Geography | VTC Independent School

GEOGRAPHY (OCR Entry level Award) (NOCN Award)

The Entry Level qualification in Geography aims to encourage learners to think like geographers through an enquiry approach to contemporary topics of study. The enquiry questions allow learners to be engaged in the subject matter and understand how the content is relevant to them.

Our Entry Level Certificate in Geography will encourage learners to:

• develop their knowledge of locations, places and environments and of different scales (know geographical material)

• gain understanding of the connections between people and environments, and change in places over time (think like a geographer)

• develop a range of skills including those used in fieldwork (study like a geographer)

• apply geographical knowledge and understanding to real world contexts, including fieldwork (applying geography).

The key features of our Geography award for our learners are:

• exciting content studied in topics and brought to life by engaging enquiry questions

• co-teachable topics with GCSE (9–1) Geography including tropical rainforests, UK geography and flooding

• a variety of assessment types with flexibility to suit individual learners

• opportunities to study contemporary case studies, across a range of scales

• geographical skills, including fieldwork.

This topic encourages learners to engage with their ‘local’ place by understanding who lives there and how it has changed over time. Learners will have the opportunity to explore how the UK’s population has become more ethnically diverse and faces a potentially ageing population as life expectancy increases.

Destructive World

The world we live in can present a number of hazards to people and places. In this topic learners will have the opportunity to explore both tectonic and flood hazards, focusing particularly on their causes and impacts.

Resourceful World

Tropical rainforests are vital to our planet and to the people that live within them. Learners have the opportunity to investigate why tropical rainforests are so important, how they are being used and think about why we should be looking to interact with them more carefully in the future. This topic encourages learners to think about and explore where our food comes from and how more food can be produced, especially as the world’s population continues to grow.

In completing fieldwork, learners practise a range of skills, gain new geographical insights and begin to understand the world around them. Fieldwork adds ‘geographical value’ enabling learners to ‘anchor’ their studies within a real world context.

Learners will complete one Personal Project which can be based on any area of the specification. The project can be based on any area that the learner wants to focus on. The project can be presented in any appropriate manner, for example as a poster, PowerPoint presentation or a written project to best suit individual learners needs. Learners will be awarded for their ability to research geographical facts from various sources and use a range of presentation methods to help them answer their project title.