Geography General senior syllabus 2019 v1.1

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Geography General senior syllabus 2019 v1.1

Review report

April 2023

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Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 | Copyright notice: www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/copyright — lists the full terms and conditions, which specify certain exceptions to the licence. |

Attribution (include the link): © State of Queensland (QCAA) 2023 www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/copyright.

Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority PO Box 307 Spring Hill QLD 4004 Australia 154 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane

Phone: (07) 3864 0299

Email: [email protected] Website: www.qcaa.qld.edu.au

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Introduction ______________________________________________ 1

Review __________________________________________________ 1

Definition... 1

Atypical review ... 1

Timeframe ... 1

Activities ... 2

Sources of feedback ... 2

Syllabus implementation survey ... 2

Syllabus targeted review focus groups ... 3

Review findings ... 3

Review outcomes _________________________________________ 4

Summary of syllabus revisions ______________________________ 5

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Geography General senior syllabus 2019 v1.1 Review report

Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority April 2023 Page 1 of 7

Introduction

Reviewing and revising syllabuses is integral to ensuring the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) provides a world-class curriculum, learning and assessment system for all Queensland schools.

The Geography General senior syllabus 2019 v1.1 review report outlines the 2020–2024 syllabus review and revision process, including:

• the scope of the syllabus review

• the syllabus review activities conducted

• a summary of the syllabus review data

• the findings of the review

• a summary of the revisions.

Review

Definition

A syllabus review is an examination of a syllabus according to a set of principles. It is expected that one of five recommendations will be made at the conclusion of a review.

These recommendations are:

1. no action is taken 2. the syllabus is amended 3. the syllabus is revised 4. the syllabus is redeveloped 5. the syllabus is retired.

A review is conducted by the QCAA and includes consultation with external syllabus stakeholders via surveys, focus groups and reference groups. Internal analysis of data collected via QCAA quality assurance and external assessment processes is also conducted.

Atypical review

The 2020–2024 review and revision of General, Applied (Essential) and Short Course syllabuses is a unique review process given its proximity to the introduction of a new QCE system in 2019.

This means that syllabuses will only undergo revision in response to the findings of the review.

The scope and purpose of a revision is outlined in later sections of this report.

Timeframe

The review of General, Applied (Essential) and Short Course syllabuses commenced in early 2020 and concluded in November 2022.

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Activities

The review of General, Applied (Essential) and Short Course syllabuses involved the following activities:

• recording of ad hoc syllabus feedback in an official change log from March 2019 to November 2021

• analysis of confirmation, endorsement and external assessment 2020–2021 data to identify any syllabus performance issues

• release of the publicly accessible syllabus implementation survey from July to September 2021 to gather feedback from teachers, parents, students, industry and academics on all syllabuses

• analysis of quantitative and qualitative data gathered through the public survey to identify satisfaction ratings and common themes in feedback

• establishment of focus groups in mid-2022 to invite participants to state a clear and cohesive set of values for their subject, how the subject might need to change to remain current and contemporary, and what specific changes should be made to the syllabus as part of the revision process.

Through these activities, the QCAA engaged with more than 8200 stakeholders and received more than 20 000 specific and detailed items of written feedback about the syllabuses.

Sources of feedback

Syllabus implementation survey

The table below shows the number of participants in the syllabus implementation survey for this syllabus.

Stakeholders Survey participants

Teachers 26

Heads of department 16

School administrators 0

Sector representatives 0

Members of professional associations 0

Academics 0

Students 35

Parents/carers 1

Other 0

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Syllabus targeted review focus groups

The table below shows the number of focus group participants for this syllabus.

Focus group Participants

Geography — general focus 69

Review findings

Syllabus section or feedback area Satisfied responses to survey (% of total responses)

Course overview — Introduction 87.1%

Objectives (including explanatory paragraphs) 80.0%

Teaching and learning: Aboriginal perspectives and Torres Strait Islander perspectives

73.7%

Teaching and learning: Pedagogical and conceptual frameworks

89.5%

Teaching and learning: Subject matter 89.5%

Units 85.0%

Internal assessment techniques, descriptions, specifications and conditions

83.6%

Instrument-specific marking guides (ISMGs) 47.4%

External assessment 84.4%

Resources 55.0%

Review findings include:

• Stakeholders value the problem-solving approach to contemporary issues offered in this subject. It has capacity to build in elements of STEM, link to world events, provides a way of viewing and understanding the world and leads to a range of pathways and professions.

• Stakeholders would like to see an increased focused on technologies e.g. GIS and digital/3D mesh. Some expressed concerns that the subject is becoming marginalised.

• Suggested changes to the syllabus included reducing IA1 to maps and/or graphs, removing the requirement for map-making in the EA and reducing the scope of IA2 and IA3.

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Review outcomes

This syllabus will undergo a revision to make changes that:

• respond to syllabus implementation challenges identified by teachers

• ensure assessment is appropriate and effective

• improve the clarity in the syllabus for teachers and students to make expectations more transparent

• update and refine subject matter, where necessary.

Examples of changes include:

• changing a cognitive verb used in an objective

• rearranging topics or subject matter

• simplifying language in an ISMG performance-level descriptor

• adjusting assessment specifications or conditions based on endorsement and confirmation feedback

• updating topics and subject matter to be more contemporary.

During the review of the General, Applied (Essential) and Short Course syllabuses, it was evident that some stakeholders expect changes to syllabuses that are significantly beyond the scope of a syllabus revision and would require a syllabus redevelopment. Examples of changes that are beyond the scope of a revision include changes:

• to syllabus objectives that would require changes in assessment processes and ISMGs that would result in a significant change in practice

• to the number of summative assessments

• that significantly alter the nature of the external assessment, e.g. the percentage weighting, the technique, the objectives assessed

• to the purpose of the subject

• that would have a significant impact on school resources, e.g. the need for new textbooks or equipment.

The evaluation of the new Queensland Certificate of Education system is expected to report in early 2025. A future syllabus review, revision and redevelopment schedule will be developed in light of the findings from this evaluation and after further feedback on these revised syllabuses has been considered.

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Summary of syllabus revisions

The Geography syllabus will undergo refinement, including clarification of objectives, subject matter, assessment specifications, ISMGs and reporting standards in response to the findings of the review. Details of the changes are shown in the table below.

Section Revision

Course Overview • The skills table has been updated to remove alignment to specific units and include the statement - ‘The skills listed in the following table represent the cartographic and graphic skills that students should be able to demonstrate at the end of the course of study’

Syllabus Objectives • Objective explanatory paragraphs have been edited to improve clarity.

• Objective ‘Synthesise’ has been changed to ‘Propose action’ to better align with the purpose of the objective.

• Objective Apply has been edited to remove multiple cognitions (i.e.

extrapolate)

• Unit level objectives have been removed for summative units (3 &

4) and only assessment-level objectives maintained.

• Each cognition is explicit in the subject matter and the objective aligns to the ISMG.

Pedagogical and conceptual frameworks

• Removed the general inquiry model and replaced with the

Geographic Inquiry model and a model for conducting a case study

Reporting standards • Reporting standards have been revised to align more closely to ISMGs

Subject matter Unit 1

• Limited editorial changes to align subject matter with revised objectives.

Unit 2

Unit 3

• Topic 1: reference to modelling removed.

• Subject matter terminology edited for clarity.

Unit 4

• Topic 1: Realignment of language in Subject Matter with

assessment in the use of ‘demographic change’ and ‘geographic challenge’

• Reference to use of the formula in the external examination has been removed.

Assessment 1A1

• Assessment specification and ISMG have been edited to allow for one data transformation question.

• Removed word length requirements under examination conditions.

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IA3

• Subject matter and assessment now consistent in the use of

‘demographic change’ and ‘geographic challenge’

EA

• Weighting table has been removed.

• Restriction on the stimulus to fit on an A3 page has been removed.

Instrument specific marking guides

1A1

• Creation of maps and graphs has been separated in the Communicating criterion ISMG

• ISMG has been edited to align with revised objectives and create clarity about expectations in a response.

• Qualifiers at all performance levels for the Explaining criterion have been changed. At the top performance level ‘in-depth explanations’

has become ‘detailed explanations’, and ‘explanations of the complexity of interactions’ has become’ explanations of complex relationships’. At the subsequent performance levels, the qualifiers used create a logical follow-on from detailed. At the mid-

performance level, the ‘clear’ qualifier has become ‘simple’ and at the lowest performance level the ISMG has been separated into the three components and the qualifier is ‘partial’ for explanations.

• For Comprehending, at all performance levels, the qualifier in the second performance level descriptor has been applied to

knowledge and understanding instead of the cognition.

• The descriptor for Applying understanding has been changed at the 5-6 mark range; ‘effective extrapolation’ has become ‘detailed understanding’; and at the 3-4 mark range ‘sufficient extrapolation’

has become ‘simple understanding’.

1A2

• For the Explaining and Comprehending criterion the performance level descriptors have been separated.

• For the Analysing and Applying criterion the performance level descriptor has been separated at the low-performance levels.

Qualifiers at the mid-performance levels have been changed. At the 5-6 mark range, ‘basic interpretations’ has become ‘simple

interpretations’; at the 3-4 mark range ‘obvious interpretations’ has become ‘superficial interpretations’.

• The descriptor for Applying understanding has been changed at the 7-8 mark range: ‘effective extrapolation’ has become ‘detailed understanding’.

• Creation of maps and graphs has been separated in the Communicating criterion ISMG.

IA3

• For the Explaining and Comprehending objective the qualifier at 2 mark range has been changed from ‘clear explanations’ to ‘detailed explanations’

• For the Analysing and Applying criterion the performance level descriptor has been separated at the low-performance levels.

Qualifiers have been changed at the 5-6 mark range, ‘basic interpretations’ has become ‘simple interpretations’; at the 3-4 mark range ‘obvious interpretations’ has become ‘superficial

interpretations’.

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• The descriptor for Applying understanding has been changed at the 7-8 mark range, ‘effective extrapolation’ has become ‘detailed understanding’.

Glossary • Still under review

Geography General senior syllabus 2019 v1.1