There are a wide variety of changes happening in relation to GCSE.

Current exam specifications (for students sitting exams in 2015) were subject to 'strengthening' measures. The extent of change varies from board to board and specification so you need to check with your own examination board that you are using the correct specification and sample assessment materials.

New national subject criteria for GCSE history were published by the DfE in April 2014. They will apply to exams that are first examined in 2018 (first teaching on two year courses in 2016.) Draft specifications will be published in the spring of 2015 but will need to be approved by Ofqual before official publication. You can find further details of the new criteria here.

There are also changes being made to the way in which schools publish their results. Alongside the standard measure of five A*-C schools will also have to publish a measure of students' progress in up to eight subjects (with progress measured in relation to students' attainment in KS2 SATs). In addition to the GCSE courses that counts towards the 'EBacc' collection of subjects there are a number of other history courses that are approved for inclusion within the Progress8 accountability measure that you might wish to consider. Details about the Progress8 measure and about other history accredited history courses will be published shortly.

For resources related to the particular GCSE subject content, and that can help in the development of your own subject knowledge, please follow the link to particular content areas here: Subject content organised by period and region : 1066-1509, 1509-1745, 1745-1901, 1901-present or use the Podcast Timeline.