{"id":53772,"date":"2015-02-12T09:47:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T09:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=9cc79d96fed112229982a051be41ad1e"},"modified":"2015-02-12T09:47:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T09:47:11","slug":"statement-to-parliament-publication-of-reformed-gcse-and-a-level-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=53772","title":{"rendered":"Statement to Parliament: Publication of reformed GCSE and A level content"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The government is reforming qualifications to provide students with the knowledge and understanding that will prepare them for employment and further study. The new <abbr title=\"General certificates of secondary education\">GCSEs<\/abbr> will provide young people with more fulfilling and demanding courses of study, and reformed <abbr title=\"Advanced levels\">A levels<\/abbr> will better prepare students for undergraduate study. <\/p>\n<p>The government has already published subject content for a number of <abbr title=\"General certificates of secondary education\">GCSEs<\/abbr> and <abbr title=\"Advanced levels\">A levels<\/abbr> to be reformed. Content for reformed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/gcse-subject-content\"><abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr> subjects<\/a> and content for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/gce-as-and-a-level-subject-content\"><abbr title=\"Advanced Subsidiary\">AS<\/abbr>\/<abbr title=\"Advanced level\">A level<\/abbr> subjects<\/a> is available.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I am publishing revised content for the remaining <abbr title=\"General certificates of secondary education\">GCSEs<\/abbr> and <abbr title=\"Advanced levels\">A levels<\/abbr> that will be taught in schools from September 2016: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<abbr title=\"General certificates of secondary education\">GCSEs<\/abbr> in citizenship studies, drama, food preparation and nutrition, and religious studies<\/li>\n<li>\n<abbr title=\"Advanced levels\">A levels<\/abbr> in drama and theatre, and religious studies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In common with all reformed <abbr title=\"General certificates of secondary education\">GCSEs<\/abbr> and <abbr title=\"Advanced levels\">A levels<\/abbr>, the qualifications will be academically rigorous to prepare students for life in modern Britain and keep pace with the expectations of universities and employers. <\/p>\n<p>Key changes to the reformed qualifications are highlighted below:<\/p>\n<p>The new citizenship studies <abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr> will require students to develop more detailed knowledge of citizenship, including knowledge of democracy and government, the legal system, society and the public finances. While students will be required to undertake at least 1 in-depth, critical investigation leading to a campaign or other similar activity, <abbr title=\"Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation\">Ofqual<\/abbr> has decided that assessment of the knowledge and understanding gained through such action will now be by written examination.<\/p>\n<p>The drama <abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr>, and drama and theatre <abbr title=\"Advanced level\">A level<\/abbr>, are more rigorous and offer greater breadth to students. At <abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr>, students will study at least 1 play in depth, including its social, cultural and historical context, and 2 extracts from a second play. At <abbr title=\"Advanced level\">A level<\/abbr>, students will study at least 2 plays in depth, 3 extracts from other plays and 2 theatre practitioners (individuals or theatre companies). Performance skills have been enhanced for both qualifications: all <abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr> students will have the opportunity to participate in 2 performances, and A-level students will use the working methodologies of the practitioners studied in their own work.<\/p>\n<p>Food preparation and nutrition is a new <abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr> that draws and builds on the best of current food-related qualifications. This <abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr> will place a greater focus on knowledge, including scientific knowledge of food and nutrition, and will enable students to apply this when preparing and cooking meals.<\/p>\n<p>The new religious studies (<abbr title=\"religious studies\">RS<\/abbr>) qualifications will provide students with a broader and deeper knowledge of religion.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"General certificate of secondary education\">GCSE<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"religious studies\">RS<\/abbr> students will spend at least half of their time developing knowledge and understanding of 2 religions, with the option to spend up to three-quarters of their time studying 1 of the 2. Students will also be able to study texts and learn about critiques of religion and other non-religious beliefs through the study of philosophy and ethics.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Advanced level\">A level<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"religious studies\">RS<\/abbr> students will study at least 1 religion in depth through 3 of the following areas of study: the systematic study of religion, textual studies, philosophy of religion, and religious ethics. Through these, students will also be expected to engage with the works and arguments of key theologians, scholars, philosophers and\/or ethicists.<\/p>\n<p>All of these subjects have been prepared with the close involvement of subject organisations and experts, and I want to thank them for their contribution to the reforms. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minister for School Reform Nick Gibb&#8217;s statement on reforming GCSE and A level content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}