History GCSE

Subscribe to be kept informed of news and developments in this subject

WJEC provides, and will continue to provide, GCSE History qualifications which meet the needs of teachers and the requirements of regulators in both England and Wales.

 

GCSE History strengthened specification for teaching from September 2013 (Updated 17th May 2013)

 

Following instructions from examinations regulators to strengthen GCSE history, it is very likely that changes will be made to the WJEC GCSE history specification and assessment materials for teaching from September 2013. Please follow the link for further details. 
 

Revised specifications and specimen assessment materials will be posted on our website as soon as they have been accredited.

 

Dates for internal assessment standardising CPD for the next academic year will be published shortly. Examination review will be provided online; further details will be issued in due course.

 

Presentation explaining the use of item level data from WJEC examinations.

Raw / UMS mark grade boundaries

June 2012

WJEC linear GCSE History approved

In common with other awarding organisations, WJEC was recently asked to revise GCSE specifications to make the assessment linear. We are pleased to announce that WJEC linear GCSE specification in History has been approved by the regulators.

Main points:

- ALL centres in England will be required to use linear GCSE specifications from first award in 2014 (first teaching of two-year courses in September 2012).

-In Wales, centres will be able to choose to follow either of the two options available for courses starting from September 2012:

• linear specifications (first award summer 2014), where candidates sit all their exams at the end of the course
• existing unitised specifications where assessment may be taken in separate units at stages during the course as is currently the case

- WJEC is offering both linear and unitised specifications.

- The content of the two options is the same; the only difference is that the linear assessment may be taken at the end of the course only.

The subject content remains similar. The main difference is that in linear specification all examinations must be taken at the end of the course. You may view the revised specification here.

Across all awarding bodies there will also be some “strengthening” of the assessment in GCSE History in 2014/2015. Further details of these changes will be posted on the website shortly.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar assessment changes to WJEC GCSE History.

The regulators in Wales, England and Northern Ireland recently asked all awarding organisations to include the assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar in ALL History GCSE examinations from June 2013 onwards.
WJEC is pleased to confirm that changes to assessment reflecting this requirement have been accepted by the regulators.
Further details are available here. Revised sample assessment materials are available here.
 

CHANGES TO GCSE HISTORY EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR 2013

WJEC can announce that the GCSE History specification and specimen assessment materials have recently been re-accredited by the examinations regulators.  These changes result from discussions with examinations regulators in January 2012. The changes apply to the current GCSE course. The first examinations in the amended style will be set in May 2013.

Assessment changes apply to all the studies in depth and the thematic studies. There are also changes regarding the award of marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar and the duration of the examination from the summer of 2013. 

The amended specification and the amended specimen assessment materials are available now on the WJEC website. Please click here.

The materials are currently being translated into Welsh.

 

The Specification

 Particular features of the GCSE History specification are:

• Wide choice of options
• Opportunity for staged assessment
• Updated content based around key questions
• Challenging but accessible assessments
• Simple explanatory documentation on controlled assessment

Teacher Guides

WJEC has produced guides to assist teachers with the introduction of the new GCSE History course. There are three guides. One is focused on the examined units, the second is focused generally on controlled assessment and the third guide contains the exemplars for controlled assessment for years 2011 and 2012. Final versions of these teacher guides are available here.

Uniform Marks

Information on how raw marks are converted to uniform marks may be found here.

Resources

• Past papers and marking schemes are available free of charge to teaching staff on our Secure Website.
• Further resources are available through our online Shop. 

For further information, please contact:

Phil Star -  Subject Officer
Telephone: 029 2026 5125
E-mail: phil.star@wjec.co.uk

Greg Lewis - Subject Support Officer
Telephone: 029 2026 5035
E-mail: greg.lewis@wjec.co.uk