Over the past six months, Media and Film Studies courses at GCSE and A-level have been undergoing extensive revision as part of the government’s wider review of qualifications. MECCSA colleagues will recall that a few months back, there seemed to be a significant risk that these qualifications would be deleted altogether.
 
Following intervention by the Media Education Association (the subject association for media teachers), completely revised drafts of the key documents for Media Studies were written by David Buckingham (on behalf of MEA) and Natalie Fenton (on behalf of MECCSA). These new drafts were endorsed by the MEA, MECCSA, the BFI and Skillset, and eventually submitted to the Department for Education by the examination boards.
 
The good news is that we are now through to the public consultation stage. Interested parties have a further month to respond. The documents now under consideration have been subject to extensive revision, and there have been some difficult compromises. There are several key points on which we would urge colleagues to respond.
 
The key links are as follows:
 
1. The minister Nick Gibb’s written statement to Parliament: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/gcse-and-a-level-subject-content-consultation–2 <https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/gcse-and-a-level-subject-content-consultation--2>
2. The summary consultation document on the Ofqual site: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/developing-new-gcses-as-and-a-levels-for-first-teaching-in-2017
3. The detailed documents on each subject at each level: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/further-gcse-and-a-level-content-for-teaching-from-september-2017

We recommend downloading the GCSE and A/AS level documents from the third link, and then having a look at the MEA’s response:

http://www.themea.org.uk/2015/10/mea-recommendations-for-the-consultations/
 
We would urge colleagues to respond before 5th November, both individually and on behalf of any relevant organizations.  

Thanks for your support!

David Buckingham


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Professor David Buckingham FAcSS FBA
Emeritus Professor, Loughborough University
Visiting Professor, Sussex University
Website and blog: www.davidbuckingham.net



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