Manchester academics chair A level subject reviews

20 Feb 2014

Two academics from The University of Manchester have been appointed to the A Level Content Advisory Board (ALCAB) to chair two important committees established to look at the content of England’s A Level provision in languages and geography.

Professor Stephen Parker, from the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, is to chair the Modern and Classical Languages Panel.

And Professor Martin Evans, from the School of Environment, Education and Development, will chair the Geography Panel.

Professor Richard Craster of Imperial College, London is chairing a third panel dealing with Mathematics.

ALCAB will report its content advice to the exams regulator Ofqual in June. ALCAB has been recently established as an independent body by the Russell Group and is funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

The ALCAB panels will work with a wide range of stakeholders from across the higher education sector, as well with teachers and learned societies and the awarding bodies recognised to offer GCSE, AS and A Levels in the United Kingdom. They will also engage with Ofqual and DfE.

Professor Parker, Henry Simon Professor of German, has assembled the panel of specialists, predominantly from Russell Group institutions, in French, German, Ancient Greek, Latin and Spanish.

He said : “We shall be working closely with a broad range of higher education institutions, from both within and outside the Russell Group of Universities as well as with stakeholders from across the broader secondary and higher education sector.

“The timetable is certainly challenging but this is important work, with consequences for the way we organise our teaching programmes in universities.”

Professor Evans said: “Geography has been brought into the review process after representations from the Royal Geographical Society and the Geographical Association to an earlier consultation.

“Our goal is to identify A level content that is exciting, challenging and up to date, and that prepares students for further study and the wider world.”

ALCAB is governed by a Management Board which reports to the Russell Group, led by Professor Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick.