In March the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) launched a formal consultation on its revised criteria for all GCE AS/A-levels. The work has been done with the regulatory authorities for Wales (ACCAC) and Northern Ireland (CCEA), and takes onboard feedback from prior, informal consultations with a group of experts – teachers, academics, industrialists and learned and professional bodies, including the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) – and the various awarding bodies, over the past six months. The same group of experts are expected to review the outcomes of this consultation later this month and feedback to QCA before any final decisions are made. Under scrutiny is assessment. Following on from the Tomlinson review (see Educ. Chem. 2005, 42(1), 2), QCA is looking to reduce the burden of assessment on teaching and learning. In the draft report, QCA proposes that: the number of units of assessment is reduced from six to four; coursework is included only where there is evidence it is the ‘soundest’ method of assessment and is reliable and fair; advanced extension type questions are introduced for all A-levels; and the place and role of synoptic assessments are reconsidered. 

QCA’s draft criteria 

Under the proposals there is a set of ‘science criteria’ which describes the aims, knowledge, understanding, skills and assessment objectives common to all AS and A-level science subjects. This replaces the separate criteria for each of the sciences. The criteria underpin the framework on which the awarding bodies build their specifications, ensuring that there is a commonality across all. According to Kay Stephenson, assistant education manager, schools and colleges at the RSC, ‘There is agreement among chemistry teachers that the content should cater for the different ways students are interested in chemistry. Contemporary chemistry is important as are the fundamentals of the subject – many youngsters are turned on by why various molecules are different shapes and why one molecule reacts with another and so on. And practical chemistry is vital to all AS/A2 courses’. 

The core content required by individual subjects is set out in separate appendices. For AS and A2 chemistry, this remains at ca 60 per cent of any specification. According to Stephenson, ‘some teachers would like to see the core account for ca 70 per cent, without increasing the amount of material. The feeling is that there is already a lot of material in the core, and if the awarding bodies are going to add another 40 per cent, the specifications will be over crowded’. Other than a few disagreements about the proposed inclusion of topics such as entropy and electrode potentials in the core, however, chemists seem fairly happy with the content of the AS/A2 specifications for their subject. 

The biggest issue facing chemistry at this level is what QCA is proposing to do to the assessment objectives and units. The model of assessment has a huge effect on what can be offered by the awarding bodies which, in turn, has a potential knock-on effect on how chemistry is taught in schools and whether students go on to study chemistry at HE.  

There are currently four assessment objectives for chemistry at AS/A2: 

• A01 – recall of knowledge and understanding; 
• A02 – application of knowledge and understanding; 
• A03 – ‘science in practice’, ie practical and investigative work; 
• A04 – synoptic assessment, which requires students to make and use connections between different areas of the subject. 

Under the current proposals the synoptic element would be subsumed into A01, A02, and A03. Inevitably this would allow for a different style of questions to be introduced into the AS written papers, which many will applaud. Students would be expected to draw together the knowledge and understanding that they have gained in the first year.  

In an attempt to ‘reduce the burden’ of assessment QCA proposes that the current six-unit structure (three AS + three A2 units) is replaced by a four-unit one (two AS + two A2 units). In addition, says QCA, to improve the reliability of assessment, internal assessment will be included only where necessary. QCA puts forward three alternative models: 

• model one – no direct assessment of practical work. All four units (two AS + two A2) are written exams; 
• model two – direct assessment of practical work at AS and A2. One of each of the units at AS and A2 is assessment of practical work, the remaining units at AS and A2 are written exams; 
• model three – direct assessment of practical work only at A2. Assessment objectives assessed through external assessment at AS. Both AS units are written exams; the A2 units comprise one written exam and one practical assessment. 

The question is: ‘Do any of these models suit chemistry’? 

Implications for chemistry 

The current assessment scheme across all the awarding bodies is nominally three AS units plus three A2 units. In reality, for chemistry, this translates to four/five units at AS plus four units at A2 – the third units are usually split into a practical assessment and a written paper. There are January and June sittings for all written papers. At the moment practical skills are assessed at some point at both AS and A2 by all boards. Thus, for chemistry at least, the two + two system immediately presents problems of logistics. Model one is not an option for chemistry. The general feeling among the professionals is that if practical work isn’t assessed it may not be funded or taught and could disappear from the classroom – chemistry is a practical subject; one of the main reasons students cite for enjoying chemistry at this level, and for going on to study the subject in HE, is its practical element. Model three falls down similarly. Unless there is a formal requirement to present some evidence that the practical work has been done, the likelihood is that it will not be done.  

An alternative model, which has been put forward by a group of chemistry teachers, and has the support of the RSC, is two AS + three A2 units. This would be two written papers at each of AS and A2, and a practical assessment at A2. The RSC would only support this model, however, if practical chemistry was taught throughout the AS year. Students could, for example, present a portfolio at the end of the AS year to show they had used various skills to do certain practicals. There is agreement, too, that the portfolio of practical skills should be ‘signed off’ before the students were awarded the AS. Students going on to A2 chemistry, the majority as it happens, would be required to make use of these skills and have them assessed at the end of the course. 

Model two throws another potential problem or not, depending on your point of view, into the system. The AS written exam would have to be done in June, which would imply the demise of staged assessment. On the one hand this would free time for more teaching and in the case of the Salters’ course, for example, for doing the things that give this course its appeal – ie investigative work, visits to industry etc, which have been squeezed out under the current regime. On the other hand, there will be those teachers who want to maintain the January modules because they believe it gives the students something to aim for, a potential boost perhaps, and lets them know if the A2 is for them. However, as Stephenson points out, ‘All teaching is then focused on teaching to the test rather than giving the students a really good experience of what chemistry is all about. I wouldn’t object to an exam at the end of the AS for those students who are not going on to do the A-level, but the problem with having January modules followed by June modules, as well as the practical requirement in May, is that you end up with only two terms to teach the specifications. Consequently you end up leaving out the bits that inspire and motivate the students to study the subject further’. 

The new specifications for GCE AS/A-level are expected to be in place for first teaching in 2008. The specifications will need to be in schools by September 2007, and the awarding bodies will need at least a year to work on them. The trialling of advanced extension questions and assessments is expected to take place until July of this year. According to QCA there will be another opportunity for people to feedback on the outcomes of the formal consultation within the next few months. It would be a wasted opportunity not to. 

Kathryn Roberts