English and Media Centre

Moving image and multimodal texts in the new English GCSE specs: Part 1

2010-06-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

By now we hope the dust has settled and that you’ll have chosen your new GCSE specs and be well on the way to plotting a manageable route through for your next year 10 cohort. We thought this might be a good time to highlight some of the more positive and creative aspects offered by the new specs for the integration of media and multimodal approaches – to which they are all at least notionally committed - and their implications.

This blog will offer a summary of exactly where to find the media and multimodal opportunities in your own chosen specs, organised by Awarding Body for ease of reference.

In our next instalment we’ll suggest some of the sorts of media and multimodal activities you could explore in preparation for both the Controlled Assessment Tasks, and for the externally assessed exams.

Click on the links below to take you direct to your chosen specification.

AQA
EDEXCEL
OCR
WJEC

GCSE 2010 Summary Grids (7 pages)

2010-03-11T02:46:00.000-08:00

After running our Choosing and Planning course five times at the Centre, our summary and comparative grids have been well and truly honed. Thanks to all the course participants who pointed out the odd anomaly or suggested a clearer way of presenting the information. The grids are all the better for their input. Nonetheless, they come with our usual health warning – always check back with the full spec before making a final decision or beginning course planning.

For those of you still grappling with 12 specs or agonising over which route to take, the Awarding Body summaries condense onto one page, the different offers of each Board. The comparative grids take each subject in turn to highlight the ways in which each Awarding Body has tackled key aspects of the subject. This is where to go if, for example, you want a quick overview of how non-fiction or Shakespeare has been covered for English by each Awarding Body, or which Awarding Bodies test Shakespeare in Controlled Assessment rather than exam.

For those of you who have taken the plunge already we hope you will find the grids a useful aide memoire for the specs you have opted for.

Click here to view the summary grids: http://www.englishandmedia.org.uk/blog/EMCGCSE2010grids.pdf

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 8: Controlled Assessment in the Accredited Specifications

2010-02-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

Controlled Assessment in the Accredited Specifications

What is controlled assessment?
Controlled assessment is a half-way house between coursework and exam work.

Controlled assessment breaks down into several stages: task setting; research and preparation; task taking.

The early stages are more like coursework, with students getting the question in advance and teachers able to use any of their usual preparation methods although this does not include commenting on drafts or giving detailed feedback to individual students.

However, in the writing up or ‘task taking ‘stage, students must work under close supervision. At this stage, students cannot have further help either from their teachers or from their peers and may not hand in drafts to be commented on (although they can use the time for their own drafting and re-drafting process if they wish). Any drafting completed during the Controlled Assessment session must be handed in with the final piece.

For more details on the basics, see our previous blog on controlled assessment:
http://www.englishandmedia.org.uk/blog/EMCGCSE2010_Blog2.pdf

Did you realise?
• Teachers and therefore students will know the question in advance.
Generally speaking the controlled assessment tasks will be released in April, for completion by the following June. You may share the task with students at any stage, but it is most likely that you will do this during the research and preparation stage. The task must be submitted in the same academic year it is set, i.e. tasks released in April must be completed by the following June. Tasks will change each year. Do check the arrangements for individual awarding bodies, particularly for the first cohort, as there are some variations in when the first round of tasks are being released, how long they are valid for and when they can be submitted.

• Although questions are set by the Awarding Body, there is flexibility for teachers to customise the question. The extent to which this is possible varies between Awarding Bodies and from task to task. For example, in approaching a Shakespeare task for literature:
- AQA and WJEC take a similar approach: the Awarding Body sets generic tasks and gives examples of how these tasks can be applied to particular texts. The teacher may use an example, or customise the question for the text they have chosen and the students they are teaching. In an example from AQA, the generic question might be ‘Explore the ways texts develop ideas about people in love’. One of the examples given is then ‘How do Shakespeare and Wilde explore for comic effect the absurdities of people in love in Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest.’
- OCR has two different types of question in their specifications: generic and specific. For the Shakespeare section, a choice of texts is given and, for each text, one task which asks students to compare a particular scene in the play with one of the suggested audio or film versions of that scene. Teachers are free, however, to get a different text approved by the Awarding Body, in which case students will answer one of the two generic questions.
- Edexcel sets a series of generic questions for Shakespeare. Teachers choose a text and an appropriate question. An example question might be: ‘Explore the ways in which a dramatic device is used to engage the audience in two interpretations (e.g. a reading and a performance) of the Shakespeare play you have studied’.

• In the preparation and research stages, the teacher can use all the methods they would normally use for coursework to prepare students for the task. This could include oral, group and drama work, watching the film, modelled, shared and guided writing and so on.

• Students have quite a long time for the ‘task taking’, or writing up stage. In most cases, around 3-4 hours. This should give them time for some re-drafting, although they must do this without help. For a helpful summary of the guidance on timing from each board, see our chart: http://www.englishandmedia.org.uk/blog/CAtimings.pdf

• Students are allowed to take in one sheet of A4 notes at the task taking stage. This must not include a one-size-fits-all set of teacher prompts, a writing frame, essay plan, or draft essay and must be handed in with the task. You will want to think carefully about what kind of thing might be useful to your students. A few suggestions: a mind map; ‘success criteria’ for the task, perhaps taken from a teacher checklist but personalised for that student; key quotes – even if they are allowed to take the text into a reading/literature task, it could be useful for them to have collected some quotes, to save time.

• Students can take the task at any time of the year and in normal lesson time, although they could also take the task in one block and in the exam hall. If they are to use normal lesson time, you will need somewhere secure to store work between sessions. Controlled assessment work must also be stored securely between completion and moderation. As they are not allowed any help, sessions do not need to be invigilated be an English teacher.

• Students can use ICT for the task taking stage. In practice this may be difficult, with problems around access to computers, disenabling forbidden tools (in some tasks students are not allowed Internet access, in others they are not allowed to use spell checks or thesauruses), and ensuring that students cannot access their work between sessions if the task is completed over several sessions. It might be more manageable to allow all students computer access for one of their tasks (remember you do not have to have all students taking the task at the same time and can split the time up into shorter sessions).

• No awarding body has been allowed to retain an option for an oral response to a controlled assessment task, either to reading or to the study of spoken language.

Some issues you may want to consider as you plan a controlled assessment task:
• The time recommended for preparation and teaching and the different levels of ‘control’ at each stage.
• The proportion of the course it represents.
• The assessment objectives for this task and how to share these with students.
• Whether individual teachers are to be free to choose their own task from the awarding body’s selection, or whether you will agree a common task for the department.
• Whether you will you allow any level of choice for your students.
• How to teach your students to use the A4 sheet of notes effectively.
• Links to other aspects of the specification (for example a discussion on a text in the preparation stage could be assessed for speaking and listening)
• How you might use multimodal texts. All boards encourage this in the preparation stage, and many of the reading tasks ask students to compare film, audio or performance versions with the written version of a text. Multimodal texts are also excellent stimulus for writing. Edexcel’s pre-release non-fiction anthology includes multimodal texts.
• Whether you will take advantage of any opportunities for students to make a multimodal response. Both Edexcel and AQA offer the option of a ‘multi-modal’ response in some controlled assessment tasks, for example students might choose images to accompany a poetry text and then write a commentary explaining their choices.
• What is the school policy going to be on students who are absent or who finish very quickly?
• Will students take the task in the hall/in their classroom/ with their teacher/ with an invigilator? In one block of time or several? Pros of the exam hall approach include: could use invigilators instead of English teachers; might make students take the task more seriously; momentum and support built up by all preparing and taking the task at the same time; less temptation for teachers to bend the rules on helping. Pros of the classroom approach include: classes can take the task at different times allowing resources to be rotated, providing an alternative time for an absent student to sit a task, and making computer access more possible; some students will perform better if the time is broken up into shorter chunks; some students panic in the exam hall; research suggests people remember what they have learned better if they are tested in the room where they did the learning.
• How will you organise access to: ICT; clean copies of texts; dictionaries and thesauruses?

Remember that colleagues in other subjects have already taught controlled assessment, and may already have solutions or have contributed to whole school policy on some of the tricky issues, such as how to deal with students who are absent.

The English and Media Centre will be running a course in the autumn term on managing the controlled assessment tasks.

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 7: Choosing Your English GCSE Specification for 2010

2010-01-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

Now that the specifications have been accredited and are about to arrive in schools, you are probably getting to the stage of wanting to firm up your choice.

In this blog we will be considering some common concerns and how they have been addressed by the different Awarding Bodies. We’ll be doing this by posing some questions you might like to ask as you consider which specification might best suit your department and your students.

Some questions you might ask to help you to choose your specification…

The non-fiction reading exam: do my candidates struggle with the non-fiction comprehension?
- Edexcel is the only spec with non-fiction in controlled assessment with tasks set on pre-release materials (so no unseen element).
- AQA signals a predictable questioning pattern, making it easier to ‘coach’ students.
- OCR does not ask students to compare texts in the non-fiction reading exam.

The non-fiction writing exam: do my candidates tend to spend too long on the reading and not enough time on the writing?
- WJEC has reading and writing in separate, 1 hour exam papers.
- AQA say their new structure (2 pieces of writing in the exam – one shorter) has helped with this in the pilot GCSE.

Would we like our candidates to have the opportunity to make a multimodal response to reading?
- This is allowed by both AQA and Edexcel.

Would our candidates cope better with Shakespeare in controlled assessment or exam?
- In English, Shakespeare is in controlled assessment for all specs except Edexcel.
- In literature, Shakespeare is in controlled assessment for AQA Route A, OCR, WJEC and Edexcel.

Does our department want a lot of flexibility to ‘customise’ the controlled assessment tasks or would we prefer to have specific tasks set by the Awarding Body?
- The degree of flexibility varies from task to task.
- Overall, AQA and WJEC have the most scope for customising but do also give example tasks, which you could choose to use.
- Edexcel’s tasks are generic. You then match one of these tasks with the text you have chosen.
- OCR sets a few generic tasks, which may be applied to any text (including a set text) and a specific question for each of the set texts.

Would our candidates do well on unseen poetry in an exam?
You may like to take a skills based approach to poetry which is well-suited to helping students approach an unseen poem. All the Awarding Bodies have unseen poetry either as a compulsory element or as an option.
If you would prefer to avoid unseen poetry:
- AQA route B avoids unseen poetry but puts Shakespeare in exam.
- OCR has an unseen poetry as an option, but you can opt to do contemporary poetry set text instead.

Does our department like to make a lot of use of the film when studying Shakespeare?
- All Awarding Bodies welcome this but OCR and Edexcel controlled assessment tasks explicitly ask students to link their reading to an audio/film version.

Is it important to us to have a lot of flexibility in the choice of texts and genres?
- AQA and OCR offer a little more flexibility in how you cover the National Curriculum requirements, for example whether your literary heritage text is prose or poetry.

We hope these questions will be of help as you narrow down your choices. We’d be interested in hearing from you about your own ‘deal-makers’ and ‘deal-breakers’.

Next time we’ll be looking in more detail at controlled assessment as we know this is an area of concern for people.

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 6: Non-Fiction in the New Specifications

2009-10-06T02:18:00.000-07:00

Over the next few blogs we are going to look at different points of comparison between the new specifications. We’re starting with what’s required for non-fiction reading and writing, as this is often a problematic area of assessment at GCSE. This blog will assume that you are already up-to-speed on the general issues around GCSE 2010. If not, we suggest you read at least Blog 1 before reading this one.

Non-fiction: what the specifications have in common
All the awarding bodies have a non-fiction unit that is shared by English and English Language.

Along with speaking and listening, which is also part of a shared unit in all the specifications, the non-fiction unit thus provides an important piece of ‘co-teachability’ (see Blog 5) to enable you to construct a common core course if you want to have the flexibility to make late decisions on entry for at least some of your students. You could, for example, have all students study for and sit this module in year 10, with the option for those who did not do so well to re-sit it in year 11.

Non-fiction: differences between the specifications
Edexcel is the only awarding body with a radically different approach to non-fiction as it is the only one with non-fiction assessed by controlled assessment: Unit 1, English Today.

The study of non-fiction for this unit is based on pre-release materials with a choice of two themes to choose from (each containing six texts). The themes are common to both the reading and writing elements in this unit.

Siting non-fiction in controlled assessment allows Edexcel to include onscreen digital texts – in fact three of the six pre-released texts will be digital and must be viewed onscreen. This may well be a selling point for departments keen to include a little more media in their course, as long as it survives the scrutiny of QCDA and the difficulties of obtaining copyright permissions for digital texts.

It also allows Edexcel to introduce the possibility of the Centre making their own choice of text for the reading element: students will respond to two pieces, either to two texts from the pre-release material or one from Edexcel and one of the Centre’s choice.

In writing, students will complete one controlled assessment task for a particular purpose and audience.

Something else to note is that each of the non-fiction tasks is worth 10% of the marks, meaning that non-fiction reading and writing accounts for 20% of the marks for Edexcel, rather than 40% for the other awarding bodies. Whether or not this is a selling point will depend on how well your students respond to non-fiction, of course.

The differences between the other boards are in the detail.

OCR’s non-fiction is delivered in the unit Information and Ideas: Unit A644 for English and A653 for Language. In spite of the different unit numbers (for administrative reasons) this is again a shared unit. The exam consists of two unseen pieces – one non-fiction, one media.

Students complete one writing task on a topic broadly linked to the reading material.

In AQA A’s specification, non-fiction reading and writing are assessed in Unit 1: Understanding and Producing Non-fiction. In the reading section of the exam, students respond to unseen texts. Higher tier students will answer four questions on three sources, whereas Foundation tier students will answer six questions on four shorter sources.

The writing section will ask for two tasks: a shorter task worth 16 marks and a longer task worth 24 marks. We assume this is to persuade students to spend longer on the writing tasks, rather than doing what they currently do and spending too long on the reading.

Presumably both the changes to the current Paper 1 exam (more, but shorter reading texts, two writing tasks) have been working well in the pilot phase of the new specifications.

WJEC’s Unit 1: English in the Daily World (reading) looks quite similar to OCR in that students are required to respond to two unseen texts, including media texts.

In Unit 2: English in the Daily World (writing) they complete two equally weighted tasks: transactional and discursive writing with a ‘real-life’ context.

Reading and writing are assessed in separate, one-hour exams – another way to deal with the problem of students spending too long on the reading section.

Don’t forget that we are running courses on ‘Choosing and Planning for the New GCSE Specifications for 2010’ if you’re looking for impartial advice on which spec might suit your department and students, and the chance to begin thinking about how to structure a course with the three GCSEs. 10th December is now full but there are still places on 12th January. See the courses section of our website for details: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk.

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 5: Overlaps, Crossovers and Co-teachability

2009-09-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

In this blog we are going to look at what English, English Language and English Literature have in common in the QCDA (QCA) criteria. This is a starting point for comparing how the different awarding bodies are trying to maximise the opportunities for cross-over to create a coherent, manageable route through the three Englishes, something we will look at in more detail in forthcoming blogs.

The QCDA criteria, which all the boards have to work to, are intended to make it possible for students to follow a common core course, with teachers able to make late decisions (as late as January of year 11) about who is entered for stand-alone English and who is entered for English Language and English Literature.

QCDA criteria for English and English Language
• Speaking and listening
AO1 Speaking and Listening is shared between English and English Language and is worth 20% of the marks in both subjects.
• Reading
The reading criteria come under AO2: Reading in English but AO3: Studying Written Language in English Language. However, the wording of the AO is the same in both subjects. The weighting is slightly different though: as AO2 in English it is worth 40% of the marks; as AO3 in Language it is worth 35%.
• Writing
The writing criteria come under AO3: Writing in English but AO4: Writing in English Language. As with reading, the wording of the criteria is the same in both AOs. (Although in English it is ‘Write clearly, effectively…’ whereas in English Language it is ‘Write to communicate clearly, effectively…’ We assume this is an anomaly arising as a result of the drafting process rather than a real difference in requirements!) Once again the weighting is different, with 40% of the marks for AO3 in English and 35% of the marks for AO4 in English Language.
• Studying Spoken Language
AO2: Studying Spoken Language, is unique to English Language and worth 10% of the marks.

QCDA criteria for Literature
• There is no repetition of criteria between the four literature AOs and the reading element of English and English Language. Of course some of the skills are pretty much the same, if inflected slightly differently: making comparisons and cross-references; selecting and evaluating relevant textual detail; relating texts to their social, cultural and historical context; explaining how language, structure and form contribute to meaning.

To look in more detail at the QCDA criteria, have a look at the downloads for Blog 1 (see right).

Co-teachability
In the past students have been able to submit several pieces of coursework for both English and Literature but QCDA have set tighter limits as to how much crossover there can be between the specifications for the three Englishes.

As you can see, the most likely areas of crossover are in speaking and listening and in reading for English and English Language because of the shared AOs. However, knowing that teachers will be keen to find a practical, doable approach, the awarding bodies have been creative in finding ways to maximise what is being called ‘co-teachability’ (in other words the possibilities for creating a common core course).

In several cases it is possible to teach the same text while preparing students for different controlled assessment tasks, to teach a common theme which students apply to different texts, or to teach a text which students can respond to in both exam and controlled assessment.

Taking a skills-based approach to teaching the GCSE course is probably the most effective way to exploit the commonalities between the Englishes, to create a coherent course for your students and a manageable route through for you. More on this in future blogs, as we start to look in detail at the draft specs and compare the ways different awarding bodies are approaching the ‘co-teachability’ issue.

By the way, thanks to those people who’ve taken the time to send us positive comments about the usefulness of this blog. It encourages us to keep going! Remember to let us know what you would like us to do next.

Our 10th December course on ‘Planning and Choosing Your GCSE Specification’ is now full. However, we will be running it again early in the Spring Term (date tba). To book a provisional place on this course, email Fran. Incidentally, if you’re on a waiting list for the first course you will automatically get a provisional booking for the new date.

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 4: Spoken Language Study

2009-07-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

Spoken Language Study
Spoken Language Study is a compulsory element of all the English Language specifications for 2010, accounting for 10% of the marks available. It’s the only element of the content of the new specifications that is completely new to GCSE. Of course, it is not new to the English Curriculum as a whole. There is a long history of studying spoken language from KS3 to A Level, but this is the first time it has been an explicit part of the assessment at GCSE. In retrospect it seems strange that this aspect of English is only just appearing at GCSE and this seems to be part of QCA’s aim to make KS3, GCSE and A Level fit together more coherently, providing a natural progression from the three English subjects at GCSE to the three English subjects at A Level.

Spoken Language study is also a key difference in the way language is studied in the stand-alone English GCSE (which doesn’t include the study of spoken language) and the way it is studied in English Language.

I’m not a linguistics expert, should I panic?
First of all it’s important to realise that students are not being asked to do a detailed theoretical and technical analysis of spoken language, such as students might do for English Language A Level.

The QCA assessment objective that applies to Spoken Language Study (AO2) has two parts:
- Understand variations in spoken language, explaining why language changes in relation to contexts
- Evaluate the impact of spoken language choices in their own and others’ use.

Different boards have taken quite different routes to fulfilling these criteria. For example, students might investigate dialogue from a soap opera of their choice, reflect on their own use of spoken language in different contexts, analyse the language of a public figure or think about their own and others' use of accent, dialect and idiolect. However, all the types of task require students to take an investigative approach and also encourage them to pursue their own interests.

Spoken Language Study in the draft specifications
The best way to understand what this aspect of English Language involves is to take a look at how the exam boards have interpreted it in their draft specifications. First, it’s worth noting three things the draft specifications have in common. In each case:
1. Spoken Language Study is a controlled assessment.
2. Spoken language study is in a unit that also contains the speaking and listening tasks.
3. Students can submit either a written or an oral response.

Extracts from the draft specifications:
AQA A: Spoken Language study is part of Unit 3: Understanding Spoken and Written Texts and Writing Creatively. There is a choice of three topic areas for study. In ‘social attitudes to spoken language’ students are invited to consider how spoken language relates to notions of privilege, identity and conformity. The topic ‘spoken genres’ can include a study of spoken language in the media, while ‘multi-modal talk’ gives students the opportunities to look at how new technologies ‘blur traditional distinctions between speaking and writing’. AQA A have produced a helpful guide with teaching tips giving some possible approaches to this aspect of their specification: http://store.aqa.org.uk/resourceZone/pdf/english/AQA-ENG-ALL-W-TRB-LBSP.PDF

AQA B: the requirements are identical to those for AQA A, except that there are only two areas of study: ‘social attitudes to spoken language’ and ‘spoken genres’.

Edexcel: Spoken Language study is part of Unit 3: The Spoken Language, which as well as speaking and listening includes ‘writing for the spoken voice’. Students are asked to produce a commentary on two examples of spoken language. The two examples can be taken from: everyday spoken language; students’ own recorded examples, students’ own selection, for example from YouTube or radio, or a CD ROM of spoken language provided by Edexcel.

OCR: Spoken Language study is part of Unit A652: Speaking, Listening and Spoken Language. There is a choice of topic areas: the study of the spoken language of a public figure, ‘Language, Media and Technology’, or ‘Language and Society’. The specification indicates that the spoken language study should be linked to students’ own speaking and listening work, for example, in the study of a public figure, students discuss how their study has influenced their own speaking and listening.

WJEC: Spoken Language study is part of Unit 4: Studying Spoken Language. The specification requires students to make a sustained response to their own or others’ uses of spoken language. Examples of tasks given in the draft specs include candidates reflecting on their own and others’ use of language in the workplace, or reflecting on how language might vary according to context, such as the differences in talking with an authority figure or with friends.

Anything we can prepare now?
You might want to consider whether some or all of your year 9 pupils would benefit from and enjoy a KS3 version of the spoken language study next year. This would give teachers in the department a chance to get their heads round some of the concepts while giving students a taste of the English Language course.

AO2 for GCSE, the one that applies to the spoken language study, relates very closely to the Revised Framework ‘Language’ strand: ‘exploring and analysing language’. The two substrands are 10.1 ‘exploring language variation and development according to time, place, culture, society and technology’ and 10.2 ‘commenting on language use’. If you already have units in KS3 that address this strand, your pupils will be well prepared for the spoken language study.

Although it’s not a requirement for students to use specialist terms or methods, some well-chosen terminology and basic methodology from the field of language study will help students to shape their thinking about spoken language in the same way that knowing the terms for poetic techniques helps them to analyse a poem.

The English and Media Centre’s publication Language Works contains units suitable for KS3 or 4 on similar topics to those outlined in the draft specifications, with accessible ways of using some basic linguistic methodology and terminology to analyse spoken language. You could use the material in an introductory way at KS3 or as more sustained support for the Spoken Language study when it is introduced in 2010.

So, no need to panic then?
We hope this blog has reassured you that you won’t need a degree in linguistics and/or experience with A Level English Language to teach the spoken language study. Mind you, if you have one of these experts in your department, you have plenty of time to butter them up and pick their brains before the first controlled assessment tasks are released!

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 3: What to consider as you start to plan new GCSE courses for 2010

2009-07-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

In this blog we’re posing a series of ‘did you realise?’ questions for your department to consider as you begin to plan your GCSE course with the 2010 specifications. These are questions you could think about now, regardless of which exam board you eventually choose, or what the finalised specifications look like.

The questions assume that you already have an understanding of the three Englishes, and of what controlled assessment means. For more information on these topics, have a read of our first two blogs.

We have also brainstormed some possible ways to organise a GCSE offer. As you firm up the route your department is going to take, we would be interested to hear from you about the decisions being made and the discussions taking place.

Did you realise?
• Did you realise that the requirements for English, English Language and Literature overlap? The exam boards are finding various ways to make the most of these overlaps to allow you to make a late decision about who is entered for which exam.

• Did you realise that, because of the overlap, you cannot take English with either English Language or English Literature?

• Did you realise that a ‘C’ in English counts on the A*–C league tables but that a ‘C’ in English Language counts only if the pupil is also entered (yes ‘entered’) for English Literature? This is because a student taking Language only would not have covered all the requirements of the National Curriculum. Only students exempt from National Curriculum requirements (e.g. Post-16 or recently arrived EAL) can take English Language (or Literature) alone.

• Did you realise that all the specifications can be taught in a modular way, with students sitting modules in January or June? Students can retake any module once.

• Did you realise that students can be entered in different tiers for different modules?

• Did you realise that tasks for controlled assessment will be released before the summer holiday for teaching the following year?

• Did you realise that a controlled assessment task must be taken in the same academic year that it is set by the board (because the tasks change each year). For example, a controlled assessment task released by the board in May 2010 is to be taught, taken, assessed and submitted to the board in the academic year beginning September 2010. In other words, with controlled assessment students cannot produce a piece in year 9 or year 10 and redraft it before submitting it in year 11. This may be an issue, if, for example, you currently have a fast track set sitting GCSE at the end of year 10 who complete some coursework towards the end of year 9.

• Did you realise that there is one English Language specification designed to be taken in a year, particularly for mature candidates? This is the AQA B English Language specification.

What might shape might an English GCSE course take in 2010?
Taking all the above points into account, some of the options you could consider include:
• Enter all for English Language + Literature
• Enter all for English Language + Literature, except a group who will not manage Literature. This group are entered for English only, but given same amount of teaching time as the double entry group to boost their grades
• Offer English Language + Literature for students considering A Level English. Everyone else takes English only
• Create a core English course for all in year 10. This could mean students sit an overlapping module in the June examination period of year 10 and/or complete an overlapping controlled assessment task. Then, in year 11, students are re-grouped to continue with either English Language + Literature or English only.
• Offer several different routes for taking two English related GCSEs. For example, some take English Language + Literature, others take English with Media Studies, Drama or Film Studies. Edexcel are also offering or something called ‘English Studies’ which is designed to complement an English course while providing opportunities for work around digital communication and moving image. It can be taken alongside English or English Language and English Literature, allowing a student to achieve three GCSEs in English subjects.

Of course there are various ways to mix and match the above options. The ‘right’ way for your department will be a mixture of pragmatic and idealistic considerations. On one level you will want to debate what would best suit your students, the strengths, weaknesses and resources of your department and how the diplomas are going to affect English teaching and the timetable in your school. On another level you will probably find yourselves debating questions such as whether you want all your students to experience literature at GCSE level, or how you see the place of Media in a GCSE offer suitable for the 21st Century. We also know some departments will have little involvement in the decision, with choices being made for them by senior managers with an eye to such practical considerations as budget, staffing, timetable and A*–C league tables.

Whatever your situation, we would love to hear from you. We are sure that it will be useful for everyone to hear the debates and choices being made around the country.

A big thank you to all of you who have taken the time to write lovely messages about finding the blog useful. Keep us informed about what you think and what you would like next!

Stop Press
The draft specifications, sample assessment materials and draft resources have been published on the web. To check them out, follow these links:

AQA
http://www.aqa.org.uk/resourceZone/englishIndex.php

AQA English
http://www.aqa.org.uk/resourceZone/english.php

AQA English Language A
http://www.aqa.org.uk/resourceZone/englishLangA.php

AQA English Language B
http://www.aqa.org.uk/resourceZone/englishLangB.php

AQA English Literature
http://www.aqa.org.uk/resourceZone/englishLit.php

OCR English
http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcsefor2010/english/index.html

OCR English Language
http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcsefor2010/english_lang/index.html

OCR English Literature
http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcsefor2010/english_lit/index.html

WJEC
http://www.wjec.co.uk/index.php?subject=51&level=7

WJEC English
http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/8315.pdf
Sample Assessment Materials: http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/8325.pdf

WJEC English Language
Spec: http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/8317.pdf
Sample Assessment Materials: http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/8321.pdf

WJEC English Literature
Spec: http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/8319.pdf
Sample Assessment Materials: http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/8323.pdf

Edexcel
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse10/english/Pages/default.aspx

English
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse10/english/Documents/GCSE_English_final.pdf

English Lang
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse10/english/Documents/GCSE_English_Language_final.pdf

English Literature
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse10/english/Documents/GCSE_English_Literature_final.pdf

English Studies
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse10/english/Documents/GCSE_English_Studies_final.pdf

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 2: Controlled Assessment: What it Means for You and Your Department

2009-06-23T03:34:00.000-07:00

Why has controlled assessment been introduced?
The changes are being made in response to concerns from everyone in the system ¬– exam boards, teachers, parents and students – about the ‘fairness’ of coursework. Although out-and-out cheating is pretty rare, between parental help, the Internet, and teachers pressurised to deliver results, the declaration of a candidate’s work as ‘all their own’ is not always as true as it should be.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that in a QCA survey, two thirds of teachers said they did not think coursework was ‘valid and reliable’. On the other hand, most English teachers did not want to see coursework disappear altogether. Controlled assessment is intended to be a kind of half-way house between coursework and exam.

What is controlled assessment?
Controlled assessment breaks down into several stages: task setting; research and preparation; task taking. QCA regulations set out different levels of control for each stage. (http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_16010.aspx). Students must complete the final stage of the task on their own, in supervised conditions.

The boards will set generic tasks. Teachers will choose one, and then an appropriate text or topic to customise the task for their students. Tasks will change each year but will be pre-released. It’s likely that some boards will offer the option of an oral assessment for one of the tasks.

Boards will give guidance on the amount of time to be spent and/or the word limit. The generic guidance suggests 15 hours of preparation and writing time for each 20% proportion of the overall assessment.

It is up to individual schools whether the final task is completed with everyone in an exam hall for a block of time, or in timetabled lessons over several sessions.

Work will be marked internally but moderated externally, just as coursework is now. With everyone completing much more similar tasks, it will easier to moderate and to standardise marks.

What are the issues for my department?
Other subjects, such as Media Studies and Science, have had a form of controlled assessment for a while now. It’s worth asking teachers in these subjects about their experiences.

Your school may already have made decisions for all subjects about whether controlled assessment should take place in normal lesson time or in an examination room.

If the decision hasn’t yet been made for English, you will want to consider issues such as: what is in place for those needing extra time; access to dictionaries and thesauruses for the literature exam; the fact that students can word process their work; how to check that those who are using computers are not accessing the Internet and, when taking English and English Language tasks, are not using a spelling or grammar checker.

You will want to discuss in your department whether teachers will be free to choose their own task from the board’s selection, or whether you want to choose together. With the tasks changing each year, it could lighten everyone’s load to plan schemes of work together, if only for the first cohort. Unlike an exam, classes can take the controlled assessment at different times, so the strain on the stock cupboard is not too great. Bear in mind that candidates will need a clean copy of any text to use in their controlled conditions task.

In our next blog we will look at issues around managing the three Englishes as well as some of the issues around modularity. Although you could plan a course in which everything leads to a set of terminal exams, at the very least you will need to consider when to set the controlled assessments.

Be aware that, with the tasks changing each year, a controlled assessment must be submitted in the same year that students sit that module. In the past some schools had their students do a piece of coursework early in year 10, or even in year 9, and then re-draft it in year 11. That will no longer be possible.

Once the specifications are available, you will also want to look at where there is overlap between controlled assessments in English, English Language and Literature. This will relate to the issues we will discuss in our next blog.

What does ‘controlled conditions’ mean in practice?
Preparation work can include anything you would normally use for teaching a coursework assignment, including pair and group work. However, once students are actually completing the task, they must work individually. Candidates can do more than one draft, but the teacher must not give them feedback in the redrafting process, however much they are itching to do so!

So is controlled assessment a good thing?
As with any system, controlled assessment has its loopholes, which a few people will look to exploit. Common under the current regime is over-scaffolding, and, with controlled assessment, teacher’s task plans could be memorised by students: everyone is keen for candidates to emerge with the best grades. However, it is worth remembering that over-scaffolding leads to lower, not higher, attainment, as examiners’ reports, Ofsted, and educational research often remind us.

Some teachers may be sad about the narrowing down of one of the few remaining areas of GCSE that teachers and pupils could customise for local conditions, individual interests and strengths. Some may simply be glad to have confidence that a student’s work is really ‘all their own’, and a sense that their candidates are competing on a more level playing field. As for the practical issues, only time will tell.

EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 1: The Story So Far

2009-06-03T01:26:00.000-07:00

This is our first post, so we thought we’d start at the beginning with an outline of the three new English GCSEs.

Three Englishes
As you probably know, there are going to be three new exams in English for GCSE, for first teaching in 2010: English, English Language and English Literature. So how do these fit together?

English
‘English’ covers the National Curriculum and Programme of Study and is a stand-alone GCSE. Exam papers will be tiered (foundation and higher) just as they are now. The basic elements of the course are the same as the current GCSE:
• Speaking and listening 20%
• Reading 40%
• Writing 40%
60% will be examined through controlled assessment, 40% through external exam. ‘Functional elements’ must make up 45%-55% of assessment.

Next time, we’ll look at what ‘controlled assessment’ means in a bit more detail. It’s an aspect of the 2010 GCSEs that is new and very different from current coursework. It may end up causing more anxiety than some of the more familiar elements, so it’s well worth getting your head around early.

English Language
‘English Language’ fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum and the Programme of Study only in conjunction with English Literature. C grades in English Language will only count in the 5 A*– C league table if the candidate is entered for (yes ‘entered for’) literature.

This exam could stand alone for those exempt from NC requirements, for example those sitting the exam post-16 or recently arrived EAL students.

There is also a new element called ‘spoken language study’ which we will be looking at more closely in a few weeks time. Exam papers will be tiered.

The basic course structure is:
• Speaking and listening (same assessment criteria as English) 20%
• Studying spoken language 10%
• Studying written language (similar to English ‘reading’ criteria) 35%
• Writing (same assessment criteria as English) 35%
60% controlled assessment, 40% exam. ‘Functional elements’ 45%-55%

English Literature
Literature fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum and Programme of Study only in conjunction with English Language. Exam papers will be tiered (foundation and higher).

The basic course structure is:
• Respond critically/imaginatively, use textual evidence 25-35%
• Language, structure, form 25-35%
• Comparisons and links 25-35%
• Social, cultural, historical context, significance 25-35%
25% controlled assessment (at least 2 texts), 75% exam (at least 4 texts)

To sum up
So, essentially, your students can take one of four routes:
1. English
2. English Language + English Literature
3. (If exempt from National Curriculum) English Language
4. (If exempt from National Curriculum) English Literature
In practice, the majority will take route 1 or route 2. Notice that students cannot take English with Literature or English with English Language as there is too much overlap. Some departments will also be thinking about where subjects like media or film studies sit in the new structure. We’ll discuss issues like this in two weeks’ time.

QCA’s Criteria
QCA have finalised their criteria, which all the exam boards are now using to develop their specifications. To see our summary of these, click here or to view the whole thing, go to http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/743.aspx.

The criteria are designed with quite a lot of overlap to encourage people to make late decisions about which exam or exams students are entered for. There are big timetabling and course structure implications here and in a forthcoming post we’ll be outlining some of the issues your department needs to start thinking about.

Most of the exam boards have promised to publish their draft specs at the beginning of July, so this is when we’ll get a first sight of what’s to come.

After this, QCA will ask for any changes they think are needed. The final specifications should be available by December and in schools in January, ready for first teaching in September 2010.

This is why we will be running the first of our courses on choosing and planning your new GCSE on Thursday 10th December, even though we know from your emails that some of you would like something sooner (for course details click here). Last time the GCSE specifications were revised, there were a lot of changes between the draft and final specifications, so we don’t want to jump the gun. Even so we are crossing our fingers that the final specifications will be available in time for the course!
Over the next few weeks we will be covering:
• ‘Controlled assessment’: what is it? What are the issues for English departments?
• What English departments should start thinking about now – timetabling and course structuring issues.
• Spoken language study: what might this look like?
• (After July 1st) Our first thoughts on the draft specifications
• New texts: why change from old favourites like Of Mice and Men?

If you want us to deal with a particular issue, let us know!