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Geography A GCSE
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News
April 2013
A bulletin for April 2013 is now on the website under Subject Bulletins. It has information about selecting the 2014 Controlled Assessment tasks.
March 2013
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.
WJEC provides, and will continue to provide, GCE and GCSE Geography qualifications which meet the needs of teachers and the requirements of regulators in both England and Wales.
January 2013
The deadline for the submission of completed controlled assessment samples for moderation is Friday 22nd March 2013. As in 2012, centres will be required to submit their controlled assessment marks online via the WJEC Secure Website from 10th March. Once all marks have been entered and submitted, the online system will confirm the details of those candidates whose work will need to be sent in the sample. As in 2012, the moderator address details will only be available via the online system, and can be seen once marks have been submitted and the sample has been confirmed.
As in 2012, the relevant covering mark sheets and guidance notes (CAA1, CAA2 & CAA3) can be downloaded and completed from the Internal Assessment / coursework forms page link here. Please see the Spec A guidance notes document for a step-by-step guide to the process.
December 2012
A bulletin for December 2012 is now on the website under subject bulletins. It has information about accessing documents on the secure website and changes to the mark sheets.
October 2012
Powerpoint resources Unit 1 and 2 feedback 2012 and Developing the Decision Making Exercise.
You may use this PowerPoint presentation with your students to help them understand how to show evidence of AO2 in their fieldwork enquiries. The presentation uses the context of rivers fieldwork. Teaching notes are included with each slide.
Presentation explaining the use of item level data for WJEC examinations.
There is a now a dedicated Controlled Assessment proposal form for candidates completing their GCSE (cash-in) 2014. Please use this form in conjunction with the Approved Generic tasks set for 2014.
2012 Moderator Reports are available to centres via the secure website on the 'Internal Assessment Mark Input' page.
July 2012
Generic controlled assessment tasks for award in 2014
Content changes: (pages 14 - 21) for 2014
June 2012 "Strengthened" GCSE is accredited
In common with other awarding organisations, WJEC was recently asked to revise GCSE specifications to make the assessment linear. In addition all awarding organisations were asked to "strengthen" their GCSE Geography specifications. We are pleased to announce that WJEC linear GCSE specification in Geography has been approved by the regulators.
Interested in teaching WJEC GCSE Geography A for the first time this September? If so, this document will give you a brief overview of the specification.
June 2012 Linear and Unitised specifications
- ALL centres in England will be required to use linear GCSE specifications for first award from 2014 (first teaching of two-year courses starting from 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 subject 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.
May 2012
GCSE Geography course dates of CPD meetings for the academic year 2012-13 are available here.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar assessment changes to WJEC GCSE Geography.
The regulators in Wales, England and Northern Ireland recently asked all awarding organisations to include the assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar in ALL Geography 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.
February 2012
- New Bulletin December 2011
- UMS to raw marks conversion tables.
- 2010 CPD Resources for Teachers.
- 2010 CPD examples of marked scripts.
- Controlled Assessment Mark Sheets and Guidance notes.
- Unit 1 June 2010-Raw mark/UMS Conversion table.
Continuing Professional Development
CPD courses Autumn 2012 (INSET)
Bulletins
- The September 2011 bulletin is now available online
- The June 2011 bulletin is now available online
- The Aprill 2011 bulletin is now available online
Resources/key Documents
- All documents page including Specification, Specimen Assessment materials, Teachers Guides mark sheets, etc
- A useful summary sheet on the specification entry codes is also available.
- GCSE examiner application form is available on line.
- The NGFL website has useful resources.
- An updated Version of the teacher guide incorporating the optional units is available. (19/05/2010)
- A ning website dedicated to WJEC GCSE geography is available (not a WJEC website - opens a new window).
- Royal Geographical Society
- Geographical Association
- The new geography GCSE specification (A) is available here
- Specimen assessment materials are also available
Controlled Assessment
- Information on the new controlled assessment can be found in the guide under "A practical guide to controlled assessment"
- Submission of controlled assessment form (15/10/09)
- Guidance sheet on the submission process (15/10/09)
- Controlled assessment CAA1, CAA2 & CAA 2011
Centres do not need approval for their controlled assessment items. However, WJEC strongly advises that you use the support of your controlled assessment adviser (CAA) when developing your assessment items. Contact details for your controlled assessment adviser will be sent to you from WJEC immediately upon receipt of your initial email submission form.
It is hoped that the advice and support you receive from your controlled assessment adviser will ensure that you can approach the controlled assessment with the confidence that your students are producing items of work which are both relevant and appropriate to the demands of the new specification. Further information in relation to controlled assessment can be found in the Teachers Guide.
Uniform Marks (UMS)
Information on how raw marks are converted to uniform marks may be found in the following document - Uniform Marks
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Owen - Subject Officer
Telephone: 029 2026 5114
E-mail: andrew.owen@wjec.co.uk
Steve James - Subject Support Officer
Telephone: 029 2026 5029
E-mail: steve.james@wjec.co.uk
