| Introduction to A Levels |
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An A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education usually taken during Further Education and after GCSEs. It is a non-compulsory qualification taken by students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (the Scottish equivalent is the Advanced Higher Grade). The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) publishes a Subject Criteria for Science, providing a framework in which awarding bodies create their own specifications. This states that:
All AS and A Level specifications for Biology must cover the following: A-levels are offered by EdExcel, OCR, AQA, WJEC and CCEA within the UK, and to students outside the UK by Cambridge International Examinations. Programmes are being prepared for first teaching in 2008 which include the new requirements for ‘How Science Works’. Generally speaking, A-Level Biology and Human Biology specifications provide fewer opportunities to teach scientific controversy than Biology GCSE. This is because there is currently less emphasis on the nature of science. A-Levels do generally contain more information than GCSEs about evolution, and in particular the Edexcel Human Biology syllabus has a substantial section on Human evolution. |
It is wrong that any debate, especially on so momentous a subject as the origin of species, and the human race above all, should be arbitrarily declared to be closed.
Paul Johnson (The Spectator, 27 August 2005) |