New science GCSE specifications
QCA has begun a process which will lead to revised science GCSE specifications from Sept 2011, with a public consultation period that runs until 11 September 2009. This may have a significant impact on the nature of OCR’s C21 science specifications.
The 2011 changes to science GCSEs are intended to:
• meet revised general guidelines for GCSEs, replacing ‘coursework’ with controlled assessment of subject-specific skills, and limiting to 4 the number of assessment units for any GCSE qualification
• act on recommendations from a March 2009 Ofqual report: improving comparability between specifications with the same name from different awarding bodies; and addressing weaknesses in the reliability and validity of the assessment of ‘how science works’.
The first step in the process is for QCA to produce ‘subject criteria’, which guide and constrain the specifications that awarding bodies will submit for accreditation, in spring 2010. Each of six GCSEs in science (Science, Additional Science, Additional Applied Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) will have its own subject criteria.
On the QCA website you will find the whole process described, and you can also access all the draft subject criteria. http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_21855.aspx
