Regulation

GCE subject-level guidance for music technology (2022)

Published 11 November 2021

Applies to England

Introduction

This document is part of a suite of documents which outlines our guidance for awarding organisations offering GCE Qualifications in 2022.

This document sets out guidance which applies to the following qualifications:

• all GCE A levels in Music Technology
• all standalone GCE AS qualifications in Music Technology

for Learners completing the qualification in 2022, except where the General Qualifications Alternative Awarding Framework applies.

This guidance supports the GCE Subject Level Conditions and Requirements for Music Technology (2022).

This document constitutes guidance for the purposes of section 153 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (the ‘2009 Act’) and Condition GCE(Music Technology)1.

An awarding organisation has a legal obligation under the 2009 Act to have regard to this guidance, where relevant, in relation to each GCE Qualification in Music Technology that it makes available or proposes to make available in 2022. Condition GCE(Music Technology)1 imposes the same obligation in respect of the guidance below which is issued under that Condition.

An awarding organisation should use the guidance in this document to help it understand how to comply with the GCE Subject Level Conditions and Requirements for Music Technology (2022).

Guidance set out in this document

This document provides guidance in relation to assessment objectives for GCE Qualifications in Music Technology in 2022.

Guidance on assessment objectives for GCE Qualifications in Music Technology

Condition GCE(Music Technology)1.2 allows us to specify requirements and guidance relating to assessment objectives for GCE Qualifications in Music Technology.

We published our requirements in relation to assessment objectives in GCE Subject Level Conditions and Requirements for Music Technology, and reproduce them in the table below.

Assessment objective	Description	A level weighting	AS weighting
AO1	Demonstrate use of music technology to edit and produce recordings	30 to 40%	30 to 40%
AO2	Demonstrate use of music technology to create, edit and structure sounds to develop a technology-based composition	20 to 30%	20 to 30%
AO3	Demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of music technology	20 to 30%	25 to 35%
AO4	Use analytical and appraising skills to make evaluative and critical judgements about the use of music technology	10 to 20%	10 to 20%

We set out below our guidance for the purposes of Condition GCE(Music Technology)1.2. This guidance explains how we expect awarding organisations to interpret these assessment objectives in terms of:

• the discrete ‘elements’ within each assessment objective that questions and tasks could target and/or seek to credit - our expectation is that each and every question or task should target or seek to credit at least one of these elements, and may target or seek to credit multiple elements across one or more assessment objectives
• the coverage expectations, such as in relation to the different elements within each assessment objective and how those elements should be sampled over time
• the key areas of emphasis in each assessment objective and the particular meaning for the subject of any key terms and phrases used; defined terms are shown in bold text, followed by their definitions

In line with the obligations set out in Condition GCE(Music Technology)1.2, we expect awarding organisations to be able to demonstrate how they have had regard to this guidance. For example, an awarding organisation could map how it has regard to the guidance as it:

• develops its sample assessment materials
• delivers the qualification
• develops and applies its approach to sampling the elements into which the assessment objectives are divided
• monitors the qualification to make sure it addresses all elements appropriately

AO1: Demonstrate use of music technology to edit and produce recordings (weighting: A level 30 to 40%; AS 30 to 40%)

Elements	Coverage	Interpretations and definitions
1a [Not used]. 1b Demonstrate use of music technology to edit recordings. 1c Demonstrate use of music technology to produce recordings.	• Full coverage in each set of assessments[footnote 1] (but not in every assessment). •A reasonable balance between the elements within this assessment objective. • Awarding organisations should justify the balance between elements 1a, 1b and 1c in their assessment strategies.	• Edit refers to the editing techniques used as defined in paragraph 8 of the document published by the Secretary of State entitled ‘Music technology GCE AS and A level subject content’ (the ‘Content Document’). • Produce refers to the techniques used to achieve the final recording as defined in paragraph 8 of the Content Document.

AO2: Demonstrate use of music technology to create, edit and structure sounds to develop a technology-based composition (weighting: A level 20 to 30%; AS 20 to 30%)

Elements	Coverage	Interpretations and definitions
1a Demonstrate use of music technology to create sounds to develop a technology-based composition. 1b Demonstrate use of music technology to edit sounds to develop a technology-based composition. 1c Demonstrate use of music technology to structure sounds to develop a technology-based composition.	• Full coverage in each set of assessments (but not in every assessment). • A reasonable balance between the elements within this assessment objective. • Awarding organisations should justify the balance between elements 1a, 1b and 1c in their assessment strategies.	• Create sounds – means constructing sounds with (acoustic) or without (synthesised) a unique starting point. • Edit sounds – refers to the creative techniques used as defined in paragraph 8 of the Content Document. • Structure sounds – refers to using and combining sounds fluently so they make sense as a whole.

AO3: Demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of music technology (weighting: A level 20 to 30%; AS 25 to 35%)

Elements	Coverage	Interpretations and definitions
1a Demonstrate knowledge of music technology. 1b Demonstrate understanding of music technology. 1c Apply knowledge and understanding of music technology.	• Full coverage in each set of assessments (but not every assessment). • A reasonable balance between the elements within this assessment objective. • Awarding organisations should justify the balance between elements 1a, 1b and 1c in their assessment strategies. & bull; No more than 10% of the total marks for the qualification should reward demonstrating knowledge in isolation. [footnote 2]	In the context of this assessment objective, Apply means to apply knowledge and understanding to a stimulus, for example a piece of music, sound, computer file, audio or visual stimulus.

1. For the purposes of this guidance, a ‘set of assessments’ means the assessments to be taken by a particular Learner for a GCE Qualification in Music Technology. For clarity, the assessments taken by Learners may vary, depending on any possible routes through the qualification. ↩

2. Marks that ‘reward demonstrating knowledge in isolation’ include any mark awarded solely for recalling facts or other knowledge. It does not include marks awarded for selecting appropriate knowledge (for example, to evidence an argument), or for applying knowledge to a particular context. ↩