1. Welcome to the draft GCSE specifications
This short guidance is designed to help you start thinking about the GCSEs that will be examined for the first time in June If you have a two year Key Stage 4, you will start teaching the new GCSE in September If you have a three year Key Stage 4, your Year 9s in September 2015 will be the first GCSE cohort you have that sits the new specification. The exam boards’ specifications are all currently in draft form. They are subject to approval by Ofqual. The final specifications are expected in schools in September 2015.

2. This guidance is divided into the following sections:
Some things you need to consider when considering which specification to choose.
Some things that will impact upon your decision about which specification to choose.
A comparison of the different parts of the draft specifications that are on offer.

3. Some things to consider…
Do you want to stick with what you know, or consider something new? That is, do you want to continue to teach the topic areas you are familiar with, or do you want a complete change.*
This decision will depend on the time you have for planning, the skills of staff who will be teaching, the resources you have available.
You need to have conversations among your team of History GCSE teachers and with your SLT.
What will your students learn in history in their whole school career? That is, what do they learn in History in the other key stages?
You need to put together a programme of study that is coherent, relevant and engaging for students across all the key stages.
Do you want your students to sit 2 or 3 exam papers?
In their draft specifications AQA are proposing 2 papers and the others 3 papers.
* Please note: GCSE specifications are changing dramatically. Everyone will be teaching something new.

4. Some more things to consider…
What sort of historic environment topic do you want and how much choice do you want on the topic?
The historic environment aspect of the specification has been interpreted differently by the exam boards. There is: a separate exam paper (OCR SHP), the topic tied to the thematic study (Pearson), tied to the British depth study (AQA), tied to the thematic and British depth study (OCR EMW). Only OCR SHP is offering the centre a completely free choice of site.
What plan does your department need to put in place now to make sure everyone is ready and able to teach the new specifications?
In what order are you going to teach the specification you choose?

5. Things that will impact upon your decisions:
Support of your SLT.
Interests and aptitudes of the students you teach.
Resources available.
Length of KS4 in your school.
Corporate decisions between academy chains, networks etc.
Previous experience of exam board support.
What the exam board are offering in terms of support for the new GCSE.
Availability of published materials.

6. What follows looks quite complex!
However, what it tries to do is to compare the different elements of the various specifications:
Thematic studies
Period studies
British depth studies
Wider world depth studies
Please remember that these are still draft and subject to Ofqual approval. Ofqual’s judgements are expected in time for the final specifications to be available to schools in September 2015.

7. * Subject to accreditation by Ofqual Comparison of thematic studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Pearson
Britain: health and the people
Britain: power and the people
Britain and the world: migration, empires and the people
Half of paper 2 – 25% of whole GCSE
War and British Society c.790 to c.2010
Power: monarchy and democracy
Migration Through Time
All of paper 2
The People’s Health
Crime and Punishment
Migrants to Britain
Part of paper 1
Medicine in Britain, c1000– present
Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000– present
Warfare and British Society, c1250–present
Paper 1 – linked to a specific historic environment so 30% of whole GCSE

8. * Subject to accreditation by Ofqual Comparison of period studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Pearson
USA : expansion and consolidation
Germany : democracy and dictatorship
Russia : Tsardom and communism
America : opportunity and inequality
60% of paper 1
Spain and the ‘New World’, c1490– c1555
British America, 1713–83: empire and revolution
The American West, c1835–c1895
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941–91
Conflict in the Middle East, c1945– 95
Paper 2 – half of paper - 20% of GCSE
International Relations
Part of paper 1
Viking Age
Mughal Empire
Making of America
Part of paper 3

9. * Subject to accreditation by Ofqual Comparison of British depth studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Pearson
Norman England
Medieval England – the reign of Edward I
Elizabethan England
Restoration England
50% of paper 2 and includes the historic environment – sites not yet named.
Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060–88
The reigns of King Richard I and King John, 1189–1216
Henry VIII and his ministers, 1509– 40
Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88
Paper 2 – half of paper - 20% of GCSE
Empire and Migration c
The Making of England
Personal Rule to Restoration
Must match thematic study - part of paper 3
The Norman Conquest
The Elizabethans
Britain in Peace and War
Part of paper 1

10. * Subject to accreditation by Ofqual Comparison of wider-world depth studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Pearson
Conflict and tension:
Conflict and tension:
Conflict and tension between east and west:
Conflict and tension in Asia:
Conflict and tension:
40% of paper 1
Russia and the Soviet Union, 1924–41
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39
Mao’s China, 1945–76
The USA, 1954–75: conflict at home and abroad
Paper 3 – 30% of GCSE
China
Germany
Poland
Russia
South Africa
The USA
The USA
Part of paper 1
The First Crusade c
The Aztec Empire and the Spanish Conquest
Living under Nazi Rule
Part of paper 3 – choice must be from different era than British depth study