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Qualified for the future: WJEC is ready to deliver

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Have your say: Made for Wales GCSEs and related qualifications

As part of our journey to co-construct a new suite of GCSEs and related qualifications for learners across Wales, we are pleased to announce that consultation on our high-level proposals for the structure and focus of assessment for the subjects outlined below is now live.

{"accordionHeading":"","accordionItems":[{"accordionTitle":"Purpose of this consultation","accordionTitleSecondary":null,"accordionImage":"","accordionContent":"We are developing new made-for-Wales GCSEs and related qualifications for first teaching in September 2025. These qualifications should support learners in realising the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales.  \nBefore developing the detailed specification and sample assessment material, we have developed a short document for each subject which gives our high-level proposal for the structure, focus and assessment of each qualification. \nThese documents, called qualification outlines, build on the Approval Criteria and provide some key information that will form the basis of our detailed qualification development. \nWe cannot change anything that is in the Approval Criteria, but it’s very important to us that we get stakeholder feedback on how we’ve interpreted the Approval Criteria in our qualification outlines before we undertake our detailed development work."},{"accordionTitle":"Approval Criteria","accordionTitleSecondary":null,"accordionImage":"","accordionContent":"Qualifications Wales published Approval Criteria in June 2023 that set out the high-level design requirements for the new made-for-Wales GCSEs and related qualifications to support the Curriculum for Wales.\nAll of our new GCSEs must meet ‘<a href=\"https://qw-website-prod-master.azurewebsites.net/media/t1lhpbwl/made-for-wales-gcse-qualification-approval-criteria.pdf\">Made-for-Wales GCSE Qualification Approval Criteria’</a>\nThese note that all approved GCSE qualifications must:\n<ul>\n<li>be designed primarily for Learners between the ages of 14 and 16</li>\n<li>build on the conceptual understanding Learners have developed through their learning from ages 3-14</li>\n<li>support teaching and learning by providing appropriately broad, demanding, relevant and engaging content and assessment that relates to and supports Curriculum for Wales, including its four purposes</li>\n<li>allow Learners to develop a strong foundation of knowledge, skills and understanding which support progression to post-16 study and prepare them for life, learning and work</li>\n<li>provide meaningful, fair, and accurate information on Learner achievement within a subject that highlights what Learners know, understand, and can do.</li>\n</ul>\nThe <a href=\"https://qualifications.wales/regulation-reform/reforming/qualified-for-the-future/made-for-wales-gcses/gcses-approval-criteria/\">subject level Approval Criteria</a> specify:\n<ul>\n<li>the title, size, grading structure and purpose and aims of the individual qualifications and also outline the subject content that we must include in our qualification.</li>\n</ul>\nIn terms of assessment, the subject level Approval Criteria note whether the qualification is linear or unitised. They prescribe the proportion of the qualification that must be assessed by examination and the proportion of the qualification that must be assessed through non-examination assessment, noting whether that non-examination assessment must be assessed by the centre or by the awarding body. In some instances, they also note specific requirements such as digital assessment or the use of pre-release materials."},{"accordionTitle":"Development work to date","accordionTitleSecondary":null,"accordionImage":"","accordionContent":"Over the last few months, we have developed a series of principles and guidance to inform our development process. These principles and guidance build on qualification and assessment design good practice and consider in detail what we mean by supporting the Curriculum for Wales, and how this will be incorporated into our development process.\nWithin WJEC, each individual qualification development is led by a Qualifications Development Officer working closely with the relevant Subject Officer(s). We have established a Qualification Development Advisory Group for each subject – these are groups predominantly made up of teachers that we established following an open recruitment process.\nFor the qualification outline phase, we wanted to ensure that we were focusing on the big ideas, themes and/or concepts that are important for the subject in the context of the Curriculum for Wales. These big ideas, themes and/or concepts inform the unit purposes which in turn inform the detailed content which will be developed in the next phase. Within the constraints of the Approval Criteria, we then considered how best to assess each unit.\nWe took ideas and options, based on the Approval Criteria and our principles and guidance, to Qualification Development Advisory Groups for their input. We then produced draft outlines for each subject that were reviewed by our internal Qualification Development Management Group – as well as considering compliance with Approval Criteria and alignment with the Curriculum for Wales and our own principles and guidance, this group considers the coherence and manageability of the whole suite of qualifications."}]}

Have your say

We are now consulting on our qualification outlines. They have been released in two batches:

Batch 1: 18th October – 13th November

Additional Core Cymraeg	Qualification outline	Have your say
Art and Design	Qualification outline	Have your say
Business	Qualification outline	Have your say
Computer Science	Qualification outline	Have your say
Core Cymraeg	Qualification outline	Have your say
Drama	Qualification outline	Have your say
Geography	Qualification outline	Have your say
French, German, Spanish	Qualification outline	Have your say

Batch 2 – 25th October – 20th November

Cymraeg Language and Literature (single and double)	Qualification outline	Have your say
English Language and Literature (single and double)	Qualification outline	Have your say
Food and Nutrition	Qualification outline	Have your say
History	Qualification outline	Have your say
Mathematics and Numeracy	Qualification outline	Have your say
Music	Qualification outline	Have your say
Religious Studies	Qualification outline	Have your say
The Sciences (double)	Qualification outline	Have your say

We will analyse the consultation responses and use them to inform revisions to the qualification outlines.

{"accordionHeading":"","accordionItems":[{"accordionTitle":"Other stakeholder involvement","accordionTitleSecondary":null,"accordionImage":"","accordionContent":"In addition to asking for your feedback on individual qualification outlines, we are also discussing the suite of qualifications as a whole with a range of stakeholders and their input will also inform revisions to the qualification outlines. We have established a GCSE and related qualifications Development Advisory Group to support us in considering issues such as the manageability of the whole suite and the impact on teaching and learning. This small group is made up of a representation of senior leaders across Wales, supported by a small number of expert consultants providing external support and challenge to WJEC in key areas. We have also established a Union Group, a Learner Group and a broad Stakeholder Group. We will be meeting all of these groups towards the end of the consultation period.\nIn addition, we will be getting feedback from Qualifications Wales during the consultation period."},{"accordionTitle":"Next steps","accordionTitleSecondary":null,"accordionImage":"","accordionContent":"We will consider all of the feedback together and publish revised qualification outlines in January 2024. Whilst it is intended that these published outlines are final, there may be some issues that arise during our detailed development work, or during Qualifications Wales’ approval process, that mean we have to revisit certain aspects – we will keep you informed of any changes.\nIn the meantime, we will be training our external writers and reviewers, secured through an open recruitment exercise, towards the end of 2023 so that they are ready to start developing the specification in the new year, shortly followed by the sample assessment materials.\nAt each stage of the development process, we will consider how the qualifications can support learners in meeting the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales, the impact of qualification and assessment design on teaching and learning and the most appropriate balance of manageability, engagement, reliability and validity.\nWe submit our specifications to Qualifications Wales for regulatory review in March/April 2024 and sample assessment materials in May/June 2024. We then make amendments, responding to regulatory feedback, until Qualifications Wales is content to approve the qualifications – <a href=\"https://qualificationswales.org/regulation-reform/reforming/qualified-for-the-future/made-for-wales-gcses/\">this diagram produced by Qualifications Wales show the dates when key documents will be published</a>."}]}