#373: OCR - Clarke Curriculum Review - ahead of the Francis Review

A cross posting from my 'At the Home of Geography' blog. This follows my work as Vice President: Education of the RGS.

We are preparing to submit evidence and support the consultation for the new curriculum review to discuss what we hope to see in a future curriculum with respect to the geography entitlement and the nature of what is studied. This will involve us discussing and consulting with the many stakeholders the RGS has.

There will also be some who want to ensure that there is space for the GCSE Natural History in the curriculum mix of course.

This report, chaired by Charles Clarke, and created by OCR takes a look at the curriculum and assessment ahead of the forthcoming Francis review. 

I had a look at the document as part of my work preparing for the RGS's support for teachers and gathering their views.

A review of the 11-16 Curriculum and Assessment, chaired by former Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

Report is here. (PDF download)

Written by Paul Steer, Head of Policy at OCR.

I've been fortunate to work on a few things linked with OCR's work over the years, and serve on their Consultative Forums for both Geography and Natural History.

This is one of several documents currently being explored as part of the work we are doing at the RGS on the Education Committee. It was produced after extensive involvement of stakeholders and 2000 young people.

Main findings (from OCR website):

The report’s recommendations include calls to:

• Reduce the number of assessments used at GCSE, spread them out across the two years of key stage 4, and review the appropriate use of non-exam assessments
• Reduce the content of the GCSE curriculum, allowing more time for the study of broader skills and competences
• Introduce a benchmarking qualification, taken on screen, in maths and English to highlight gaps in students’ knowledge and provide structure to Key Stage 3
• Redesign the English Language GCSE as a matter of urgency, and include a broader definition of English skills including media and spoken language

The report arrives as the current Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has commissioned a government review into curriculum and assessment, chaired by Professor Becky Francis. 

OCR is sharing the report and key findings with Bridget Phillipson and Becky Francis.

The report has generated a great deal of positive reaction. Geoff Barton, Chair of the Independent Commission of Oracy in England, said: “This report provides an important, evidence-based agenda for the new government’s curriculum and assessment review, and provides a welcome opportunity to keep what’s good in our education system but improve what’s not good enough.”

#300: Talking Natural History

The 300th post on this blog has an update on the progress on the specification.

Earlier this week I spent an interesting day in Cambridge discussing the GCSE Natural History as a member of OCR's Consultative Forum. This is a group of people who share an interest in the new specification and the subject itself, and are drawn from a whole range of backgrounds. We were given a little window on what has happening to prepare the new subject for first teaching...

There were some familiar faces as well as some new friends to meet. We had some good conversations on our table.

We had an update on the context within which the new specification will be appearing - this was similar to the OCR Geography Forum meeting that I'd attended the month before. 

Time is tight to complete all the required steps for accreditation in time to start teaching the specification in 2025, and it may slip into 2026 - the timeline is very compressed from now on.

We couldn't be told too much about the specification as the content was embargoed ahead of a consultation which will hopefully take place this month.... or be opened this month. 

We saw a few likely sections presented as broad headings, which suggest a slight change in emphasis from the original conception of the course, and were also asked to choose which of the potential example habitats which students might be shown that we liked. I can't share any of this at the moment.

When the consultation does finally appear, we will of course be all over it here. We will be recommending to people with any sort of interest in teaching the course that they respond if they want to have any influence on what is (and isn't) included. More on that as it comes...

We were given a flavour of what might be involved, and also discussed some options for an assessment model. This will be crucial to uptake as the subject will need to find its way into crowded option blocks, and the timing for inclusion in these, and allowing for teaching time is tight. I referred to my previous experience with the OCR Pilot GCSE Geography, and the use of different types of assessment as well, including the possibility of a Pre-release booklet.

Image: A La Ronde, Devon - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

#147: Previous assessments in Natural History

The GCSE in Natural History is a brand new course - one of the first new GCSEs for many years. It takes a lot to get to this stage.

The latest issue of Cambridge Assessment's 'Research Matters' journal explores previous occasions when Natural History has been assessed.

The link will also provide access to further links to see previous issues of the journal.

The journal is published by Cambridge Assessment. This is Issue 36

The article is written by Gillian Cooke.

As is says at the start of the article:

Concern about our natural environment is at an unprecedented level. It permeates through all levels of media as the effects of climate change and fluctuations of biodiversity manifest throughout the world. There is a thirst for knowledge to understand our environment better and the impact of humans on the natural world. But while the introduction of a new GCSE in Natural History by OCR chimes with our times, natural history itself is not a new qualification, as shown from an archive of over 160 years of qualification documentation from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), a predecessor of OCR, which contains a rich resource of natural history type qualifications available to children at all levels and ages.

There is also a useful definition of natural history suggested:

Natural History is variously defined, but commonly described as “a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study”. 

Fuelled by curiosity and, in some cases, imperialistic vanity, wealthy explorers of the early modern period sought to dispel images of fantastical creatures and flora from folklore with accurate scientific observation. So began a trend to collect and display natural history findings, and a rise in the popularity of natural history museums, which was at a peak in Britain between the 1880s and 1900s (Rader & Cain, 2015).

Source:

Rader, K., & Cain, V. (2015). From natural history to science: display and the transformation of American museums of science and nature. Museum and Society, 6(2), 152-171.