AO1 (5 marks)/AO2 (15 marks)

Marking instructions
Markers must apply the descriptors in line with the general marking guidance and the qualities outlined in the levels-based mark scheme below.
Responses that demonstrate only AO1 without any AO2 should be awarded marks as follows:

Level 1 AO1 performance: 1 mark
Level 2 AO1 performance: 2 marks
Level 3 AO1 performance: 3 marks.
Level 4 AO1 performance: 4–5 marks.

Indicative content guidance

The indicative content below is not prescriptive and candidates are not required to include all of it. Other relevant material not suggested below must also be credited.
Candidates are required to study their local place and a contrasting place. One or both of these places may be in the UK, or neither. Answers should focus on differences and similarities in the population characteristics of the two. The importance of international migration as a controlling factor for these should be evaluated.

Relevant points may include:
AO1

Population characteristics include age, gender and ethnicity.
Fertility and mortality rates, and international and internal migration, are changing the characteristics of places.
International influences have shaped the characteristics of the chosen places, but so have regional and national factors.
An in-depth study of the local place and a contrasting place provide the context for how and why population characteristics of places vary.

AO2
International migration factors

Population characteristics are influenced by the past and present connections of places, so the extent to which the chosen two places have similar or different histories will be a key factor.
Some places have been regular “bridging points” for new migrants and so have a varied diverse culture. These enclaves are likely to attract new migrants from the same source countries, e.g. Banglatown, east London.
Other places are much less attractive (fewer jobs) or less welcoming to new migrants (no existing enclave).
Recent East European migrants have found work and made lives in a wider range of places outside the main cities, for example through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme in rural places.
Settlement of asylum seekers/refugees may also be considered, and ethnicity will be a key factor here, but age and gender may also feature.

Other evaluative points include:

Population numbers and ages represented within communities vary. Gender is less likely to vary, but places with large numbers of migrants may see patterns of male or female workers or asylum seekers/refugees.
This is likely to be influenced by fertility rates and life expectancy, as these may alter the relative numbers of different groups in a place.
As numbers of a group grow, they are likely to make a larger contribution to the built environment (places of worship, restaurants, clothes shops), which may attract further international migrants.
Economic variation between the two places may be a key factor, as cost and availability of housing is likely to attract recent less well-off migrants, or indeed, elite migrants from UAE, USA or Russia.

Overall, evaluation is likely to stress the important role of international migration in controlling population characteristics. However, other factors including internal migration, birth rates and life expectancy, alongside housing costs and job availability in the places, are likely to be identified as also of importance.
Conclusions depend on the chosen examples.

Demographic & Cultural Tensions (Edexcel A Level Geography)

Topic Questions