GCSE Law (J485)
26 September 2016
Withdrawal of GCSE Law qualification
Following a review of the qualifications available for first teaching in 2017, OCR and other awarding bodies made the difficult decision not to redevelop GCSE Law.
We offer as broad a range of qualifications to support teachers and students as possible. However, on-going reform by government and the exams regulator and low levels of uptake, mean that GCSE Law will no longer be available through OCR following the final assessment series in June 2018. Therefore, the current qualification will be withdrawn at the conclusion of the final assessment series. Learners starting GCSE Law (J485) in September 2016 will be the last full two-year cohort.
We will continue to support and assess the qualification up to the final assessment series:
Entry Code
| Qualification Title
| Qualification Number
| Final Assessment Opportunity
| Resit Opportunity
|
|---|
J485
| GCSE Law
| 500/4411/4
| June 2018
| N/A
|
For centres looking for alternative courses to replace GCSE Law, we would recommend our new GCSE 9–1 qualifications in:
- History A (J410) and History B (J411): Our GCSE (9–1) in History specifications have been designed to help learners explain and understand the world around us today. Learners will study a wide range of content options and consider key themes which demonstrate the relevance of the past in understanding the present. Our History A qualification may be of particular interest, especially the component option ‘Power: Monarchy and Democracy in Britain c.1000 to 2014’ (J410/09).
- Citizenship Studies (J270): Our GCSE (9–1) in Citizenship Studies has been designed to enable learners to understand and appreciate key citizenship issues at home, in school and as young citizens in their wider community. This includes content on ‘Rights, the law and the legal system in England and Wales’.
Our aim is to help you at every stage of the introduction of a new specification and we’re working hard to provide a practical package of support in close consultation with teachers and other experts. To find out more about our resources and support please visit the qualification pages for the new reformed qualifications on the OCR website.
Maintained sector schools in Wales should contact Qualifications Wales or WJEC for guidance on alternative ‘Wales – only’ qualifications.
For further information on deadlines for submitting entries, entry amendments/withdrawals and the submission of marks for internal assessment please see the administration section of the OCR website.
To find out more about resit rules for legacy GCSE qualifications please see the Legacy GCSE entry rules page on the website.
If you have any queries about this notice, please call our Customer Contact Centre on 01223 553998 or email general.qualifications@ocr.org.uk.