Teacher’s Guide - Edexcel

[Pages:32]Teacher's Guide

Edexcel GCSE Business: Business Studies Business Communications Business Studies and Economics Business Studies (Short Course)

Contents

Section A: Content guide.................................... 2

Introduction to the specification........................................................................ 2 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 3 Course planner ......................................................................................................... 4 Teaching ideas ........................................................................................................... 7 Student guide ............................................................................................................ 9

Section B: Assessment guide............................. 11

Assessment overview............................................................................................11 Assessment grid......................................................................................................12 Examination guide..................................................................................................14 Controlled assessment........................................................................................25 Controlled assessment exemplars.......................................................................27

Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

1

Section A: Content guide

Introduction to the specification

In designing this specification, Edexcel consulted widely and asked teachers actively involved in teaching our legacy specifications, and teachers using other awarding body specifications, to give extensive feedback on what they wanted from the 2009 GCSEs, and what they liked and disliked about our current qualifications. We listened to this feedback and, along with the requirements of the subject criteria, incorporated it in our new suite of qualifications. Teachers have been involved into the development of GCSE 2009 at all stages. This specification is based on Edexcel's successful GCSE Business pilot. The pilot began in September 2006 and was successfully run by 100 centres. This specification has been designed to:

?? focus on students' active engagement in the study of business and economics

?? develop skills such as building arguments and making informed judgements, adopting a critical approach to the subject, and appreciating different perspectives.

This specification builds on the exciting work that was carried out by many centres following the pilot, and in our other courses, to provide the opportunity for exciting lessons and challenging learning experiences for all abilities. The qualifications have a common core unit, Unit 1, that all students take (Unit 6 for Short Course students). This unit provides some of the building blocks for progression, with the emphasis being on realism and accessibility. Unit 1 focuses on starting a new business. You should look to build on your students interest and curiosity in business at the introductory stage of the course. For Full Course GCSE students, the remaining units would, logically, be followed in Year 11. By this time students will have gained some basic knowledge of business and will have developed a greater degree of maturity. This equips them to cope with the demands of the option units. You have the option of giving students a choice to match their interests and skills to particular subject areas relevant to business. However, this is done without a bewildering array of options and choices that become unwieldy and difficult to administer, or which are expensive to resource. Similarly, each unit content has been designed to help enable the optimum use of staff specialisms.

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Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

Section A: Content guide

Over view

The specification is structured as either a Full Course or Short Course. The Full Course is made up of Units 1 and 2 and a choice from Units 3, 4 or 5. The Short Course is made up of

UGnCitS2Eanind BUunsiti6ne(tshse (caolnltepnattohfwwahyicsh) is identical to Unit 1).

GCSE in Business (all pathways)

Unit 1: Introduction to Small Business

Unit 3: Building a Business

GCSE in Business Studies

Unit 2: Investigating Small Business

Unit 4: Business Communications

GCSE in Business Communications

Unit 5: Introduction to Economic Understanding

GCSE in Business Studies and Economics

GCSE (ShoGrtCCSoEu(rSseh)oinrtBCusoinuerssseS) tiundBieussiness Studies

Unit 2: Investigating Small Business

Unit 6: Introduction to Small Business

The content for Units 1 and 6 is the same

Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

3

Section A: Content guide

Course planner

This planner gives you some ideas about how to structure the course over two years and deliver the content. It can be adapted easily to accommodate differences in the timings of work experience and internal examinations.

Units 1 and 2 are the basis for all pathways.

Year 10

Weeks

Unit 1 Introduction to Small Business

Autumn term 1.1 S potting a business

Weeks 1-6

opportunity

Notes

Understanding customer needs is central How businesses analyse their market Analysing competitors: refining or enlarging the opportunity Meaning and importance of `added value' Franchising and other start-up options

Weeks 7-11

1.2 Showing enterprise

The skills and risks involved in enterprise The role of lateral thinking and creativity Obvious and less obvious questions How new ideas come about and how they can be protected Weighing up risks versus rewards Bringing it all together

Weeks 12-16 Spring term Weeks 1-3

Weeks 4-10

Week 11-12 Summer term Weeks 1-4

Weeks 5-11

1.3 Putting a business idea into practice

Financial and non-financial objectives Determination, initiative, taking risks, making decisions, planning, leadership -- and luck! Forecasting, determining costs and price, the concept of profit The concept and importance of cash flow Short- and long-term sources of finance

1.4 Making the start-up effective

Anticipating customer needs Marketing mix: 4Ps in relation to small businesses Aims and implications of limited/unlimited liability The importance of record keeping The importance of effective customer service Selecting staff and treating them fairly

1.5 Understanding the economic context

Commodity markets and their effect on small firms How changes in interest rates can affect financing of small firms and consumer spending Exchange rates: imported and exported goods How changes in the level of economic activity can affect small firms Business decisions affect stakeholders in different ways

Unit 1 mock exam ? based on past papers Unit 2 Controlled Assessment preparation [dummy run] using old tasks ? 2 weeks Unit 2 Controlled Assessment [real thing] after publication of tasks ? 2 weeks Note that the Controlled Assessment completed at the end of Year 10 must be submitted for moderation in May of Year 11.

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Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

Section A: Content guide

Year 11

Weeks

Unit 3 Building a Unit 4 Business

Business

Communications

Unit 5 Introduction to Economic Understanding

Autumn term Weeks 1-2 Weeks 3-4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Weeks 9-10 Week 11

Week 12-13 Weeks 14-15

Week 16

3.1 Marketing Understanding marketing

4.1 Communication The communication model

5.1 How can I start to think like an economist? Introduction to economics and key issues

Market research

Purpose of communication Process of communication

What trade-offs exist?

Product trial and repeat purchase

Barriers to good communication Does raising or lowering price always work?

Product life cycle

The effects of good business communication. The effect on different business organisations

Branding and differentiation

The effects of bad business communication The effect on different business organisations

Do all stakeholders have the same perspective?

4.2 Communication with stakeholders of a business Who are the stakeholders? Methods of communication

Are there any hidden costs or benefits?

Building a successful marketing mix

Different communication media Types of written communication The range of written forms of communication

5.2 Risk or certainty? How can success be measured? What causes business failure?

3.2 Meeting customer needs Design and research development

Types of electronic communication

What problems does the economy face

Managing stock and quality

How important are exchange rates?

Cost-effective operations and competitiveness Effective customer service Meeting consumer protection laws

Images used in business communication

Can the government solve economic and social problems?

Mock exams: Unit 1 exam ? based on past papers Unit 3/4/5 exam ? based on Topics 1 and 2 from past papers/SAMs

Spring term Weeks 1-2

3.3 Effective financial management How to improve cash flow

4.3 Business communication tools The principles of word processing

5.3 Big or small? How do businesses grow? Why do businesses grow?

Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

5

Section A: Content guide

Weeks

Week 3

Unit 3 Building a Unit 4 Business

Business

Communications

Unit 5 Introduction to Economic Understanding

How to improve profit

The value of presentations in a business

Monopoly power -- good or bad? Can big business be controlled?

Weeks 4-5 Weeks 4-5

Weeks 6-7

Weeks 8-9

Weeks 10-11 Week 12 Summer term Week1

Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Weeks 6-8

Break-even charts and break-even analysis

The value of presentations in a business

Monopoly power ? good or bad? Can big business be controlled?

Break-even charts and break-even analysis

Financing growth

The use of DTP in businesses

5.4 Is growth good? What is growth? Growth increases the standard of living

3.4 E ffective people management Organisational structure

The use of video and teleconferencing

Can growth be bad? Can growth be sustainable?

Motivation theory Communication

Organisational charts and their purpose The value of email systems

What can the government do?

Mock exams Unit 1 exam ? use a previous series Unit 3/4/5 exam ?based on Topics 3 and 4 drawn from previous series/SAMs

3.5 T he wider world affecting business Ethics in business Environmental issues

Economic issues affecting international trade

4.4 C ommunicating via the web The internet Business websites Creating a business website Domain names and hosting Legal obligations of websites Successful business websites

5.5 Is the world fair? Is everybody equal?

The impact of government and the EU

Can international trade help? Other help

Revision and exam preparation

Successful business websites

Is there any other help? Revision and exam preparation

Review of problematic topics

Review of problematic topics Revision and exam preparation

Review of problematic topics Revision and exam preparation

Mock exams: Unit 1 exam ? based on past papers Unit 3/4/5 ? based on past papers/SAMs

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Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

Section A: Content guide

Teaching ideas

This section of the guide contains ideas for teaching aspects of the content. There is a mixture of activities ? some that will help you engage students in business issues and some that you may be able to use as taster lessons in Year 9 to attract students to the GCSE course. There is one idea given in each unit except Unit 2.

Unit 1 (or Short Course Unit 6) 1.2 Showing enterprise

This is great as a first lesson in the course and is also a great way of recruiting Year 9s onto a business course. Students are really engaged by the idea of being creative and enterprising. At the start of the lesson let students sample some `Innocent Smoothie' drinks. Working in task groups ask them to identify how much they think the drinks cost and compare this to other smoothie drinks (prices easy to find on supermarket websites). Ask students to take the Innocent Smoothie drink and examine the packaging and decide what allows them to charge so much more than their competitors. Give the group some background information on Innocent Smoothies (innocentdrinks.co.uk/). Ask students what it is about the creators of Innocent Smoothies that made them special or different ? what skills and qualities did they have? Tell students they will now have an opportunity to develop some of these skills and qualities. In their teams students are now new businesses -- their business idea is to try and break into the smoothie market. They must create their own smoothie drink idea that is different to Innocent; they must draw what their smoothie product will look like, for example its packaging; they must also decide on a company name and their target market; and be ready to feed their business idea back to the group. The feedback is to take place almost like in the BBC television show Dragons' Den. Award a prize for the most innovative idea.

Unit 3 3.1 Marketing and 3.2 Meeting customer needs

The following idea is great to use over a series of lessons but can also be scaled down to use as a Year 9 `taster day'. This lesson leads to a real understanding of the issues surrounding marketing and developing a coherent marketing strategy, but is based on discovered rather than directed learning. Give students an item, for example a bar of soap, and ask them to devise a business idea using the item. They could construct a market map to identify any gaps in the market. Students could then carry out market research to establish customer needs and identify a market strategy in order to trial their product. Students identify how they will encourage repeat purchases. They must then prepare a report outlining their proposals.

Edexcel GCSEs in Business

Teacher's Guide

? Pearson Education Limited 2012

7

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