ESRC IMPACTS ESRC IMPACTS


RCHWAY SCHOOL IN Gloucestershire is one of 30 schools and colleges taking up the new Anthropology A-level in the UK since its launch in September 2010.


For further ESRC Impact Case Studies visit www.esrc.ac.uk/impacts-and-findings/ features-casestudies/case-studies/index.aspx


Developed by the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) in conjunction with the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), the Anthropology A-level has been enthusiastically taken up by sociology and geography teachers who are passionate about teaching the subject. The A-level provides a crucial turning point in raising the public profile of the discipline. Previously, anthropology was only taught within a minority of schools which offered an optional unit within the International Baccalaureate Diploma but the A-level has enabled anthropology to expand to state, public schools and sixth-form colleges, increasing participation and diversity of students. The road from concept to delivery has been long. In 2003, the RAI prioritised developing anthropology within secondary education to enhance public understanding and formed an Education Committee that included academic anthropologists and teachers. They formulated the curriculum which would include biological and social anthropology and self-directed ethnographic research. Over the following years the Education


Committee campaigned for an Anthropology A-level, gathering support from all of the UK anthropology departments. In 2005, the ESRC co-directed an International Benchmarking Review of UK Social Anthropology’s international research standing. The Review highlighted the discipline’s strong contemporary impact in fields such as development, the public sector, NGOs and private sectors and was influential in helping UK departments realise the potential of the A-level to spread awareness of anthropology, ensuring recruitment and better employment opportunities. Institutional support and commitment was crucial in helping advance the A-level but it became clear that to manage the subject’s implementation the RAI would need to employ an education officer to co-ordinate the Committee’s activities but would need support from statutory funding bodies to do so. In 2005, the RAI received a grant from the


Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) under its Aim Higher National Activity


Advance of Anthropology A


From schools to public policy the growing popularity of the Anthropology A-Level is helping to create a new generation of Anthropologists. By Nafisa Fera


Rolling Programme. The HEFCE grant considered the development of the A-level – with its specification that highlighted cultural and linguistic diversity – as a way of attracting under-represented sections of UK school-age population to higher education. The funding covered the education officer position for one year which was extended for three more years by a grant from the ESRC under its Science in Society strategy. The strategy promoted understanding of and engagement with social science and helped shape the Institute’s Education and Public Engagement Programme by directing the education officer’s work across curriculum, information and activity. The education officer was central to co-ordinating a network of teachers and schools interested in taking up the subject and getting their feedback on the curriculum. To secure acceptance of the new qualification,


the RAI needed to convince the AQA of the A-level’s intellectual merit, its potential market value, and its ability to complement rather than compete with existing A-levels. Once AQA agreed, the task was to jointly revise the content in order to make sure the specification fit with the standard A-level format and negotiate accreditation by the national regulator. Accreditation in 2010 demonstrated to social science communities the long-lasting impact that could be achieved with the collaborative effort of committed individuals and institutions. The success of the development and implementation of the A-level is now being analysed by social science researchers and anthropologists in Europe and the US to emulate within their respective secondary school education programmes. The RAI is working to sustain the longevity of the course by organising events, teacher training and support, creating materials and platforms for communication as well as encouraging new graduates to consider teaching as a career option. Yet if the A-level is to really flourish and grow to numbers matching other social science courses, the subject will need the ongoing support of those institutions and communities which helped nurture the A-level at its beginning. n


i Nafisa Fera is RAI Education and Communications Officer


For more information about the A-level and the RAI’s Education Outreach Programme visit: www.discoveranthropology.org.uk


SPRING 2012 SOCIETY NOW 13


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