Kerry Sage, Geography Subject Advisor

Do you have learners who aren’t quite ready for GCSE Geography? Our entry level qualification could provide a real alternative.

In this blog I’ll explain a bit more about the qualification, how it’s assessed and why it might be right for you and your students.

What is the Entry Level Certificate in Geography?

We’re the only exam board in England to offer an entry-level qualification in geography designed for students who aren’t yet at GCSE level.

The Entry Level Certificate (ELC) in Geography encourages students to think like geographers using an enquiry approach and contemporary topics. Enquiry questions allow students to be inspired and engaged, as well as understanding the topic’s relevance to them.

It covers a range of engaging and contemporary topics from local case studies to natural hazards and how the world is changing. It can help students develop geographical skills, including fieldwork, as well as developing their confidence and preparing them for future study.

With content similar to GCSE Geography A and GCSE Geography B, the ELC qualification is designed to be co-taught alongside GCSE qualifications but can equally be taught as a stand-alone course.

ELC Geography could also sit within the KS3 curriculum and would help set the foundation for GCSE studies.

The qualification consists of three components, Dynamic World, Fieldwork Notebook and Personal Project.

Component 1: Dynamic World

The Dynamic World topics encourage students to engage with different scales, from investigating how their local area has changed over time, to looking how the world we live in presents hazards to people and places and why tropical rainforests are vital to our planet.

The content of the ELC qualification links closely to KS3 geography and GCSE content, making it the perfect stepping stone between the qualifications.

The specification has broad key enquiry questions for students to investigate, such as ‘How is the UK changing?’ and ‘How is the world changing?’. There are also more focused questions linked directly to the content such as ‘Who lives in your place?’, ‘Who lives in the UK?’ and ‘Why are cities complex places?’.

Like GCSE Geography, the ELC specification includes case studies to help students understand the context of the geography they are studying. For example, in Topic 1 – Our World, there is a case study of one UK city where students can offer a unique perspective as they explore ‘what life is like for teenagers in the city, such as leisure, food and retail activities’.

Component 2: Fieldwork Notebook

The Fieldwork Notebook gives students practical experience of fieldwork and a chance to practise a range of skills such as data collection, data presentation and interpretation skills. This adds ‘geographical value’ and enables students to ‘anchor’ their studies with real-world context.

Fieldwork can be completed on any area of the specification but must have a clear geographical location so students can create a notebook based on their own experiences.

The Fieldwork Notebook includes key aspects of a fieldwork enquiry, with students collecting data and identifying problems with data collection. Students also get to present data and comment on what it shows, drawing the evidence together to produce a summary statement.

This component is also flexible: it can be based on exemplar tasks or can be centre-developed. Students could present their work as a poster, a PowerPoint or a written project, whatever works best for them.

Component 3: Personal Project

The Personal Project can be based on any area of the specification. Again students and centres could select an exemplar task or it could be created and developed by the centre or student.

Students are assessed on their ability to research geographical facts from various sources and use of a range of presentation methods to answer their project title. They are also awarded credit for their accurate use of geographical vocabulary and logical structure of their projects.

The Personal Project, like the Fieldwork Notebook, can be presented in any way that works for the individual, whether it’s a PowerPoint presentation or a written report.

How is the ELC in Geography assessed?

The three tasks in the qualification are assessed by the centre.

• The Dynamic World component is assessed by a 1-hour test set by Cambridge OCR. This can be taken at any time, and students sit the exam under teacher supervision in the classroom. This is worth 30% of the total qualification.
• The Fieldwork Notebook is internally-assessed and externally moderated by Cambridge OCR. It is worth 30% of the qualification.
• The Personal Project is internally-assessed and externally moderated by Cambridge OCR. It is worth 40% of the qualification.

You should use the interactive candidate coversheet to mark and internally moderate students’ work.

Because it’s not a L1/L2 course, you should note that the ELC in Geography doesn’t attract performance points. But it’s a useful qualification to have as a formal statement for students as part of their record of achievement.

To conclude

To summarise, there are many good reasons why our ELC in Geography is the perfect course for many types of students in different circumstances:

• Relevant: learners explore contemporary topics through enquiry questions that connect geography to their everyday lives.
• Practical: fieldwork opportunities help students develop practical geographical skills including data collection and presentation.
• Contemporary: exciting content studied in topics and brought to life by engaging enquiry questions.
• Flexible: a variety of assessment types make the course suitable to different learning needs and the Fieldwork Notebook and Personal Project can be based on any area of the specification to suit you and your students.
• Co-teachable: you can teach it together with GCSE Geography, and our recent guest blog by Catherine Owen, President of the Geographical Association explains how this works for her.

Do get in touch if you’d like to discuss Entry Level in Geography further.

Stay connected

If you have any questions about the ELC or our other geography qualifications, you can email us at geography@ocr.org.uk, call us on 01223 553998 or message us X@OCR_Geography.

You can also sign up to subject updates to keep up-to-date with the latest news, updates and resources.

If you are considering teaching any of our qualifications, use our online form to let us know, so that we can help you with more information.

About the author

Kerry joined the Subject Advisor team in April 2023 after 18 years of teaching geography along with other subjects such as Environmental Science. As well as being Head of Geography she had other roles such as associate SLT and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. She loves to travel and trained as an Icelandic Teacher Tour Guide.

Related blog

•  Why Entry Level Geography makes a difference to my students