In case you haven’t spotted this, the new AQA draft specifications for 2008 are now on the AQA site. There are also specimen question papers and mark schemes to give you an idea of what the new papers might look like. I’m probably biased: I think the reading lists for AQA Literature A look really interesting, both for the set texts and the coursework lists – the sort of reading that should benefit anyone thinking of studying English after A Levels as well as being an enjoyable and coherent course. Teachers can ask for approval for other texts, but they’ll need to fit into the theme chosen. Outside the ‘set’ texts, reading is likely to be more selective, perhaps by extracts and overview rather than the line-by-line approach used in the past.
But take a look for yourselves and post a comment here. AQA is running training sessions on these new course this term and next.
No news yet from Edexcel, it seems – they must be keeping their powder dry…