Tips for A level students. Lesson ramblings for teachers (helpful ideas too!)
Author: Aimee Horsley
I am an A Level Philosophy, Ethics and Religious Studies teacher. I have taught between 80 - 150 R.S students for the past eight years. I also manage a small team of Coaches dedicated to enhancing Teaching, Learning and Assessment. Two years ago I completed a MEd (Masters in Education) focusing on Dialogic Learning. After huge success on SlideShare, with my power points being viewed over a quarter of million times, I started to think that I have so much more to share that may be of interest to other students and teachers outside my college. So this Blog will document my on-going findings, reflections and tips for both teachers and students.
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This is a summary of the key points made over the reports from the 2022 and 2023 exam season. I have avoided repeating similar points made in previous years (you will find earlier blogs on these) or question specific comments in order to focus on the points that apply generically across all papers.
Good:
Exploring the meaning of the words in the question. For example whether a ‘coherent solution’ is being made based on philosophy or science or both.
Contemporary examples: cost of living crisis, public sector strikes and current government scandals to extend answers.
Planning at the start of an essay to help with clarity of arguments and points.
Focused directly on Q.
Outlined what was going to be argued at the beginning with a hypothesis and reasons that are then argued throughout.
Carefully selected material.
Subtleties of the thinkers and/ or theories are appreciated.
Areas to Improve/ Things to Avoid:
General:
Misunderstood or misread the wording of the question
If Q asks for one person or argument e.g. Ruether or SOL do not compare or go into great length of another thinker/ idea.
Adding the question at the end of each paragraph does not mean the paragraph/ essay focuses on the q.
Chronology of thinkers.
Lack of timed essay practice.
Very long introductions.
Used what seemed like pre prepared responses.
For compare Q – compare as go along.
A01:
The A01 was weaker than the A02.
Trying to force in extra thinkers.
Minimal explanation of key ideas or assumed understanding of these by marker.
Lost focus spending too much time discussing other theories.
Conflating ideas e.g. Mill and Bentham or Prime Mover with First Mover (Aquinas).
Do not to simply repeat the bullet points from the spec e.g many other possible descriptions of Jesus exist.
GCSE type description with a Biblical quote e.g SOL
Hybrid of Teleo and Cosmo – confusion of what points go into which argument.
A02:
Strengths and weaknesses within the topic itself with less reliance on comparison with another view or scholar.
Evaluated by juxtaposition of different views, rather than develop reasons why one was stronger/ weaker.
Use of rhetorical questions did not add to the evaluation.
I just want to point out one comment made in the 2022 ethics paper that confused me. For the question ‘Assess the view that good, bad, right and wrong are meaningless ethical terms.’ I would assume that this is quite a generic meta ethics question in which you could approach it from any or all angles. However the feedback said, “response entirely on emotivism and considered the arguments for and against this particular theory. These responses often scored very high marks.” I am unsure how this question leads towards an entire emotivism answer and how this did not read as a pre-prepared answer (as often commented on in these reports).
Also check out my previous blog where I discuss my thoughts on the current exam marking based on these examiner’s reports from 2022-2023.
I have been somewhat tardy when it comes to keeping up with the examiner’s reports for Philosophy, Theology and Ethics (last blog review dating back to 2020). So I thought it was important to review the last two years of examiner’s reports (2022 – 2023). After doing so, I have to admit that I am feeling both frustrated and slightly confused. After teaching the subject for 15 years, been an exam marker on and off and attending multiple CPD training sessions, the examiner’s reports just seem completely off point. So I thought I would share with you my frustration, confusion and overriding concern for the future of my relationship with OCR (to whom I have been very loyal).
Reading the examiner’s reports (2022-2023) for Philosophy, it felt reminiscent of Goldilocks and the Three Bears but in this case it was Goldilocks and the philosophy paper. Some had too little detail “superficial knowledge“, some too much detail “weighed down by overlong expositions” and then of course there is just the right amount of detail that falls on a spectrum between “concisely and accurately examined” to what I would class as degree level understanding “most successful responses included detailed knowledge of how Descartes arrived at this view in reference to divisibility, conceivability, hyperbolic doubt and an application of Leibniz’s Law.” So it is fair to say I am concerned. When faced with teaching 32 units to students with no philosophical background or understanding, who are then expected by the exam board to appreciate the subtlety of arguments, have what seems like in depth knowledge of each individual thinker and extended reading so wide that the textbook is a mirage in the distance…how are we meant to achieve this? Or more importantly, how are our students meant to achieve this?
Now the exam board will say that students do not NEED to know beyond the specification but when the examiner’s reports seems to glorify such answers, how does it not feel like an expectation on all students? To have even mentioned it in the report, implies that this level of knowledge is used as some sort of bench mark for the highest marks. For example 2022 Augustine Q “What marked out the very best was the appreciation of the subtlety of Augustine’s argument, including the principles of plenitude, harmony or the aesthetic principle and the reasons why God might give less grace to some of the angels.” Did I somehow miss this on the spec? Yet the section finished with “although this is not required for the top marks“, how is this not the bar if this distinguishes out ‘the very best’? Students should, of course, be awarded marks for this level of understanding but to mention it in the examiner’s reports advertises to everyone else essentially this unwritten expectation. But the concern lies not only in the lack of contact time needed to achieve this but also the risk that some students will be impeded by the extra detail that they will forget/ confuse the actual content needed. So how do we achieve this?
It feels like the bar for OCR has moved higher and higher each year due to a small selection of students who excel. Therefore the majority of students may be at risk of becoming alienated from the top marks because of this shift in perception of what an 18 year old is actually capable of achieving. As noted on the first page there is a “tendency towards underdeveloped explanations leading to analysis that could have benefited from a firmer grasp of the details being assessed.” But how are we supposed to know what these ‘details’ are, when some students (as celebrated in the examiner’s reports) are exploring ideas that are not found on the spec or within the textbooks.
A further concern I have is when reading the DCT examiner’s reports. On the first page it notes that when approaching this paper students need to be able to “think like a Christian theologian” in order to “understand the power” “true significance” and “the revelation [ ] and tradition” of different types of Christians. Is this same expectation and requirement found in the other religions? How am I supposed to teach this in 6 months, when most students do not have even the most basic understanding or knowledge of Christianity? This expectation is based, one can assume, on the presupposition that students have a foundational knowledge within Christianity to build upon and thus more is expected of them than “the skills required for Paper 1 and Paper 2.” Since the specification change and the added requirement of religious thought, the students essentially gain another academic field on top of Philosopher and Ethicist to include Theologian as well. Do the examiners expect students to perform as three different academic thinkers at A level standard, when essentially we have lost 6 months of focus on philosophy and ethics to do this? It feels that the examiners expect more from the student as far as skill but have given them a whole new field of academic thought to tackle, one which they expect them to already have “the appropriate background knowledge required for this unit.” Unfortunately for many this is not the case and therefore it feels unfair to criticise students for presenting a “very naive perspective”, when this is just one third of a huge course.
Just as a little side thought, I do not recall the excessive and unnecessary use of convoluted language in previous examiner’s reports, most notably the philosophy ones. Here are some of my favourites: “responses juxtaposed the whole movement as one homogenous mass” and “although more concerted work to counter the criticism of the Fifth Way would have been more fruitful” or “with argument running through the piece as a golden thread“. Whilst these comments do essentially make sense of course, the examiner’s reports are suppose to provide clear guidance to teachers not an academic masterpiece.
Teaching is not a profession which allows you to stagnate for any length of time. There is always a new initiative, idea or revolutionary pedagogy being force fed into our world view (I still not have not forgotten the years spent on fine tuning my lesson plans to include VAK and lesson objectives/ outcomes). This doesn’t mean however that change comes easily. Now I never thought of myself as an ‘old dog’ but after 15 years of teaching, I think I may have have entered into an ‘old school’ mentality. Especially when it comes to this year’s new venture – iPads. This academic year saw all new students given an iPad for the duration of their time at college. This iPad is to be used in every lesson and replaces printed workbooks, folders and notepads.
Teaching and learning go to activities (seriously basic):
End of topic quiz (blooket)
Research moodboard (padlet)
Word Cloud to collect views/ ideas (mentimeter)
Whose argument is better?/ Which crime is worse? – rank (mentimeter)
Time Saving Tips: Before you create your own quizzes (which take a surprisingly long time) check out the previously made quizzes. Most of the sites below have a huge bank of pre-existing quizzes that you can access for free – which is brilliant if you need a five minute filler. The students can also access all the quizzes with a log in. This means that they can work through the different quizzes that appeal to them rather than only completing ones as a whole class (either as revision or an extension task).
Also check out which sites have an AI feature for example Vevox – which means that if you type in a topic area it will generate a short quiz for you based on a google search of the key information linking to this topic…anything to save a bit of time.
Here are some of the best teaching and learning sites I have found so far:
App/ Website
Features
Blooket
Create quizzes with a competitive edge. Students answer in own time so can cover questions at their own speed/ ability. Questions repeat on a loop for retrieval practice. Huge bank of previously made quizzes in a variety of subjects/ topics Like Kahoot but better! https://www.blooket.com/
Padlet
Interactive note board where student can post answers, comments – creating a mood board of ideas. Can be downloaded and saved as a PDF *Note you can only have three padlets created at one time under same name (so will need to download and delete) https://padlet.com/
Vevox
Access to creating multiple choice quizzes Once created a session, there is an option for ‘AI Quiz’ to create a 5 question quiz * Note there is limited access to most of features without upgrade https://www.vevox.com/
Quizizz
Create a variety of differ types of quizzes Access to previously made quizzes in a variety of subjects/ topics *Note often aimed at younger students but the templates work for all ages. https://quizizz.com/?lng=en
Mentimeter
Easy to create interactive Q/A quickly A number of options available without upgrade needed Can create Word clouds, Polls, Open ended, Scales, Ranking and more. https://www.mentimeter.com/
Apps to support students with revision, exam preparation and organisation:
App
Features
Quizlet
Add class notes onto digital revision cards. Use the flashcards to play different games and test yourself https://quizlet.com/
Knowunity
Thousands of free resources (600,000 study notes/content -revision notes, summaries, presentations, flashcards, quizzes, exam help) Connect with other students in group chats Study for your A-level exams https://knowunity.co.uk/
Study Smarter
Flashcards Quizzes Lecture Notes Study Notes Exam Mockups Study Guides Study Planner Textbooks and textbook solutions Study Reminders Study Groups https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/
My Study Life
Track and get reminders for your classes, homework and exams. Syncs between your phone and computer. https://mystudylife.com/
So far I can say that the iPads have been a huge success with the students. It speaks their language. They keep their folders organised, create engaging class notes and can navigate different apps and websites with ease. It also means that mobile phones stay in their bags, as there is no excuse now to need access to them. As a teacher, I am finding the transition harder but I am working on finding ways to incorporate my iPad more into what I do, not just what my students do. This includes ‘learning’ to write with an iPad pen…if I say my writing is totally illegible I am being kind.
Please share any other websites or apps you have come across that supports the use of iPads in the classroom 🙂
In this video I summarise the key points raised by the examiner’s for Unit One, Unit Two, Unit Three and Unit Four for the 2023 controlled assessments and exams.