News: School News
David Archer. BSCB Schools Liason Officer
Evolution of GCE ‘A’ level
From September 2000, the UK, except Scotland, will see changes in
the structure of the post-16 General Certificate of Education (GCE)
‘A’ level courses and qualifications. The changes will be
the most extensive since ‘A’ levels were introduced in the
1950s.
The changes are designed to: (1) retain the ‘gold standard’
of ‘A’ level; (2) broaden the number of subjects that can
be studied post-16 and at the same time enable the choice of subjects
for more specialist and advanced study to be deferred; and (3) give
greater access to a post-16 qualification for those students who do
not wish to pursue a full ‘A’ level course in chosen subjects
or to those who might wish to study in an incremental way, taking
a step at a time. In the spirit of life-long learning it might be
possible for students, especially those in further education, to ‘bank’
units as they progress and take the advanced GCE course over a longer
period of time.
From September 2000 the traditional ‘A’ level will be replaced
by a GCE having two parts. One part will be the Advanced Subsidiary
GCE (AS.GCE). The other part is called Advanced or A2. Students who
qualify in a subject at AS and A2 will be awarded Advanced GCE.
Advanced Subsidiary GCE in Biology
This option will normally be studied during one year as one subject
within a group of three, four or perhaps five subjects. In biology,
the first certification year will be 2001 when students who qualify
will be awarded an AS GCE grade in biology. This will be a ‘stand-alone’
qualification and some students will finish their study of biology
at this point. Biology at AS level will be presented in modular form
and with three units to study. It is expected that AS GCE biology
will be studied by rather more students than have elected to study
the traditional two-year ‘A’ level subject in the past.
Advanced or A2 GCE in biology (the second part)
The second part of the ‘A’ level package is called Advanced
or A2. In schools A2 will normally be taught in the second year of
advanced level studies along with two or three other subjects. It
is expected that AS GCE would be taken before embarking on advanced
A2 work. There are three units of study in A2 advanced biology with
some measure of choice. In the A2 examinations students have to answer
a synoptic paper.
In a Further Education and life-long learning situation it may be
possible to study both AS and A2 advanced in the same year. A break
between AS and A2 would also be possible. There is no stand-alone
qualification for success in the advanced A2 part, since it is intended
that A2 should build on AS to form the full Advanced GCE qualification.
The AS and A2 parts each contribute 50% of the total Advanced GCE
mark. The first year of the new certification in Advanced GCE in biology
will be 2002.
The Key Skills qualification
Work in biology at AS and Advanced A2 level can contribute to this
qualification, which covers the transferable key skills of communication,
application of number, information technology, problem solving, working
with others and improving own learning and performance.
Please note the comments above are general in nature. Educational
establishments may not be able to offer teaching in some of the ways
described and the regulations of the appropriate examination boards
should be consulted for detailed information. Members of the BSCB
will be interested to know that cell biology is well represented in
AS GCE biology. In time this should mean that a greater percentage
of the general population will have a basic knowledge of cell and
tissue biology.
New Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) Tariffs
In parallel with the awarding of the first results of the new A2
Advanced examinations in 2002 will come a new tariff or points score
system from UCAS. At present an ‘A’ grade at ‘A’
level has a numerical value five times as great as an ‘E’
grade. Under the revised tariff an ‘A’ grade will be three
times the value of an ‘E’ grade. The main new values are
summarized below.
More details, including the tariff rating of GNVQ results are available
from the UCAS Website. http://www.ucas.ac.uk/new/press/tariff/html
LEVEL
AS and A2 level |
UCAS tariff (A*)
|
Scottish** |
| |
|
|
A2 grade ‘A’ |
120 (10) |
Advanced Higher ‘A’
grade |
A2 grade ‘B' |
100 (8) |
Advanced Higher ‘B’ grade |
A2 grade ‘C’ |
80 (6) |
Advanced Higher ‘C’
grade |
| |
72 |
Higher ‘A’ grade |
Higher ‘A’ grade/A2 grade ‘D’ |
60 (4) |
Higher ‘B’ grade |
AS grade ‘B’ |
50 |
|
| |
48 |
Higher ‘C’ grade |
AS grade ‘C’/A2 grade ‘E’ |
40 (2) |
|
AS grade ‘D’ |
30 |
|
AS grade ‘E |
20 |
|
*UCAS tariff. (Old ’A’ level score
in brackets); **Scottish framework qualifications
|
More details, including the tariff rating of GNVQ results are available
from the UCAS
Website.
David Archer. BSCB Schools Liason Officer
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BSCB Organization 
