How are we working to make GCSE Geography B even better?
27 March 2024
Kerry Sage, Geography Subject Advisor
In this blog, I’ll answer your key questions about our planned refreshed GCSE B specification and assessments. I’ll explain how and why our content and assessment models are changing, and give an overview of our new, contemporary and engaging qualification.
We will be submitting a draft of our GCSE Geography B specification to the regulator, Ofqual, over the summer. We are planning for this to be approved for first teaching in September 2025 (subject to approval).
For now, you don’t need to take any action, or make any plans. We’ll be sharing our draft specification and sample assessment materials as soon as they’re available. Please visit our dedicated webpage to sign up for updates and learn more about our plans.
Why are we making changes?
Geography is a dynamic and ever-changing subject, and we recognise the need to update our specification to reflect this.
We have listened to teacher and student feedback and found several emerging themes:
- a need to reduce the volume of specification content to deliver
- concern over the amount of time needed to deliver large case studies
- the accessibility of language in assessments could be improved, including command words some topic content needs updating, for example climate change
- fieldwork places demands on time, expertise and equipment, and there are challenges with exam questions not reflecting the curriculum time spent on fieldwork
- students find maths and statistics questions challenging
- there’s a need for more teaching and learning support.
We’re dedicated to being the most supportive exam board. Being responsive to your feedback and delivering qualifications that are relevant to you and your students is vital to this.
How did we do it?
We started with a detailed external review, which mapped our current specification to the Department for Education subject content for GCSE Geography. Internally, we investigated whether it would be possible to reduce the number of topics without impacting the integrity of the qualification. We also looked at the content that needed to be refreshed due to changes in research and terminology, such as convection currents.
We wanted to ensure that our process was rigorous and thoughtful, so we worked closely with a range of key stakeholders. This included consulting with teachers, Heads of Department and Trust Subject Leads through questionnaires and focus groups, and we’ve spoken with students. We’ve also engaged with experts and organisations such as Royal Meteorological Society, Field Studies Council, ESRI, Time for Geography and Cambridge Zero.
We recognise and are committed to align our qualification with OCR’s own People and the Planet principles, especially in terms of climate change and Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB). With this as a focus, we have reviewed our content and are refreshing it based on our commitment to improving EDIB in our geography qualifications.
As part of our ongoing review of accessibility, we have already made improvements and will continue to do so through our GCSE B refresh. We have reviewed command words, question tariffs and style of questions to ensure our assessment materials are inclusive and accessible to all. You can read more about accessibility in geography exams in our recent blog.
Throughout our journey to date, we have analysed all the feedback from our surveys. Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to join us for focus groups, completed surveys and allowed us to visit your schools. We will be in touch in the future, seeking feedback on draft specification content and assessment materials. Teacher and student views are very important to us, and we are committed to working with you to create the best possible GCSE qualifications.
If you have not yet been involved but would like to be, please do contact us on geography@ocr.org.uk.
What are we hoping to create with our refreshed GCSE Geography B?
The refreshed qualification will be familiar to our current GCSE B qualification as we will retain the feel and examination structure. Some of the improvements you will see include:
- a qualification that is manageable to teach in the time given, allowing time for revision and consolidation
- refreshed and updated content that is relevant to students’ and teachers’ lives
- clear and consistent assessments that are inclusive and accessible to all. You can expect:
- clearer exam language
- refined command words
- embedded resources within the exam paper
- changes to question tariffs
- clarity of fieldwork questions
- clearer maths and stats questions
- positive exam experience
- greater teaching and learning support, including support around fieldwork.
We believe that these improvements will help create a positive geography experience for all students.
What support will there be for planning and delivering GCSE Geography B?
You told us you needed resources and more teaching materials to aid your delivery of GCSE Geography B. Together with our publisher partners and online providers such as Field Studies Council, ESRI and ERA, we’re confident you'll have everything you need to get started, even as a non-specialist.
Our expert geography advisors are here to help you on your journey, offering a range of support from preparation to delivery. We’ll share updates and resources and invite you to training and networking opportunities by email. Be sure to sign up to receive your subject updates so you don’t miss out.
To help you navigate the refreshed specification and its content, we will also create and share:
- detailed assessment guides
- comprehensive curriculum planners and schemes of work
- an extensive range of free teacher guides and teaching resources to support delivery, located on the Teach Cambridge website (be sure to ask your exams officer if you need access)
- revised endorsed textbooks and teaching and learning resources from leading third parties and publishers
- guidance on third-party materials to help support ECTs and non-specialist teachers
- access to Active Results, our free results analysis service that allows you to review the performance of individual students or the whole school
- access to ExamBuilder, our free question-building platform where you can build your own tests as our bank of past live-series questions grows
- an extensive range of professional development courses, covering everything from getting started with us to exploring our exams and assessment materials. Discover more on our professional development page.
In summary
We wanted to inform you of the refresh and assure you that we will keep you informed at every step of the way. We are hoping the proposed changes to the specification and assessment materials, which have come about as a direct result of the valuable feedback we receive from teachers and stakeholders, will increase the enjoyment and love of learning that your geography students deserve.
We are currently working behind the scenes on the new specification, resources, assessment materials and support for existing and new OCR teachers. We will share these as soon as they are available.
Stay connected
Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you have any questions, you can email us at geography@ocr.org.uk , call us on 01223 553998 or message us on X (formerly Twitter) @OCR_Geography. You can also sign up for email updates for information about resources and support.
About the author
Kerry joined the Subject Advisor team in April 2023 after 18 years of teaching Geography along with other subjects such as Environmental Science. As well as being Head of Geography she had other roles such as associate SLT and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. She loves to travel and trained as an Icelandic Teacher Tour Guide.
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