Welcome to the draft GCSE specifications

1. Welcome to the draft GCSE specifications This short guidance is designed to help you start thinking about the GCSEs that will be examined for the first time in June 2018. If you have a two year Key Stage 4, you will start teaching the new GCSE in September 2016. If you have a three year Key Stage 4, your Year 9s in September 2015 will be the first GCSE cohort you have that sits the new specification. The exam boards’ specifications are all currently in draft form. They are subject to approval by Ofqual. The final specifications are expected in schools in September 2015.

2. This guidance is divided into the following sections: • Some things you need to consider when considering which specification to choose. • Some things that will impact upon your decision about which specification to choose. • A comparison of the different parts of the draft specifications that are on offer.

3. Some things to consider… • Do you want to stick with what you know, or consider something new? That is, do you want to continue to teach the topic areas you are familiar with, or do you want a complete change.* • This decision will depend on the time you have for planning, the skills of staff who will be teaching, the resources you have available. • You need to have conversations among your team of History GCSE teachers and with your SLT. • What will your students learn in history in their whole school career? That is, what do they learn in History in the other key stages? • You need to put together a programme of study that is coherent, relevant and engaging for students across all the key stages. • Do you want your students to sit 2 or 3 exam papers? • In their draft specifications AQA are proposing 2 papers and the others 3 papers. * Please note: GCSE specifications are changing dramatically. Everyone will be teaching something new.

4. Some more things to consider… • What sort of historic environment topic do you want and how much choice do you want on the topic? • The historic environment aspect of the specification has been interpreted differently by the exam boards. There is: a separate exam paper (OCR SHP), the topic tied to the thematic study (Pearson), tied to the British depth study (AQA), tied to the thematic and British depth study (OCR EMW). Only OCR SHP is offering the centre a completely free choice of site. • What plan does your department need to put in place now to make sure everyone is ready and able to teach the new specifications? • In what order are you going to teach the specification you choose?

5. Things that will impact upon your decisions: • Support of your SLT. • Interests and aptitudes of the students you teach. • Resources available. • Length of KS4 in your school. • Corporate decisions between academy chains, networks etc. • Previous experience of exam board support. • What the exam board are offering in terms of support for the new GCSE. • Availability of published materials.

6. What follows looks quite complex! However, what it tries to do is to compare the different elements of the various specifications: • Thematic studies • Period studies • British depth studies • Wider world depth studies • Historic environment Please remember that these are still draft and subject to Ofqual approval. Ofqual’s judgements are expected in time for the final specifications to be available to schools in September 2015.

7. * Subject to accreditation by OfqualComparison of thematic studies that can be chosen: OCR B (SHP) Pearson AQA OCR A (EMW) War and British Society c.790 to c.2010 Power: monarchy and democracy 1066-2007 Migration Through Time All of paper 2 • Medicine in Britain, c1000–present • Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000–present • Warfare and British Society, c1250–present Paper 1 – linked to a specific historic environment so 30% of whole GCSE • The People’s Health • Crime and Punishment • Migrants to Britain Part of paper 1 • Britain: health and the people • Britain: power and the people • Britain and the world: migration, empires and the people Half of paper 2 – 25% of whole GCSE

8. * Subject to accreditation by OfqualComparison of period studies that can be chosen: OCR B (SHP) Pearson AQA OCR A (EMW) International Relations 1918-2011 Part of paper 1 • Spain and the ‘New World’, c1490–c1555 • British America, 1713–83: empire and revolution • The American West, c1835–c1895 • Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941–91 • Conflict in the Middle East, c1945–95 Paper 2 – half of paper - 20% of GCSE • Viking Age • Mughal Empire • Making of America Part of paper 3 • USA 1840-1895: expansion and consolidation • Germany 1890-1945: democracy and dictatorship • Russia 1894-1945: Tsardom and communism • America 1920-1973: opportunity and inequality 60% of paper 1

9. * Subject to accreditation by OfqualComparison of British depth studies that can be chosen: OCR B (SHP) Pearson AQA OCR A (EMW) Empire and Migration c.1688-1730 The Making of England Personal Rule to Restoration 1629-1660 Must match thematic study - part of paper 3 • Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060–88 • The reigns of King Richard I and King John, 1189–1216 • Henry VIII and his ministers, 1509–40 • Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88 Paper 2 – half of paper - 20% of GCSE • The Norman Conquest 1065-1087 • The Elizabethans 1580-1603 • Britain in Peace and War 1900-1918 Part of paper 1 • Norman England • Medieval England – the reign of Edward I • Elizabethan England • Restoration England 50% of paper 2 and includes the historic environment – sites not yet named.

10. * Subject to accreditation by OfqualComparison of wider-world depth studies that can be chosen: OCR B (SHP) Pearson AQA OCR A (EMW) China 1950-1981 Germany 1925-1955 Poland 1956-1990 Russia 1928-1964 South Africa 1960-1994 The USA 1919-1945 The USA 1945-1974 Part of paper 1 • Russia and the Soviet Union, 1924–41 • Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39 • Mao’s China, 1945–76 • The USA, 1954–75: conflict at home and abroad Paper 3 – 30% of GCSE • The First Crusade c.1070-1100 • The Aztec Empire and the Spanish Conquest 1500-1521 • Living under Nazi Rule 1933-1945 Part of paper 3 – choice must be from different era than British depth study • Conflict and tension: 1894-1918 • Conflict and tension: 1918-1939 • Conflict and tension between east and west: 1945-72 • Conflict and tension in Asia: 1950-75 • Conflict and tension: 1990-2009 40% of paper 1

11. * Subject to accreditation by OfqualComparison of the historic environment element: OCR B (SHP) Pearson AQA OCR A (EMW) A separate section of paper 3 worth 10%, but linked to the themes and British depth studies. For Migration = Urban Environments: Patterns of Migration For both Power and War & British Society = Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1700 Two sites will be studied, one chosen by the board and the other by the centre. The board’s sites will change each year. • Paper 2 is entirely devoted to the historic environment and is 20% of the GCSE. • Centres choose their own topic – subject to the criteria given as guidance. • Part of the British thematic study: • Medicine = The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: surgery and treatment • Crime and punishment = Whitechapel, c.1870–c1900: crime and policing • Warfare = London and the Second World War, 1939–45 • Incorporated into the British depth studies as a part of Paper 2. • Different sites announced each year and you choose the site to go with your chosen depth study.