The exam board OCR has paused its planned changes to a geography GCSE paper amid “unanswered questions” about the future of qualifications during the government’s curriculum review.
A new GCSE geography paper B specification – numbered J386 – was due to be first taught from September and assessed in 2027.
But in an update to schools today, the exam board told leaders to “continue to teach our current GCSE geography B specification (J384) for the remainder of this academic year and from September 2025”.
OCR said it was “always mindful of your workload and want to make sure you have everything you need to prepare for the delivery of any new qualification”.
It said its decision was the result of “feedback and two other key factors” – one of which was the government’s curriculum and assessment review, which will not issue its final report until the autumn.
“With many unanswered questions about the future of GCSEs, we believe it’s wise to wait for the Department for Education’s review outcomes later this year before making significant changes.”
Improvements to current paper planned
The other factor was the “development process and timelines”.
“We aim to develop the best possible qualifications for you and your students, and provide you with clarity and sufficient planning time for any changes we may make.
“We’re currently unsure how much longer the development process will take and, as the summer term approaches, want to offer you more certainty for next year.”
OCR added that it had received “lots of feedback” about the proposed new paper, for which it was “extremely grateful”.
It wants to use the feedback to make “some smaller improvements to our current specification (J384)”.
Options being explored include offering enhanced support with new and updated resources, “improved accessibility” and “factual content updates to the specification”.
“We’ll notify you in advance of any changes we’ll be making. However, our aim will be to enhance the experience of our qualification for you and your students.”
The exam board also apologised “for any inconvenience this news may cause.
“Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries or concerns – we’d be happy to help.”
Jesus! Just have one exam board for each subject. It’ll stop the trusts gaming the system; replacing more rigorous/relatively ‘harder’ courses with ‘easier’ ones to boost their results…like my trust did.