Redeveloping GCSEs and A Levels for 2017

Redeveloping GCSEs and A Levels for 2017 10 February 2015

This news about 2017 development is now out of date. Please follow this link for the latest from Ofqual about 2017 development.

OCR has developed 37 new qualifications for first teaching in 2015 and is currently developing a further 47 for 2016 in response to educational reforms.

To help those who teach other general qualifications, we can now share OCR’s re-development plans for 2017. These are provisional as we await final confirmation from Ofqual that these subjects are appropriate as GCSEs or AS/A Levels and we will provide regular updates to keep teachers informed.

The following OCR qualifications are scheduled at this stage for re-development, for first teaching in 2017:

GCSEs in Ancient History, Biblical Hebrew, Business, Classical Civilisation, Design and Technology, Economics, Environmental and Land-Based Science, Health and Social Care, ICT, Media Studies, Psychology, Sociology and Statistics.

AS and A Levels in Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Critical Thinking (AS only), Design and Technology, Film Studies, Geology, Government and Politics, Health and Social Care, ICT, Law, Maths, Further Maths and Media Studies.

Decisions about maths subjects at A and AS Level are dependent upon further guidance from Ofqual and from the Department for Education.

OCR offers as broad a range of qualifications to support teachers and students as possible. However on-going reform by government and the exams regulator, low levels of uptake and, lastly, the availability of alternative qualifications, mean a small number of qualifications will no longer be available for teaching in 2017 (see table below). As a not for profit organisation, these are difficult decisions based on managing our commitments to reach as many teachers and learners as possible.

Mark Dawe, OCR Chief Executive said: “We are really excited about redeveloping a wide range of qualifications for 2017 and aim to bring the fresh ideas and approaches that we’ve bought to the dozens of qualifications developed so far.”

We will help to advise teachers on alternative qualifications to suit them and their students. These may be within our own vocational range, or those offered by our sister exam board, Cambridge International Examinations. For advice on alternative qualifications, please get in touch via general.qualifications@ocr.org.uk or 01223 553998.

We will confirm shortly the date of final assessment sessions for each of the affected qualifications.

The OCR qualifications that will not be redeveloped for teaching in 2017, with suggested alternatives within OCR or from CIE, are listed below.

OCR qualification	Reason	Alternatives
GCSE Additional Applied Science	Policy change	GCSE Environmental and Land-Based Science (new 2017), Cambridge Nationals in Science
GCSE Applied Business Studies	Policy change	Cambridge Nationals in Business and Enterprise
GCSE Applied Engineering	Policy change	Cambridge Nationals in Principles in Engineering and Engineering in Business
GCSE Applied Manufacturing	Policy change	Cambridge Nationals in Engineering Manufacture
GCSE Business and Communications Systems	Policy change	GCSE Business (new 2017)
GCSE Dutch	Low uptake	Cambridge IGCSE Dutch
GCSE Expressive Arts	Policy change	GCSE Art, GCSE Drama, GCSE Music (all new 2016)
GCSE Gujarati	Low uptake
GCSE Home Economics	Policy change	GCSE Cooking and Nutrition (new 2016)
GCSE Humanities	Policy change	GCSE Citizenship, GCSE Geography, GCSE History, GCSE RS (all new 2016)
GCSE Law	Low uptake	GCSE Citizenship (new 2016)
GCSE Leisure and Tourism	Policy change	Cambridge IGCSE Travel & Tourism
GCSE Persian	Low uptake
GCSE Portuguese	Low uptake	Cambridge IGCSE Portuguese
GCSE Turkish	Low uptake	Cambridge IGCSE Turkish First Language
AS Level Science	Policy change	A Levels in individual sciences; Biology A, Biology B, Chemistry A, Chemistry B, Physics A, Physics B (all new 2015)
A Level Accounting	Policy change	Cambridge International AS & A Level Accounting
A Level Applied Art & Design	Policy change	A Level Art and Design (new 2015), Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Art and Design
A Level Applied Business	Policy change	Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Business
A Level Applied Leisure Studies	Policy change
A Level Applied Performing Arts	Policy change	Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Performing Arts
A Level Applied Travel & Tourism	Policy change
A Level Applied Science	Policy change	A Cambridge Technical in Science will be developed for first teaching in September 2016.
A Level Biblical Hebrew	Low uptake
A Level Dutch	Low uptake
A Level Electronics	Policy change	Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering
A Level Gujarati	Low uptake
A Level General Studies	Low uptake	EPQ, AS Critical Thinking (new 2017)
A Level Home Economics	Policy change	A Level Design and Technology (new 2017)
A Level Humanities	Low uptake	A Level History (new 2015), AS Level Critical Thinking (new 2017), A Level Geography (new 2016), EPQ, A Level RS (new 2016)
A Level Human Biology	Policy change	A Level Biology B (new 2015)
A level Applied ICT	Policy change	Level 3 Cambridge Technical in IT
A Level Performance Studies	Policy change	A Level Drama and Theatre (new 2016), Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Performing Arts
A Level Persian	Low uptake
A Level Portuguese	Low uptake	Cambridge International AS & A Level Portuguese
A Level Turkish	Low uptake