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A level criteria

The purpose of criteria

To regulate the quality and standard of AS and A level qualifications, the regulators of external qualifications establish criteria for the development of specifications by awarding bodies. Specifications have to meet these criteria to be accredited.

The GCE AS and A level qualification criteria set out the structure of AS and A levels, and their assessment and grading. For subjects offered by more than one awarding body, specific subject criteria are developed to ensure that there is comparability between specifications.

Subject criteria set out the essential knowledge, skills and understanding, and assessment objectives common to all AS and A level specifications in a given subject. They provide the framework within which the awarding body creates the detail of the specification.

Subject criteria are intended to:

  • maintain consistent and comparable standards in the same subject across the awarding bodies
  • define the relationship between the AS and A level specifications, with the AS as a subset of the A level
  • maintain the rigour of the A level
  • help higher education institutions and employers know what has been studied and assessed.

Performance descriptions set out the typical performance of candidates at the A/B and E/U grade boundaries in AS and A level examinations, and they relate to the specific assessment objectives for a subject.

Revised A levels

GCE AS and A level qualifications and subject criteria were reviewed in 2005. The review focused on the following points:

  • a reduction in the burden of assessment by reducing the number of units - for the majority of subjects, this will mean a reduction to four units. Fewer assessment units will enable each unit to be more holistic, less mechanistic and more supportive of extended writing
  • a review of the necessity for coursework as an element of the assessment - coursework will be included in A levels only where it is the soundest method of assessment and provided that it makes clear how reliability and fairness are secured
  • the introduction of AEA-style assessments to all A levels - AEA-style material will encourage teaching that challenges students and promotes independent thought and learning
  • clarification of synoptic assessment - we reviewed what synoptic assessment entails in each subject and want to ensure that it will encourage the development of a holistic understanding of the subject. Clearer understanding of synoptic assessment will also support learning and understanding.

Following the review in 2005, draft qualification and subject criteria were developed in collaboration with stakeholders, including teachers, awarding bodies, subject associations, higher education organisations and other interested parties.

An online consultation on the draft criteria was carried out on the QCA website betweem 20 March and 8 May 2006. QCA received more than 3,200 responses in total. The findings of the consultation can be found in summary reports of the GCE AS and A level qualification and subject criteria consultation, all of which can be downloaded from this page. The regulators in Wales (the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills) and Northern Ireland (the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment) carried out their own consultations in their respective countries.

Following our online consultation we held a series of meetings with the stakeholders who had developed the first drafts of the qualification and subject criteria. They looked at the results of the online consultation and made any necessary amendments to the criteria. The subject and qualification criteria were finalised in December 2006, and awarding bodies began their specification development.

The awarding body submitted the revised specifications to the regulators in spring 2007, with the majority of these being accredited by 31 July 2007. The specifications were available to centres in September 2007, with first teaching from September 2008. These revised specifications can be downloaded from via the related links on this page.

Disability Discrimination Act

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, regulators have a duty to review and evaluate the requirements contained within the qualification and subject criteria to ensure that the needs of disabled learners are met. The requirements set out what learners must demonstrate, in terms of  knowledge, skills and understanding in the subject area. 

When setting the criteria, the regulators must include only those requirements that are essetntial to the assessment of core competencies to ensure that no unnecessary barriers are placed in the way of disabled learners. As part of our consultation on the draft GCSE subject criteria, we asked stakeholders for their views on whether they thought we had achieved this.

In addition, as part of the consultation and review we:

  • identified the specific purpose of each requirement and examined how each requirement achieves that purpose
  • considered the impact that each requirement may have on disabled learners and, if a requirement may have an adverse impact, asked whether the application of the requirement is absolutely necessary
  • reviewed the purpose and effect of each requirement in the light of changing circumstances such as developments in technology
  • examined whether the purpose of each requirement could be achieved in a way that does not have an adverse impact on disabled learners
  • documented the way these issues have been addressed, the conclusions arrived at and the reasons for those conclusions.