FAQs

The following science qualifications are being redeveloped:

• Twenty First Century Science suite, comprising GCSEs in Science, Additional Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
• Gateway Science suite, comprising GCSEs in Science, Additional Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
• GCSE Additional Applied Science (which will sit independently of the Twenty First Century Science suite).
• GCSE Environmental and Land-Based Science.

The following qualification will not be redeveloped. No criteria for this subject has been produced by Ofqual. The last accreditation date for all awarding bodies is August 2012:

• GCSE Applied Science (Double Award).

We are only making changes where they are needed. We appreciate that you may have invested heavily in resources for the current GCSE sciences.

We pride ourselves on understanding the needs of all science teachers, technicians and learners and have already embarked on one of the largest market research campaigns ever seen in OCR. You may well have been a participant in our largest-ever telephone survey in June 2009. If that is the case, we do thank you for your most valuable time in helping us to revise the specifications to meet your needs.

GCSE Additional Applied Science will no longer be part of the Twenty First Century Science suite. We will continue to offer this specification but it will sit as a stand-alone and will appeal to those offering any GCSE science qualifications. If you have anything you would like to share with us regarding development of the new GCSEs, we would be delighted to hear from you. Email us at sciencefeedback@ocr.org.uk.

Starting a three-year course in 2010 will need some thought. GCSE qualifications are intended to be taken over two years. At your centre you may adopt a more flexible approach to delivery, for example by teaching GCSE qualifications over three years, but you need to be aware of the implications of the accreditation end date to ensure that learners are entered for the appropriate GCSE specifications.

You should check details of assessment arrangements during the transition from the current specifications to the new specifications with the relevant awarding bodies and ensure that all assessments are completed in line with awarding bodies' published timelines.

Awarding bodies will not be able to transfer credit from current GCSE specifications to new GCSE specifications and it will not be possible for learners to combine units from current and new specifications to make up a GCSE qualification.

The accreditation end date for current science GCSEs is August 2012. If, at your centre, you are planning to offer GCSE courses in science subjects over three years (starting from September 2010 and completing in summer 2013) you should use the Key Stage 4 Programme of Study as preparation, remembering that final specifications from OCR will be available for you to refer to in September 2010. Assessments will not be available until January 2012 at the earliest.

Controlled assessment is coursework in a supervised environment, classroom or laboratory and will be replacing traditional coursework in science GCSEs from September 2011 under different levels of control.

Controlled assessment has been introduced by Ofqual to address some of the issues raised in coursework reviews, such as plagiarism. Controlled assessment will be 25% of the course for all specifications with the exceptions of Additional Applied Science and Environmental and Land-Based Science where it will be 60%.

New draft subject criteria were published for comment by QCDA in summer 2009. Further feedback was incorporated, with final subject criteria being published in December 2009.

Awarding bodies must meet the requirements of the subject criteria which set out knowledge, understanding, skills and assessment objectives for the specifications.

During this process, we will continue to work with teachers to produce our draft GCSE science specifications in April 2010, with final accredited specifications appearing in September 2010. These will be ready for first teaching from September 2011.

It means that from September 2011 all learners beginning a new course of study will be working towards the new specifications. You'll need to consider which science GCSEs you wish to offer your learners.

We aim to make the changes as easy for you to manage as possible. We will do this by offering:

• Latest news and information on the developments and support - register for updates.
• Guidance on which qualification is most suitable for you and your learners, and different ways of making the new qualifications work for your learners.
• A package of comprehensive support.