ABOUT THIS COURSE

This course is designed for all OCR A-Level Religious Studies teachers who are looking to maximise A/A* grades for their highest performing/achieving students.

The course will be predominantly practically focused, concentrating on a range of successfully implemented strategies to access the top grades.

Using feedback from the most recent exams, the first two years of examinations on the new specifications, the course will outline what is expected of high ability students and explore ways to develop the curriculum and build your teaching practice around this.

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BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

• Expert practical advice on preparing students for the highest possible grades
• Focus on practical teaching strategies which stretch and challenge the highest-performing students
• Specific focus on how to meet the demands of the examination at A/A* grades
• Scrutinise exam responses in detail, including those that attracted full marks
• Support material can be provided which centres can tailor to their own needs
• A chance to meet and discuss ideas with like-minded individuals

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Grades A & A*: Lessons from the most recent exams?

10.00 – 10.45am

• Structure of the specification for OCR A-Level Religious Studies – what does it require of the best students?
• Feedback and grading analysis from the most recent papers – what is required for A/A*?
• Analysis of mark schemes – helping students understand the demands of Level 5 and 6
• Avoiding potential hazards: what can cost a top student their A grade?
• CAGs and TAGs – how has the landscape changed in the non-exam years?
• What does ‘an extensive range of scholarly views’ look like in practice?

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Morning Break

10.45 – 11.00am

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The Big Picture: Planning, Delivery and Routines for A/A* students

11.05 – 12.05pm

• How to balance the focus on knowledge and skills in delivery
• How to use Induction to set the temperature and raise aspirations
• Key attributes of Grade A/A* students in the classroom
• Use of primary texts to develop the precision and nuance needed for Level 6 writing
• How to encourage regular and useful independent learning outside the classroom
• Developing Metacognition and enabling gradual release of responsibility to students

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Focusing of Philosophy of Religion: key challenges for Grade A/A* students on the Nature of God topic

12.05 – 1.00pm

• Analyse examples of high grade answers to past questions
• Active strategies to bring a potentially abstract topic to life.
• Using primary text extracts such as Aquinas and Boethius to add detail and depth
• How to ensure that essay planning focuses on evaluation and avoids being descriptive
• Retrieval Tasks for the topic
• Maximising opportunities for synopticity

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Lunch and informal discussion

1.00 – 2.00pm

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Teaching Business Ethics: stretching and challenging able students and allowing them to shine

2.00 – 3.00pm

• Understand why students, even the more able, struggle on applied ethics topics
• Review examples of high grade scripts on this topic
• Showing depth of understanding of both the theories and the issues in the same answer
• Ensuring that students both apply and assess the normative theories
• Retrieval Tasks for the topic
• Maximising opportunities for synopticity

• Practical examples of effective best practice to be shared and teaching resources to be disseminated

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The Sprint Finish: Revision and exam techniques for the highest grades

3.05 – 3.40pm

• Practical strategies for the revision period in the classroom
• Independent revision methods to help students produce high grade essays
• 40 mark essays: what does a grade A/A* candidate need to do?
• Model essays: the pros and cons of pre-planning
• Teacher feedback: what do the most able need from us in the final few weeks?