Economics

Curriculum Organisation

Students have six lessons per week in Year 12 and are taught in mixed ability groups, which are allocated depending on which option block is chosen. Course books are ‘AS Economics – SJ Grant’ and ‘AQA Economics – Nelson Thornes’.

Independent Study

Students will be given a reading schedule of pages they need to read from their two course text books and other reference material. This will enable students to catch-up on missed work if absent or give them the chance to read ahead in preparation of future lessons. They will also be given an outline of the work they will cover, with approximate time allocations for each area of the syllabus. Both these documents will be closely linked to their main course text book.

Students are expected to read outside of lessons. They should be reading pages indicated on their reading schedule to ensure full understanding. They must then obtain further help in their non-contact time if they do not understand concepts. They should be making notes from the pages indicated, either on flash cards or by using PowerPoint. Students should also take an interest in ‘real’ economics issues, by reading the ‘business’ newspapers. They should also listen to Podcasts and read the daily Economics blogs on the tutor2u website, details of which can be found in the ‘useful websites’ section.

It is vital that they read the ‘Economic Review’ magazine in the library. This comes out every three months and back copies are kept. This can be borrowed on a short-term basis.

Assessment and Reporting

Students will be assessed by the following external examinations:

Content       Unit Code Weighting Date
Markets and Market Failure      ECON 1 50%  June
The National Economy        ECON 2 50%  June

Students will be assessed against ‘real’ AS criteria throughout the year and these will be used to grade students accordingly for reporting. Student progress will be monitored using a departmental tracking sheet and targets will be set from this data, as appropriate. Students will also be expected to set their own targets at the end of each section of work. Extension tasks will also be set to further the knowledge of high achieving students. Students should be constantly trying to improve their understanding by attempting tasks from their text book.

Extra Curricular Opportunities

Students will get the chance to participate in an Enterprise project. This will be run as a lunchtime club.

Useful Websites

BBC Wake up to Money Podcast http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/money/
AQA exam board course specification http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/economics_new.php
AQA exam board past examination papers and mark schemes http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/economics_new.php 
Tutor2u revision materials http://www.tutor2u.net/
Tutor2u daily Economics Blog http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics
BBC Economics News search http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/economy/default.stm
BBC Working Lunch online business news programme http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/working_lunch/default.stm
S-Cool revision site http://www.s-cool.co.uk/default.asp
The Economist magazine website http://www.economist.com/
The Guardian newspaper website http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics
Biz-Ed revision materials http://www.bized.co.uk/

Unit 1 – ECON 1

Area of study:   The Economic Problem (syllabus code 3.1.1)
Specific content: Economic Problem, Economic Resources, Production Possibility Diagrams, Value Judgements

Area of study:   The Allocation of Resources in Competitive Markets (syllabus code 3.1.2)
Specific content: Demand and Supply, Market Mechanism, Elasticity, Interrelationships between Markets

Area of study:   Production and Efficiency (syllabus code 3.1.3)
Specific content: Specialisation, Division of Labour, Production, Economies and Diseconomies of Scale

Area of study:   Market Failure (syllabus code 3.1.4)
Specific content: Market Failure, Public Goods, Externalities, Merit/Demerit Goods, Monopoly, Income and Wealth

Area of study:   Government Intervention in the Market (syllabus code 3.1.5)
Specific content: Methods of Government Intervention, Government Failure, Impact of Government Intervention

Unit 2 – ECON 2

Area of study:   Measurement of Macroeconomic Performance (syllabus code 3.2.1)
Specific content:  Macroeconomic Indicators, The Economic Cycle

Area of study:   How the Macroeconomy Works (syllabus code 3.2.2)
Specific content: Circular Flow of Income, Determinants of Aggregate Demand, Short-run and Long-run Aggregate Supply, Aggregate Demand and Supply Analysis

Area of study:   Economic Performance (syllabus code 3.2.3)
Specific content: Objectives of Government Economic Policy, Economic Growth, Inflation and Deflation, Employment and Unemployment, Balance of Payments on Current Account

Area of study:   Macroeconomic Policy (syllabus code 3.2.4)
Specific content:  Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Supply-side Policies