AQA GCSE English Lit 2021 - Poetry now compulsory too.

[TheEmpressOfUtterBastardry]

I have just read the latest AQA updates which make clear their rewriting of the already rewritten spec for next year's English Lit GCSE. The poetry component will now also be compulsory, alongside the Shakespeare.

No such announcement from EDEXCEL or OCR yet. I wonder if they will follow suit?

You couldn't make this bumbling unprofessional bollocks up really. It may well change for a third time.

Apologies to the overwrought and overworked teachers who now have to tear up their Y11 plan yet again.

NotDonna
It's exam boards. Ofqual published their changes a while ago.

Ineedaholidaynow
There's a document that goes through all the changes, but that's at Ofqual level and doesn't cover what the exam boards do in addition to it.

I'll see if I can find it again and share the link on this thread.

That’s helpful lola thank you.
Annoyingly DDs school changed exam boards to AQA this year! She’s already done Shakespeare and the modern one so the only choice left was between poetry or 19c. Wouldn’t HoD know that poetry was the only section meeting Ofqual requirements? And thus likely to be compulsory? Either way, there hasn’t been time to make those decisions. DD told you read P&P back in July when zero decisions re content had been made.

I’ve seen the Ofqual document thank you, just wondering whether the exam boards had made their decisions yet.

It's exam boards. Ofqual published their changes a while ago. wasn’t it mid August? So about 4 weeks? The AQA poetry comparison will be a huge issue. I’m not understanding how they can get around that unless they change spec for another section, which will be too late for schools.

DS was reading 19th century novels over the holidays to help with comparison

@ineedaholidaynow yes, I saw the Ofqual for history. DDs school do the medicine section last so she’s assuming that’s the one that’ll be dropped but they’ve not been told this. I think she’s Edexel for history though and no idea if they’ve released their decisions.

That you'll have to check their individual websites for that

NotDonna
I don't think many people go through the Ofqual validating criteria to be honest. I only found out because someone more in the know than me told me that the reason we have a really awkward 8 mark unseen poetry question on paper 2 AQA Literature is because someone decided that without it there wasn't enough comparison on the anthology alone. I'm not a HoD so wouldn't have gone digging for this information from Ofqual, but I follow a lot of educational discussions.

Some of the teaching groups I'm in are full of teachers who do a lot of wider reading, but other groups make me terrified for their classes with some of the 'advice' that gets shared.

NotDonna
3rd August, so really more than enough time for AQA to have pulled their finger out in my opinion given they aren't term time.

Even if the school's found out the start of September, that wouldn't be the end of the world because the spec isn't a new spec so changing text order shouldn't be a massive issue if the materials and schemes of work are already done.
It's a much bigger issue for those new to AQA though.

Our school sent out a lengthy email explaining what they know, and it appears that is about as much of the rest of us!

I really, really feel for the teachers and students who are feeling their way in the dark with this. My Yr11 (who hates English anyway) has just about given up hope, and whilst we're doing all we can to boost her spirits, I can see why she's starting to feel that way.

I can't actually see how the kids are going to fairly sit exams in the summer after by that time, will have been nearly two years of cocking about 🥴

Let's also remember that exam boards are usually super busy in August but had no exams to mark this year. Just a few decisions to make. It's outrageous that it took them this long.

I’m assuming the actual papers will need to be amended so you would think they need to sort this as soon as possible

I’m assuming the actual papers will need to be amended so you would think they need to sort this as soon as possible

They probably won't need new questions though, just a 'cut and paste' moving questions around. I would have thought it only a few hours work at most.

(I'm assuming they don't print them 9 months in advance)

The poetry section is worth more marks than the other sections on the AQA paper. This is not the case with the other boat where weighting is equal. This is a further complication.

@TheEmpressOfUtterBastardry

The poetry section is worth more marks than the other sections on the AQA paper. This is not the case with the other boat where weighting is equal. This is a further complication.

empress, that's why I wondered initially about the poetry. In effect, the AQA exam is five sections - Shakespeare, 19c novel, 29 c text, poetry anthology AND unseen poetry.

Edexcel, for example, have four equally weighted sections, one of which is seen and unseen poetry, together worth the same marks as the other three.

Lola I see your point about waiting for the word from AQA, but lots of teachers I know start with Shajespeare in yr 10 so would have competed that. It's really unfair that they still don't know if they have to do poetry, can drop seen but still do unseen, or can drop it altogether.

It doesn't help that the vast majority if schools do AQA, tho I agree, they may be reconsidering now!

haha 29c text, that's really thinking ahead!

I partly wish we hadn't spent £££ seeing AIC in September. But there again it was a very good production and we really enjoyed it, so not wasted really.

Lola I see your point about waiting for the word from AQA, but lots of teachers I know start with Shajespeare in yr 10 so would have competed that. It's really unfair that they still don't know if they have to do poetry, can drop seen but still do unseen, or can drop it altogether.
True, but doing a bit of Shakespeare revision for a week or so waiting for the exam board to get their act together wouldn't have been the end of the world given most departments end up doing revision in the spring term. It wouldn't make much difference to do some recapping and exam prep now to go over year 10 content, especially when it's good practice not to leave all revision until the end.

Wouldn’t HoD know that poetry was the only section meeting Ofqual requirements? And thus likely to be compulsory?
Mine didn't. I like to know things so I did know. But again, hods should have been aware that boards could decide if they were making anything else corez

It’s DDs school first year doing AQA. They usually do edexcel. Could they give AQA the finger tomorrow and go back to Edexcel?

They could but although the texts are the same, the way they are assessed might not be.

Notdonna
They could. It was would be unlikely to be an overnight snap decision, but it's something departments might choose to do.

One of my friends is a HoD and he's thinking of making a swap.

It seems some will be winners, some losers and that isn’t right. When we knew DD had done Shakespeare and poetry in Y10 we initially felt cheated at the thought poetry was no longer a requirement. Now over summer she was reading the 19th century novel (Pride & Prejudice) but hasn’t studied it in class except for first week of term, now that is on back burner as teachers try and make sense of what on Earth is going on.

How much more uncertainty must our 2021 GCSE children be put through? There has been speculation about exams being cancelled, amended, back up options in case the exams don’t go ahead, push back exams, don’t do orals.

All this uncertainty is very unfair for all involved. The kids are very aware of the chaos. I’m actually impressed by the resilience.

Updated!
www.aqa.org.uk/news/update-to-changes-to-2021-exams-for-gcse-english-literature

Has there been any confirmation yet of when the exams are actually going to take place? Are they pushing them back?