlled assessment.”

Practical Endorsement Model

- What is OCR’s offer?- What is the Practical Endorsement?- Where can you find support?

Chae Cruickshank, Subject Specialist

A Level Sciences from September 2015

A Level Science Specification Event– November 2015

What do OCR offer?Teacher choice for each subject and designed by teachers for teachers

Content-led approach Context-led approachChemistry A Chemistry B (Salters)

Biology A Biology B (Advancing Biology)Physics A Physics B (Advancing Physics)

Ofqual are discontinuing AS and A-level Human Biology with the last awards in June 2017. The final award for AS and A-level Applied Science is June 2018, no decision has been made on whether Applied Science will be redeveloped.

Standard unchanged from now. Content broadly the same, minimal changes to criteria.

Content• Co-teachable (AS and A level)• All changes are made after discussions with

stakeholders e.g. teachers, higher education and learned societies and their feedback

• Rationale behind content changes are: – Overlap with GCSE– Feedback from teachers– To meet new maths requirements.