The new A-levels What kind of subject background do freshers arrive with? Bob Digby Community Geographer, Geographical Association, & Visiting Research.

The new A-levels The new A-levels

What kind of subject What kind of subject background do background do

freshers arrive with?freshers arrive with?Bob Digby

Community Geographer , Geographical Association, & Visiting Research Associate,

Institute of Education, London

Where we are now

• This September sees the arrival of the first 4-module A level students

• The new specifications – what kind of Geography? And whose Geography?

• Geography has faced declining numbers at A level – but it’s changing

• School Geography – a need for renewal. The ‘problem’ of Key Stage 3.

Declining numbersContinued decline at GCSE

However, Higher Tier entry at GCSE has declined much less

Increasing core time – English, Maths, Science

The rise of diplomas

Decline at AS

12th most popular subject nationally

But 9th at A2

Retains over 85% of students from AS to A2

But numbers are rising again

• AS Numbers rose in 2009 by about 5%

• The removal of coursework from 2008 may actually have attracted some students back to the subject. GCSE coursework has done the subject few favours – too bulky

2. A need to get up to date

Eleanor Rawling (GA 2005 conference) expressed these concerns about what was missing in Human Geography:

• Increased concerns about e.g. globalisation, global warming

• Spatial awareness of e.g. the ‘new’ Europe

• Environmental interaction – footprints and management

• Global concepts e.g. sustainability

• Geographical enquiry – active questioning approaches, less didactic

• Significant changes in university geography were absent (e.g. cultural, ethnographic, place….)

• ‘14-19 awarding bodies have tended to standardise content … (fearing) that innovation will lose customers anxious to play safe & maintain high grades’

3. Whose Human Geography? Looking back 30 years• Until 1980s, Higher Education input into school

Geography was considerable – landmark projects at GCSE and post-16 (e.g. Bristol Project, Avery Hill, 16-19) all developed within universities and colleges

• Exam Boards were all university-based (London, JMB of the Northern Universities, Oxford, Cambridge Boards, etc) - so HEI geographers played a role in school Geography

• Authors of texts were usually HEI geographers• Local Authority Advisers - almost always specialist

subject-focused

A shift in content

...... from landforms

.... to people and management

... with casualties

Issues-based topics thrive

e.g. urban change

4. Political landscapes change; whose Geography now?

• Centralisation and political influence. QCA (until 2010) guided both curriculum and assessment – run by professionals, but guided by politicians.

• League tables and the shift to a ‘results culture’ - and innate conservatism especially in content and assessment

• Ownership of Exam Boards - the shift from HEI• Privatisation of the education ‘industry’ – private

companies, examiners and exam boards, and consultants dominate INSET provision.

• Textbook authors are now mainly teachers and examiners, not HEI tutors

5. The new specifications – some issues

• Human content at AS • Human content at A2 • The IB - growing in popularity• The Pre-U course in Geography - a

competitor?• How fresh or up-to-date?

What kind of human content at AS?Criteria AQA (approx 17 000

andidates) Edexcel (approx 12

000 candidates) OCR (approx 4000

candidates) WJEC (approx 5000

candidates) AS Human content and weighting

Unit 1 35% Human Geography Human Global

population change

plus one of

Food Supply Issues,

Energy Supply Issues

Health Issues

Unit 1 30% Global Challenges Two human elements Going Global (Pop’n

& Migration) Unit 2 20% Geographical Investigations Four elements – two physical, two human Students study one of each: Either Unequal Spaces Or Re-branding Places

Unit 2 25% Managing Change in Human Environments Either Managing urban

change Or Managing rural

change AND either The energy issue Or The growth of

tourism

Unit 2 25% Changing Human Environments Two themes: Investigating

population change Investigating

settlement change in MEDCs

What kind of content at AS?

• The physical-human divide persists in 3 of the 4 specifications• One specification (Edexcel) truly integrates physical and human themes• BUT there have been significant updates in all specifications- e.g. ‘urban change’, and contemporary topics e.g. health issues

Plus the decline of traditional geographical theory E.g. no urban models; no Weber; no Christaller

Geography can compare poorly for theory with Sociology, Economics or Politics

What kind of content at A2? Unit 3Criteria AQA Edexcel OCR WJEC A2 content and weighting Unit 3

Unit 3 30% Contemporary Geographical Issues Focuses on a range of themes for research: Select three; at least one physical and one human. Human World Cities Development and

Globalisation Contemporary

conflict and challenge

Unit 3 30% Contested Planet. People-environment approach. A focus on use and management of resources, and issues arising: Energy Security Water conflicts Biodiversity under

threat Superpower

geographies Bridging the

development gap The technological

fix?

Unit 3 30% Global Issues Three chosen from six: three environmental and three economic options: Economic issues: Population and

resources Globalisation Development and

inequalities

Unit 3 30% Contemporary Themes & Research in Geography Section A Contemporary Themes Choose one from Development, Globalisation, Emerging Asia – India or China Section B: Research WJEC sets one theme a year for each of: Crime Deprivation Disease Environmental

Psychology Leisure and Recreation Pollution Retailing

What kind of content at A2? Unit 4Criteria AQA Edexcel OCR WJEC A2 content and weighting Unit 4

Unit 4 20% Either Unit 4A Geography Fieldwork Investigation A 1½-hour examination paper based on candidates’ own individual fieldwork investigation. The exam focuses on evaluation. Or Unit 4B Geographical Issue Evaluation A pre-release booklet available 2 months before the examination.

Unit 4 20% Geographical Research Teachers or candidates select a specialism in one area: Tectonic activity

and hazards Cold Environments

– landscapes and change

Life on the margins: the food supply problem

The world of cultural diversity

Pollution and human health at risk

Consuming the rural landscape – leisure and tourism

Unit 4 20% Geographical Skills Identifying a

suitable geographical question or hypothesis for investigation

Developing a plan and strategy for conducting the investigation

Collecting and recording appropriate data

Presenting the data collected in appropriate forms

Analysing and interpreting the data

Unit 4 20% Sustainability Four themes Sustainable food

supply Sustainable water

supply Sustainable energy Sustainable Cities

What kind of content at A2?

• The physical-human divide is more blurred• Some highly contemporary themes - e.g. some Edexcel (Cultural landscapes) & WJEC options • Only one specification (Edexcel) makes understanding of political and economic theory a requirement• A clear focus on research rather than content • An opportunity for development of students’ own interests • Three of the four specifications offer pre- release resource • Contemporary topics – e.g. cultural diversity

HL/SL (incorporated

throughout the course)

HL/SL Topics HL Topics

Geographical Skills

(see attached list of subject specific skills chart)

Population,

Resources and Development

Globalization Topographic

Mapping

Lithospheric

Processes and Hazards

Coasts and their

Management

And growing in popularity is the IB Doubled in candidature 2006-7

…. by comparison to some specifications it looks very traditional.

Exemplar

Paper 3 Topic Global Interactions

1. Measuring global interactions

2. Changing space—the shrinking world

3. Economic interactions and flows

4. Environmental change

5. Socio-cultural exchanges

6. Political outcomes

7. Global interactions at the local level

60 hours teaching time (12-15 comparable weeks, or 20-25% of an A level course)

But it too was revised for 2009

The Pre-U Geography course1. Anti-modular: All Cambridge Pre-U syllabuses are linear. Those taking a Principal Subject must take all components together at the end of the course in one examination session.

Section A Section B Section C Tectonic Hazards Hazardous Weather The Geography of

Crime Dynamic Slopes Hydrological Hazards Health and Disease Desertification and Land Degradation

Pollution Hazards Spatial Inequality and Poverty

Candidates cover at least five of the nine issues in order to allow choice of questions in the exam; one topic at least from each column. Only Column C guarantees exposure to human Geography

2. Re-establishes physical geography: but reduces an entitlement to human? e.g. Paper 1

The Pre-U Geography course

Paper 2 focuses on different physical environments

Paper 3: Global Themes - study two from• Housing the People • Movements of People and Goods • Energy and Mineral Resources • Trade, Debt and Aid • The Provision of Food • Tourism Spaces • The World of Work Paper 4: Research - an oral examination based on a geographical investigation

Criteria AQA Edexcel OCR WJEC ‘New’ approaches / content / concepts; inclusion and importance of contemporary topics?

Concepts AS: Food and energy supply, Health (though not new to this spec)

A2: Globalisation, Contemporary conflicts and challenges – very open choice

Concepts AS: globalisation, climate change, re-branding places, unequal places and spaces

A2: new superpowers, energy security, water conflict, consumerism, technological fix.

Biodiversity, not ecosystems

Very up-to-date exemplars used in Guidance

Concepts AS: energy issues A2: Environments under threat, globalisation

Concepts AS: climate change, urban process & change in MEDC, sustainability and flood risks etc

A2: New Superpowers; plus options e.g. Crime, Deprivation, Geography of Disease, Environmental Psychology

Unit 4 focus explicitly on sustainability

How fresh or up-to-date are the new specs?

How fresh or up-to-date are the new specs?

Criteria The IB Pre-U Contemporary approaches / content / concepts; inclusion and importance of contemporary topics?

Concepts Until 2008-9 revisions, very little Post-2008 revisions for 2009 are much more forward thinking

Concepts Geography of crime, Health and Disease, Spatial inequality and poverty

Tourism spaces, Housing the People.

Where’s the commonality? Where’s the commonality? Purple = compulsory, yellow = optionalPurple = compulsory, yellow = optional

– There remains a market for traditional geography. But the greatest growth in subject take-up occurred during 1987-1993 in one modern post-16 syllabus. Should Geography be more daring?

– Should Geography teachers be more daring – they, after all, are the gatekeepers about curriculum choice

– A new generation of teachers has replaced an ageing profession. In which areas of human geography are recent graduates best qualified?

– How to further reduce the gulf between school and HEI Geographies?

6. And the future? Questions: 1

6. And the future? Questions: 2

– Does difference in content between specifications matter? Do students need grounding in the same content areas prior to university entry?

– How far does it matter in universities that coursework has been abolished in sixth-form Geography?

– Does it matter that there are ‘different Geographies’ depending upon the specification chosen?

– In selecting what should be taught, how far should geographers push for ‘popular’ themes? Historians have unashamedly increased numbers dramatically.

– New specifications will last for 5-8 years in schools, and therefore up to 12 years in HEI. Will the new specifications provide a sustainable legacy?

7. The debates remain as ever ….

– Traditional versus new (and for many teachers, unfamiliar)

– Populism – e.g. coasts versus glaciation and arid– Content breadth versus limited content in depth– Thematic versus people-environment approaches– Prescribed, problem-free content versus issues-

based, evaluative enquiry approaches– Positivist ‘hard’ data gathering versus radical and

‘soft’ approaches to fieldwork through interviews and values enquiries.

Acknowledgments and thanks to:

– Subject officers at the 4 main English and Welsh subject boards;

– Simon Oakes for the use of his research into HEI attitudes towards school geography;

– Edexcel for the use of their commissioned HEI research;

– The GA and the RGS for their positioning statements regarding Geography and its status;

– The RGS for their annual analysis about candidate numbers in Geography