Is anyone else struggling AQA GCE A2 Religion & Contemporary Society/ Life Death & Beyond

Is anyone else out there struggling with the wooliness of the new AQA A2 Spec? Myself & my colleague in a partnership school are finding it really difficult to understand exactly what to teach. When we query the lack of guidance we're told 'we don't want to be prescriptive and want to allow teachers to approach from the area of their expertise'. Problem is, I have no expertise in this area my background has been Philosophy of Religion not Sociology of Religion (I'm teaching the Rel & Contemp Society unit) and I can't find any decent resources. Even the suggested reading list it far beyond our students understanding and let's face it like most teachers I don't have the time to read all the books in the hope I might find some useful information (although I am trying!).
Does anyone know of any decent and accessible resourcesfor either unit? Has anyone got any idea just what to include in their teaching? I've looked at the Spec & additional guidance on AQA but am none the wiser. My colleague has suggested today that we might consider changing to OCR for the future but that doesn't help the students we have now.

 

Is anyone else out there struggling with the wooliness of the new AQA A2 Spec? Myself & my colleague in a partnership school are finding it really difficult to understand exactly what to teach. When we query the lack of guidance we're told 'we don't want to be prescriptive and want to allow teachers to approach from the area of their expertise'. Problem is, I have no expertise in this area my background has been Philosophy of Religion not Sociology of Religion (I'm teaching the Rel & Contemp Society unit) and I can't find any decent resources. Even the suggested reading list it far beyond our students understanding and let's face it like most teachers I don't have the time to read all the books in the hope I might find some useful information (although I am trying!).
Does anyone know of any decent and accessible resourcesfor either unit? Has anyone got any idea just what to include in their teaching? I've looked at the Spec & additional guidance on AQA but am none the wiser. My colleague has suggested today that we might consider changing to OCR for the future but that doesn't help the students we have now.

 

Hi creaney ,I know exactly where your coming from- I've written about my dissatisfaction with AQA A level on several posts. I contacted D. Garnett and she sent me suggested resources, mark schemes etc. which looked good at first, but as you rightly pointed out , there are not specific areas of study. I decided against this unit and , seeing as I was already commited to following hrough with AQA, opted for more traditional units- ethics and human experience. Personally, I wouldn't take a chance as there appears to be no sense of the wooliness of the spec. when it comes to marking the students papers.

I totally empathise, hunting to find out the requirements of a course is not the job of the teacher and totally ruins the experience as I am anxious that they are not being taught the best/most relevant material.

best of luck, i'm switching to WJEC next year...

 

Hi

I know I am resurecting an old thread here but I am teaching the life death and beyond unit for the first time next year and wondered if you had any advice some time on now as to what was most releveant / best books to read/ resources etc.

Thanks

 

I know this is an old thread, but I wondered if you managed to find any decent resources?
We've opted to teach this unit next year with our first A Level group and I am really worried, as AQA do not seem to have any training courses on it and have been of little help so far.

Any advice or guidance greatly received.
Thanks

 

We teach the life death and beyond unit. We have struggled through but I find taking quite a philosophical approach useful. The access to .. range are good. I would also reccomend the Teach yourself .. philosphy of mind. Philosophy/ Philosophy of religion is my background and so this is what I rely on quite heavily. The final bit of advice is the Roman catholic website which has good info on the apocalypse stuff.
PM me if I can be of any more use. I will try to get to it!!!! 2 years in and it is beginning to come together - have faith!!