Curriculum overview for GCSE Business

Curriculum intent – the knowledge, understanding and skills that students will learn
Through studying this qualification, students will apply knowledge and understanding to business decision making including the interdependent nature of business activity, influences on business, business operations, finance, marketing and human resources; and how these interdependencies underpin business decision making and how different business contexts affect business decisions.  Students will learn about the use and limitation of quantitative and qualitative data in making business decisions, develop problem-solving and decision-making skills relevant to business, investigate, analyse and evaluate business opportunities and issues, as well as make justified decisions using both qualitative and quantitative data, including its selection, interpretation, analysis and evaluation, and the application of appropriate quantitative skills.

Curriculum implementation – teaching, learning and assessment strategies
In class teaching is organised in a format that introduces topics in a logical order.  This means that we have moved around the specification to meet the needs of the students and introduce things in an orderly way using a mixture of themes. The first year focuses mainly on key business concepts, issues and skills involved in starting and running a small business. It provides a framework for students to explore core concepts through the lens of an entrepreneur setting up a business. In this theme, students will be introduced to local and national business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. Local contexts refer specifically to small businesses or those operating in a single UK location and national contexts relate to businesses operating in more than one location or across the UK. Students must develop an understanding of the interdependent nature of business activity through interactions between business operations, finance, marketing and human resources, as well as the relationship between the business and the environment in which it operates. Students must understand how these interdependencies and relationships underpin business decisions. Teaching approaches to the content must reflect this. Theme 2 examines how a business develops beyond the start-up phase. It focuses on the key business concepts, issues and decisions used to grow a business, with emphasis on aspects of marketing, operations, finance and human resources. Theme 2 also considers the impact of the wider world on the decisions a business makes as it grows. In this theme, students will be introduced to national and global business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. National contexts build on those introduced in theme 1 and relate to businesses operating in more than one location or across the UK. Global contexts relate to non-UK or transnational businesses. Students are taught how to develop an understanding of the interdependent nature of business activity through interactions between business operations, finance, marketing and human resources, as well as the relationship between the business and the environment in which it operates. They learn how these functional areas influence business activity and how interdependencies and relationships between them underpin business decisions.

Curriculum impact – intended outcomes for students 
At Blackfen School, the intention is not to simply have young people completing the GCSE course in Business, but rather to give students the opportunity to develop sector-specific applied knowledge. Students will develop a sound understanding of what it could be like to own a small business as there are numerous referring to smaller enterprises in the classroom when teaching the different concepts.  The idea is to plant the seed for the love of business so that the student can move onto studying the subject at Key Stage 5 (Level 3) and then into Level 4 or Level 5 further down the line. By looking at business from a small to PLC-level they get to see business from different angles which ignites thinking and questioning. In addition to this, students will also be equipped with how to answer questions based on the command word given e.g. Explain, Discuss, Justify and Evaluate to prepare for studying the subject at A level as a next step.

Course overview for GCSE Business 
Exam board: Pearson – https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/business-2017.html
Coursework: No

Theme 1 comprises the following topic areas:
•    Enterprise and entrepreneurship: the dynamic nature of business in relation to how and why business ideas come about; the impact of risk and reward on business activity and the role of entrepreneurship
•    Spotting a business opportunity: how new and small businesses identify opportunities through understanding customer needs and conducting market research and understanding the competition
•    Putting a business idea into practice: identifying aims and objectives and concentrating on the financial aspects
•    Making the business effective: factors that impact on the success of the business, including location, the marketing mix and the business plan
•    Understanding external influences on business: factors outside of the immediate control of the business, such as stakeholders, technology, legislation and the economy

Theme 2 comprises the following topic areas:  
•    Growing the business: methods of growth and how and why business aims and objectives change as businesses evolve; the impact of globalisation and the ethical and environmental questions facing businesses
•    Making marketing decisions: how each element of the marketing mix is managed and used to inform and make business decisions in a competitive marketplace
•    Making operational decisions: meeting customer needs through the design, supply, quality and sales decisions made by a business
•    Making financial decisions: the tools a business has to support financial decision making, including ratio analysis and the use and limitation of a range of financial information
•    Making human resource decisions: growing a business by making decisions relating to organisational structure, recruitment, training and motivation need to influence business activity