AQA B is place-specific and it includes a number of prescribed areas within the UK, EU and the Wider World. The last section concerns Global Issues which are addressed through the prescribed areas. Interdependence, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship are highlighted as other aspects of geography to be incorporated.
It would appear that the opportunities for including some of the Pilot GCSE concepts, units and content through teaching this specification lie mainly in the ‘My place’ and ‘People as consumers’ themes.
My Place
Fieldwork in and around the local community, which may well contribute to the candidates’ coursework, could lead into understanding the ideas behind ‘My place’. The topic on ‘Understanding the Modern Urban Environment’ introduces the concepts of uneven development, interdependence and the impact of future changes. These could be developed out of local fieldwork. ‘Electricity Generation’ and ‘Farming’ both provide scope for some of the ‘key issues affecting UK and their lives’. These could, in turn, be linked to the EU section which allows an exploration of the idea of ‘identity’ and how the UK relates to other countries both in Europe and further afield, introducing the concept of globalisation. The exemplar in the Teachers’ Resource Guide (pages 19-23) gives an idea of how these might be accessed.
People as Consumers
Many of the contexts of ‘People as consumers’ could be developed through taking a familiar branded Japanese product to look at the ‘spatial impact of a particular product’. The holiday industry could be selected as a named service using the Lake District, Mediterranean Spain and Amazonia as a way into some of the Pilot GCSE content and enquiry questions. The various place-specific locations such as Southern Italy, India, Japan and a major European urban core all provide opportunities for exploring different views on consumption whilst emphasising uneven development and globalisation. Starter ideas are contained on pages 29-39 in the Teachers’ Resource Guide.
The idea of ‘An extreme environment’ does not fit easily into the prescribed places. Some of the Content/Contexts for study, however (such as looking at how Amazonia has been represented, imagined and perceived through expedition reports, paintings, etc.) might provide a way in to that topic. Equally there is scope for considering sustainability and futures as well as involving the candidates in expressing their feelings and views on Amazonia’s future in creative ways.
If the suggestions above seem a bridge too far because the AQA B specification does not utilise an ‘enquiry question’ approach, you might think about using the questions in the Pilot GCSE content which match the AQA B topics as starters for teaching those aspects of the course.
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Pilot GCSE: Links to AQA B 3032
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