The department will be running two A level courses in the sixth form:

1. OCR Economics
2. Edexcel Economics and Business Studies

Choosing between Economics and Economics and Business Studies

The courses have become closer in terms of approach and assessment.

Both subjects are heavily dependent upon basic skills acquired in other areas such as numeracy, literacy, using logical and analytical approaches. The key skill of problem solving is of greater significance in Business Studies.

Both subjects require students to apply techniques of analysis taught within the subject content to ‘real world problems’ to develop the contextual awareness required by examiners.

Having described how the courses have become closer in terms of approach and assessment, the most obvious difference is perhaps in terms of the perspective adopted by the two subjects.

BUSINESS STUDIES

Business Studies certainly takes the viewpoint of the firm and the decision making process within the organization. As the name suggests, the course studies how businesses function and looks at the work that various departments, such as marketing, finance, human resources, and production carry out.  The course also looks at how outside activities affect businesses, and in turn, how businesses react to these; for example, the effect of changes in government policy or interest rates, competition and demand, and also ethical issues – such as ‘green trading’.

You will learn about the important decisions that businesses face in modern, competitive, and often global, environments Topics such as:

• ‘How businesses advertise and price their goods’
• ‘The production method that best suits the product’
• ‘Why a call centre may relocate to China’
• ‘Marketing strategies a company should use’
• ‘Why firms might merge’
• ‘The characteristics of a good manager’
• ‘How a firm’s final accounts are compiled’
• ‘How a firm could increase its cash flow’

Although the course is very broad it does not teach you how to run your own business or to become the next Richard Branson!  However, it will equip you with the knowledge to appreciate how modern, successful companies operate.

ECONOMICS

In Economics, the overview of the economy is seen as the most central subject, with analysis of its constituent parts – producers, consumers and firms. It is a social science that attempts to explain how the actions and decisions of firms, consumers, workers and governments affect the operation of the economy. 

·         The subject plays a huge role in our daily lives; it has links to international affairs and politics and is a subject that is often debated and discussed. 

·         It is concerned with the key issues facing us today, including globalization, pollution and poverty. It is essentially about choice: why different sorts of people and groups of people, such as governments, have to make choices; the choices that they make, and the consequences of those choices.

·         The work of economists transforms our lives - if you are a firm, consumer, worker, homeowner or the government you are concerned with, and affected by Economics. 

·         The subject teaches students to think logically and to use theories to understand how economies operate. You will be t aught methods used by economists and how to understand issues such as inflation, unemployment, pollution, demand and supply, exchange rates, interest rates, and the difficult decisions the UK Government face when they attempt to steer the economy in a chosen direction.

Not a day goes by without issues relating to economics being reported in the media. Topics include:

• ‘Worst economic downturn since 1945’
  
• ‘Government puts VAT up to 20%’
  
• ‘Chancellor puts 50% tax on top earners’
  
• ‘The value of the pound plummets against the Euro’
  
• ‘Unemployment reaches 12 year high’
  
• ‘Bank of England slashes interest rates to record low of 0.5 %

Please note that the combined Economics and Business course will examine topics from both the Business Studies and Economics course and so is distinctive and uniquein its field as students develop an integrated understanding of the interrelationships between business studies and economics. 

Economics and Business websites such as www.tutor2u.net and www.bized.co.uk and News websites such as www.bbc.co.uk should be examined.

In addition to the reading list, pupils should be reading a good quality newspaper daily and following regular economist commentary and analysis.  Periodicals and magazines such as the Economist should be read weekly and the Business and Economics Reviews termly.