GCSE Home Economics: Child Development

Transcription

1 GCSE Home Economics: Child Development Unit 3 / Report on the Examination 4580 June 2016 Version: v0.1.

2 Further copies of this Report are available from aqa.org.uk Copyright 2016 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.

3 Controlled Assessment Unit 3 Child Study General Comments Some high quality studies were seen which reflected excellent knowledge and understanding of how children develop. The best studies had sufficient research to support the study but did not spend vast amounts of time producing excessive quantities of research. In centres where candidates produced the best child studies there was a clear recognition that the research should be applied and that it is intended to inform planning for visits. It is a requirement of the specification that candidates complete some research for each visit. In a number of cases this research was absent altogether; at the other extreme it occasionally extended to countless superfluous pages. The key is that the research should be done with the clear purpose of informing the planning and aims and expectations of visits it should not be research for research sake. Only a very small number of centres had ignored the requirement that the child being studied is under 5 years of age at the end of the study. Controlled Assessment Tasks The Research Tasks must be chosen from the Controlled Assessment tasks provided by AQA. Candidates to be entered for accreditation in 2016 must use the tasks which can be found on the e-aqa website. Candidates who have been given the wrong controlled assessment tasks for 2016 will be penalised. Centres are not permitted to customise the AQA tasks. Candidates performed best when they were encouraged to select the task which best suited their own interests and the age, interests and stage of development of the child being studied. It is not appropriate or helpful to candidates for them all to study the same task. Assessment Criteria The Child Study is marked holistically using the assessment criteria found on pages of the specification. In order to mark the work, centres should choose statements or parts of statements from the mark bands that best describe the piece of work being marked. Many centres clearly found it helpful to highlight the relevant statements from the assessment criteria before deciding on a mark for each assessment objective (AO). Annotation of Controlled assessment Work Clear and detailed annotation is invaluable in helping the moderator to see how and why marks have been awarded. 3of 7

4 Annotation was provided by most centres and took a number of different forms. Some centres made comments within the body of the work whilst others used the annotation sheets provided by AQA. A good number of centres also included highlighted assessment criteria for each candidate. Internal Standardisation Internal standardisation must be completed in centres where one or more teachers have marked the work. This had not always taken place. Administration A number of centres had to be prompted to ensure that all documentation was sent to the moderator. Centres must ensure that they send the following: Centre Record Forms Centre Declaration sheets Care should be taken to ensure that marks are totalled and submitted to e-subs accurately, and that all work is securely fastened and clearly labelled with the candidate s name and number as well as the centre number. It is not acceptable to send a memory stick to the moderator. Introductory Visit Many candidates produced a strong introductory visit. This then gave them a point of reference for the remainder of the study. The best introductions included plenty of examples to illustrate the comments made regarding the child s level of development. Furthermore, the better introductions did not simply describe the child s environment but made comments as to how this was likely to have impacted on the child s development. It is good practice to date the introduction and all subsequent visits. In weaker studies candidates relied heavily on the use of copied milestones. When these were without illustrative examples it was difficult for candidates to show detailed knowledge and understanding. In the best studies the introduction was the first section; written before the candidates chose their AQA Child Study Task. Many candidates failed to draw a conclusion to their introduction, thereby missing an opportunity to explain their choice of Child Study Task. AQA Externally Set Task The Child Study Task should be chosen after the introductory visit. Completing the work in this order allows candidates to show that their choice of task is based on their knowledge and understanding of the child s level of development and interests. When centres had clearly directed all candidates towards the same task the results were often disappointing. Not only does this mean that the task will not necessarily be well suited to the child but it makes it more difficult for candidates to justify the choice of task in a meaningful way. 4of 7

5 Research and Planning The purpose of the research is to enable candidates to research how the chosen task might encourage the child s development. Additionally the research should help candidates to plan activities for two visits. All too often there was no clear rationale for the research, e.g. research into different types of play is not going to help with the selection of visit activities. The best studies included research which was relevant to the age of child being studied. The most useful research was produced when candidates gave a clear aim and where they understood the purpose of their research. In weaker studies the research was treated as a standalone section of the work. There was often no connection made between the research and the rest of the study. Most candidates tried to include both primary and secondary research. In general terms an interview (e.g. with the child s parent(s) is often more effective than a questionnaire given to a range of people with no connection to the child. Evaluation of Research Candidates are required to evaluate their research. In weaker studies this section was completed as a summary of the research carried out. The intention is that this section is used as an opportunity for candidates to identify and justify activities for two of the four visits. Visit Plan There was some very good evidence of candidates planning a range of activities for the visits. In the best studies plans were often presented as a table which clearly showed which of the two visits were related to the AQA task. The logical point in the study to complete this simple planning is after the research has been evaluated. In weaker studies the visits were planned prior to the research being completed or sometimes not at all. Some candidates chose to plan for all four visits to be related to the AQA task. This is limiting as it often prevents candidates from commenting in detail on all aspects of PIES development, e.g. four visits based on creative play limit the candidate s opportunities to comment on gross motor skills. Aims Visits need to have clear aims which are based on the activities chosen and the areas of development that are expected to be observed. In the best studies the aims were simply but clearly expressed, e.g. I aim to focus on the child s fine motor skills and their cognitive development and will do this by baking with them. In weaker studies candidates gave vague aims, e.g. I will see how the child develops. Planning for Visits Additional Research Candidates are required to complete some additional research for each of the four visits. The research should be used to inform their planning and their expectations. In many cases there was no research and in a number of cases it was very often copied and seldom referred to. In the two visits which are based on the Child Study Task it is acceptable to refer to research already completed. The further research might then be such as to aid the planning of the activities for the visits. 5of 7

6 The best research for the other two visits was used by candidates to help them both to plan the visit and to understand how the activity might help the child s development. Examples of suitable research included e.g. the consideration of play equipment at a local park with comments made regarding how the equipment might aid the child s development. Expectations Each visit needs to have measurable expectations which are supported by reference to expected milestones and knowledge and understanding of the child s level of development. In weaker studies candidates relied upon lists of copied milestones, with seemingly little consideration given as to whether they were relevant to the planned activity or to the child s actual level of development. Observations There was evidence of high quality and detailed observations in many of the studies. However, not all candidates recorded the whole visit but focussed instead on just the planned activity. The result was that in some studies candidates found it difficult to comment on all PIES development in the visit evaluations. Candidates might usefully be reminded that the visit starts as soon as they (the candidate) enter the child s house or venue for the visit. There was considerable variation in the assessment of AO2 (ii) where visits were sometimes deemed to have been recorded in detail when in fact there were only a few lines of description. All centres should make use of the teacher on line standardising work (TOLS) available on the e-aqa site Evaluation of Visits Visit evaluations were often completed to a high standard, particularly when candidates strove to include quotes, references to the norm and specialist terminology. The candidates who were rewarded most generously were those who remembered to evaluate all four areas of development in each visit as well as commenting on change and progression where it was appropriate. Better candidates also made sure that they referred back to their expectations when evaluating each visit. A good number of candidates omitted to draw a conclusion at the end of each visit. Furthermore not all candidates made a comment on the value of their chosen activities in encouraging development. Final Evaluation Final evaluations were generally well attempted with most candidates recognising that they needed to comment on change and progression of PIES. Less impressive final evaluations simply repeated visit evaluations, without providing an overview of change and progression. Disappointingly, a good proportion of candidates failed to comment on the value of their research and planned activities. 6of 7

7 Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 7of 7