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Qualification Level: A Level

Qualification Duration: 2 years

Exam Board: OCR (H481)

Intro:

A level Geography addresses key ideas and debates in our world today to create global citizens. It helps students gain an appreciation for how places and landscapes are formed, how people and environments interact, what consequences arise from our everyday decisions, and how a diverse range of cultures and societies exist and interconnect. Students will explore a range of issues with up to date case studies pulled from news stories every week and examine their causes, implications and solutions. The content gives the students a chance to really appreciate what is happening on our planet and what this means for them.

Year one content: (the content can form the stand alone AS qualification H081):

• Coastal Landscapes - what natural processes shape our coastlines; why is there such variety in landforms; how do humans alter and manage coasts. 
• Changing Spaces ; Making Places what do we mean by place; how are they represented; how do places change over time; what do they meant to different people
• Disease Dilemmas – what are the physical and human factors influencing spread of disease; how do we manage disease; what barriers are there to the spread of diseases
• Hazardous Earth – evidence of tectonic processes; the varying hazards from earthquakes and volcanoes; the implications of living in tectonic areas; how we can manage the hazards

Year two content:

• Earth’s Life Support Systems - the water and carbon cycles: how they cycle between the land, oceans and atmosphere; how they operate in different locations; how humans interfere
• Global Migration – areas of, reasons for and impacts of migration; up to date case studies such as Syrian Refugees to Europe and North African migration across the Mediterranean
• Human Rights – why they exist; the current global breaches of human rights and the impacts they cause; how they are monitored and governed; their link to development
• Independent Investigation (coursework) worth 20% of final grade. Students spend 5 days in Somerset collecting data to answer an enquiry question of their own choosing

Trips and other costs: All A level Geography courses have a compulsory requirement for fieldwork. Currently we plan to undertake a five day residential trip to Nettlecombe FSC to enable students to collect fieldwork data for their independent investigation. The cost of this trip is approximately £350. In addition we run the hugely popular Iceland trip every two years (2022) for Geography students to give the chance of experiencing such an incredible landscape: who can say no to the Blue Lagoon and Northern Lights!?

Career and further study: The A level Geography course is a well-respected, academic facilitating subject that can help to provide access to several degree courses such as in the Sciences, Economics and Social Sciences beside Geography itself. A wide and current knowledge of the world around them, as well as research and report writing skills means that Geographers possess the skills that employers want their staff to have. There is a huge variety of potential careers with a Geography degree including surveying, GIS analyst, land planning and management, conservation work, environmental consultant and public sector careers