20th May 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The exam board OCR has announced changes to its English Language and Literature A’ Level syllabus which will see students study unorthodox texts such as Caitlin Moran’s Twitter feed. The exam board is working in conjunction with the charity the English and Media centre to develop a new, more diverse syllabus which will include interviews with Dizzee Rascal and Russell Brand. The exam will also include more conventional texts such as the work of William Blake, Emily Dickenson and Samuel Pepys. Although the exam board OCR have said that the exam is an exciting new development which meets department for education guidelines, the DFE have reacted by denouncing the new A’ Level, indicating that they would block the exam from being approve by exams regulator ofqual.
The DFE were quick to dismiss the new A’ Level, claiming that such ‘rubbish’ had no place in a rigorous exam such as A’ levels. A spokesperson for the department claimed that the exam patronised young people, and assumed that they would only engage with Language and Literature if the subject is filtered through celebrities. In designing the new exam, OCR has challenged education secretary Michael Gove who has called for exams for focus on traditional texts such as Shakespeare. The DFE concluded by saying that they awaited the decision of exams regular ofqual ‘with interest’, hinting that there is a considerable amount of political pressure for the regulator not to approve the syllabus.
OCR maintain that the new syllabus fits the DFE requirements, and pointed out that it still includes a host of more traditional texts. In a statement the boards said that they were proud to have produced the most diverse syllabus of any English A’ Level, and highlighted the fact that it would include memoirs such as Solomon Northrop’s Twelve Years a Slave in addition to modern fiction such as books by Jhumpa Lahiri. They said that historically, English A’ Levels have lacked coherence and identity, and argued that the new qualification would be distinctive and valuable. Ofqual is due to announce its decision shortly.