Today Andrew Taylor, Head of Mathematics at AQA, posted an update on the new GCSE Maths Specification on the TES Maths Forum. I thought it was worth reproducing here:

Hello,

As you may know, further information on the new GCSE qualifications is being released, and we thought it would be helpful to start a thread in order to keep you up-to-date.

Exam boards are hearing from Ofqual about their draft qualifications. AQA’s specification was fully accredited by Ofqual on 11 September. You can view our accredited specimen question papers, and also read more about our support.

Additionally, Ofqual have produced further guidance on the new grading structure for GCSEs.

Many teachers are telling us that the end of the Foundation tier papers look challenging. In-line with Ofqual’s announcement, it’s worth bearing in mind that the new Grade 5 is expected to be of higher demand than the current Grade C. As such, the questions at the end of the new Foundation tier are designed to discriminate between students of a higher level of mathematical ability than the current Foundation tier. With this in mind, it might be worth thinking about the right tier of entry for students.

We’re conscious that you know your students best, and exam boards are not well placed to advise on tier of entry. If you’d like to discuss this with other teachers, as well as getting the latest information on the GCSE and the changes to school accountability measures, we’ll be covering this at our free Introduction to new specification meetings, taking place around the country.

Equally, we know that for your current Year 8 and Year 9 students, there could be a gap between the old Key Stage 3 programme of study, and the new GCSE requirements. Specificonline courses designed to look at this in more detail are available free of charge.

I hope this is of use, do please feel free to contact [email protected] or 0161-957-3852 if you would like to discuss any of these issues in more detail, and we’ll also check back on this thread to try and help if we can.

Best wishes,

Andrew Taylor, Head of Mathematics, AQA