Geography
GEOGRAPHY (GCSE)
Featuring contemporary topics covering the breadth of this dynamic subject, geography is designed to excite and engage students. It will help to create a lifelong love of geography by providing students with an interest in different places, people and environments, from a local to global scale. The content encourages students to think like geographers through an enquiry approach using contemporary topics of study. They will be encouraged to explore the interconnections of topics through synoptic assessment. The lessons will engage students through the exploration of a number of geographical topics encapsulating both the geography of the UK and the rest of the world. There are opportunities to study in-depth up-to-date case studies, which can bring geography to life.
EXAMINATION BOARD - OCR Geography B (Geography for Enquiring Minds) (9-1)
SPECIFICATION CODE - J384.
CURRICULUM CONTENT
Paper 1: Our Natural World (01)
- Global Hazards
- Changing Climate
- Distinctive Landscapes
- Sustaining Ecosystems
- Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Paper 2: People and Society (02)
- Urban Futures
- Dynamic Development
- UK in the 21st Century
- Resource Reliance
- Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Paper 3: Geographical Exploration (03)
- Synoptic Assessment of topics linked to components 01 and 02.
- Geographical Skills
- Decision-making Exercise
ASSESSMENT
Paper 1:
Our Natural World (01) - 1 hour 15-minute written exam. 70 marks and accounts for 35% of the GCSE.
Paper 2:
People and Society (02) - 1 hour 15-minute written exam. 70 marks and accounts for 35% of the GCSE.
Paper 3:
Geographical Exploration (03) - 1 hour 30 minutes written exam. 50 marks and accounts for 30% of the GCSE.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES
Important information:
It is a requirement of this course that all students participate in human and physical fieldwork. Fieldwork will be tested on two of the exam papers. There are 2 day trips which students must attend. Current Year 10 students visit Leicester city centre for human fieldwork and the Goyt Valley in the Derbyshire Peak District for physical geography. This trip departs from the college at 8.00am and returns around 5.30pm
PROGRESSION
Geography is a good option as the subject gives students a wide array of knowledge on a huge range of topics along with a broad skills base that is attractive to employers and universities.
Employers and universities see geography as a robust academic subject rich in skills, knowledge and understanding. As a subject linking the arts and the sciences it is highly flexible in terms of what students can combine it with, both at GCSE and A Level.
If students choose to take geography on to university there are literally hundreds of courses to choose from and the range of career areas accessed by graduates of geography will probably surprise them. Geography graduates are very employable, with the skills, knowledge and understanding gained during a geography degree held in high regard by employers. Geography graduates also have a good range of careers options across sectors, are paid above average salaries and enjoy rapid progression to more senior roles.
- The 2023 Prospects report, What do graduates do?, provides insights and analysis from the UK’s largest Higher Education Survey. The report shows that in 2019/20 geographers had the joint highest full-time employment rate for social sciences at 54.9% compared to an average rate of 50.1%.
- The report also shows that physical and geographical sciences had the second highest full-time employment rate for science graduates at 51.9%, behind only chemistry.
- The 2021/22 Prospects report states that geography graduates have some of the highest salaries in the social sciences.