A perspective is a viewpoint on an issue. A personal perspective is the view that a person has on an issue. A national perspective is the view that a particular country or government has on an issue, which is usually inferred from their laws, policies, or speeches made by national politicians.

A global perspective is a view on an issue that either has global influence or takes into account the nature of the issue globally. For example, the UN’s view on climate change is by definition a global perspective on climate change because it is an international organisation with a global influence. However, a student could personally develop a global perspective on the issue of climate change by examining the causes and/or consequences of climate change across the world and developing a perspective on the issue which takes these into account. In Component 2 (Individual Report) candidates need to explicitly discuss global and national perspectives on the issue they have chosen to investigate. They need to ensure that these are genuinely perspectives (i.e. different views on the issue) and for the global perspective, they should explain why it is global in nature.

For Component 3 (Team Project) each candidate must conduct some research into different cultural perspectives on their chosen issue. These can be perspectives from people in different countries, or different groups within one country such as young/old, urban/rural, wealthy/poor, etc. These different perspectives must be communicated in the Outcome, and the Explanation must explain how the research into different cultural perspectives informed or supported the Outcome.

There are specific topics for each component to ensure that students experience a range of topics across the course and also because some topics are particularly appropriate for one of the components over the others.

The topics should be used as contexts for developing skills. Candidates are not tested on knowledge of the topics, and lessons should not be focused on teaching knowledge about the topics. Teachers and candidates should choose topics that have the most relevance for them but the focus of lessons should always be upon teaching and developing the skills. It is not necessary to have lessons on all of the topics.

If in-text citation is used then this will count towards the word limit. If footnotes are used then they will not count towards the word limit. A bibliography or list of sources will not count towards the word limit.

The mark scheme for Component 02 is on the School Support Hub under ‘Syllabus and specimen materials’ and then called ‘0457 Global Perspectives 2018 Specimen Paper Mark Scheme 02’

You do not have to include ‘bad’ sources so that they are easy to criticise. All sources can be evaluated. Firstly evaluation can be positive; explain why the source is useful, trustworthy, reliable, authoritative, etc. However, even ‘good’ sources can be evaluated critically. For example, students may consider whether the author has a vested interest in the subject; whether they consider counter-arguments; or whether the argument the author makes stands up to scrutiny.

It is rarely the case that sources are simply good or bad. Even good sources can have potential criticisms and it is important for students to think about and acknowledge these. Three appropriate and well-explained points of evaluation like this should be enough to reach the highest band of the mark scheme.

If the Team Project has already been completed, then this can be submitted even though only one student will be entered.

If the Team Project has not yet been completed then ideally the remaining student should join a different group. If this is not possible then you should arrange for other students, who are not taking the qualification, to work with the student on the project. Collaboration is a compulsory element of the Team Project so the student has to work with other students in order to complete it.

The Outcome is evidence of what the students have done together as a team to meet their aim, and is submitted to Cambridge International for assessment. The Outcome may be a video recording (e.g. of an event or presentation organised by the students) or it may be something that has been produced by the students (e.g. an information leaflet or poster). Before deciding what to do to meet their aim, the students must research different cultural perspectives on the issue. These perspectives must be communicated in the Outcome. That is to say, someone looking at, or watching the Outcome should be able to see what these different perspectives are.

There is detailed guidance on what to submit in administrative guide, available from the Exams Officers section of our website. There is also a checklist on the School Support Hub (under Further Guidance) to help you check that you have submitted everything correctly.

If a student goes over the word limit on their Reflective Paper or Explanation for Component 3 (Team Project), then the teacher should not award marks for any text beyond the word limit.

If a student goes over the word limit for Component 2 (Individual Report) then the external examiner will not mark any work over 2000 words.