GCSE Design and Technology Specification Specification for first teaching in 2017
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Find past papers and mark schemes, and sample papers for new courses, on our website at aqa.org.uk/pastpapers
This specification is designed to be taken over two years.
This is a linear qualification. In order to achieve the award, students must complete all assessments at the end of the course and in the same series.
GCSE exams and certification for this specification are available for the first time in May/June 2019 and then every May/June for the life of the specification.
All materials are available in English only.
Our GCSE exams in Design and Technology include questions that allow students to demonstrate their ability to:
Courses based on this specification must encourage students to:
Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all GCSE Design and Technology specifications and all exam boards.
The exams and non-exam assessment will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives.
The marks awarded on the papers will be scaled to meet the weighting of the components. Students’ final marks will be calculated by adding together the scaled marks for each component. Grade boundaries will be set using this total scaled mark. The scaling and total scaled marks are shown in the table below.
The Non-exam assessment will contribute towards 50% of the students overall mark. The NEA project in its entirety should take between 30–35 hours to complete and consist of a working prototype and a concise portfolio of approximately 20 pages of A3 paper, equivalent A4 paper or the digital equivalent.
Students' work should consist of an investigation into a contextual challenge, defining the needs and wants of the user and include relevant research to produce a design brief and specification. Students should generate design ideas with flair and creativity and develop these to create a final design solution (including modelling). A manufacturing specification should be produced to conclude your design findings leading into the realisation of a final prototype that is fit for purpose and a final evaluation. Students should investigate, analyse and evaluate throughout the portfolio and evidence all decisions made.
Six criteria are produced for assessment and there are a number of points within each. Each band should be viewed holistically when marking assessments. Students who produce no work for a criterion or work that is below a GCSE standard should be awarded zero.
The criteria should not be viewed as a linear process to be followed in a step by step manner. Rather, students should be encouraged to follow the iterative design process and assessors encouraged to award marks where they are deserved and can be evidenced. You should ensure that the criteria are assessed accurately and students are not rewarded for quantity of work but the quality of work produced.
With the assessment process being viewed holistically it's vital that students clearly record their work so it is clear where the marks can be awarded. It's also essential that teachers provide clear annotation to support their assessments.
Students will be required to undertake a small-scale design and make task and produce a final prototype based on a design brief produced by the student.
The contextual challenges for the task will be set by us and allow students to select from a list issued to schools via e-AQA. The contexts will change every year and will be released on 1 June in the year prior to the assessment being submitted.
With reference to the context, students will be expected to develop a specific brief that meets the needs of a user, client or market.
The task must be of an appropriate level of complexity and contain a degree of uncertainty of the outcome so that students can engage in an iterative process of designing, making, testing, improving and evaluating.
Students must produce a final prototype based on the design brief that they have developed, along with a written or digital design folder or portfolio.
Students must produce a written or digital design folder clearly evidencing how the assessment criteria have been met, together with photographic evidence of the final manufactured prototype.
Students should produce a concise folder. We recommend that this folder does not exceed 20 pages of A3 paper, equivalent A4 paper or the digital equivalent.
Students who do not follow these guidelines will penalise themselves by not meeting the expectations of the assessment appropriately.
Students that exceed the recommended length will self-penalise by not being appropriately focused on the demands of the task. Students that produce work that is shorter than the recommended page count will self-penalise by not allowing appropriate coverage of the assessment objectives.
Students should spend 30–35 hours on their NEA unless there are specific access requirements that should be considered.
We expect students to be selective in their choice of material to include, and to manage their time appropriately.
Students are free to revise and redraft a piece of work before submitting the final piece for assessment. You can review draft work and provide generic feedback to ensure that the work is appropriately focused. In providing generic feedback you can :
In providing generic feedback you cannot :
A clear distinction must be drawn between providing feedback to students as part of work in progress and reviewing work once it has been submitted by the student for final assessment. Once work is submitted for final assessment it cannot be revised. It is not acceptable for you to give, either to individual students or to groups, feedback and suggestions as to how the work may be improved in order to meet the marking criteria.
In accordance with the JCQ Instructions for conducting NEA, any support or feedback given to individual students which has not been provided to the class as a whole must be clearly recorded on the CRF and the student’s mark must be appropriately adjusted to represent the student’s unaided achievement.
Guidance on applying the marking criteria
Level of response marking instructions are broken down into mark bands , each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor for the mark band shows the average performance for the level required . Before you apply the mark scheme to a student’s project, review both the prototype and portfolio and annotate it and/or make notes on it to show the qualities that are being looked for. You can then apply the marking criteria.
Start at the lowest band of the marking criteria and use it as a ladder to see whether the work meets the descriptor for that band . The descriptor for the band indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s work for that level. If it meets descriptors for the lowest band then go to the next one and decide if it meets this, and so on, until you have a match between the band descriptor and the student's work.
You can compare your student’s work with the standardisation examples to determine if it is the same standard, better or worse. When assigning a level you should look at the overall quality of the work. If the project covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the work to help decide the mark within the band .
To select the most appropriate mark in the band descriptor, teachers should use the following guidance to locate the best-fit:There will be instances where a student fully meets for example 3/4 statements but only just meets the other. In this scenario a best-fit approach should be taken. If, in this scenario, the range of marks within the band was 16–20, then a mark of 18/19 would be appropriate.
The assessment criteria for the NEA are split into six sections as follows.
By analysing the contextual challenge students will identify design possibilities, investigate client needs and wants and factors including economic and social challenges. Students should also use the work of others (past and/or present) to help them form ideas. Research should be concise and relate to their contextual challenge. Students are also advised to use a range of research techniques (primary/secondary) in order to draw accurate conclusions. Students should be encouraged to investigate throughout their project to help inform decisions.
Based on conclusions from their investigations students will outline design possibilities by producing a design brief and design specification. Students should review both throughout the project.
Students should explore a range of possible ideas linking to the contextual challenge selected. These design ideas should demonstrate flair and originality and students are encouraged to take risks with their designs. Students may wish to use a variety of techniques to communicate.
Students will not be awarded for the quantity of design ideas but how well their ideas address the contextual challenge selected. Students are encouraged to be imaginative in their approach by experimenting with different ideas and possibilities that avoid design fixation.
In the highest band students are expected to show some innovation by generating ideas that are different to the work of the majority of their peers or demonstrate new ways of improving existing solutions.
Students will develop and refine design ideas. This may include, formal and informal 2D/3D drawing including CAD, systems and schematic diagrams, models and schedules. Students will develop at least one model, however marks will be awarded for the suitability of the model(s) and not the quantity produced.
Students will also select suitable materials and components communicating their decisions throughout the development process. Students are encouraged to reflect on their developed ideas by looking at their requirements; including how their designs meet the design specification. Part of this work will then feed into the development of a manufacturing specification providing sufficient accurate information for third party manufacture, using a range of appropriate methods, such as measured drawings, control programs, circuit diagrams, patterns, cutting or parts lists.
Students will work with a range of appropriate materials/components to produce prototypes that are accurate and within close tolerances. This will involve using specialist tools and equipment, which may include hand tools, machines or CAM/CNC. The prototypes will be constructed through a range of techniques, which may involve shaping, fabrication, construction and assembly. The prototypes will have suitable finish with functional and aesthetic qualities, where appropriate. Students will be awarded marks for the quality of their prototype(s) and how it addresses the design brief and design specification based on a contextual challenge.
Within this iterative design process students are expected to continuously analyse and evaluate their work, using their decisions to improve outcomes. This should include defining requirements, analysing the design brief and specifications along with the testing and evaluating of ideas produced during the generation and development stages. Their final prototype(s) will also undergo a range of tests on which the final evaluation will be formulated. This should include market testing and a detailed analysis of the prototype(s).