Geographical Association

Furthering the learning and teaching of geography

Pilot GCSE - Specification

The Pilot GCSE specification is underpinned by five concepts:

  1. Uneven development
  2. Globalisation
  3. Sustainability
  4. Futures
  5. Interdependence
It comprises a core and optional units (the core plus two optional units equates to a full GCSE award). The core has three sections:
  • My place – living in the UK today
  • An extreme environment – exploring landscape and process
  • People as Consumers – the impact of our decisions

The place-based unit is likely to relate to a centre's own location, nevertheless practitioners can share effective practice and resources via the Resourcespage.

Centres then choose from the following nine optional units. The links in this list allow you to download background information. The full requirements for each optional unit can be found in OCR’s Specification document.
  1. Coastal management
  2. Geographical information systems
  3. Geography in the news
  4. Travel and tourism destinations
  5. Planning where we live
  6. Urban transport for sustainability
  7. Geography through fieldwork
  8. Living with floods
  9. Introducing Cultural Geography
Each section and optional unit develops the elements of the underlying concepts. The challenge of the specification is to support candidates in refining and progressing their conceptual understandings and to support their deep geographical learning.

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