Economics

Economics provides students with a sound understanding of their own personal finances, as well as an understanding of the circumstances of a range of different economies. It explores ways in which governments attempt to manage the economy and the impact of such policies. Economics is, therefore, a subject that will be extremely rewarding to students with an active interest in current affairs, finance and national or global political issues.

What will students study? (from September 2016)

Introduction to economics – scarce resources, opportunity cost, factors of production and understanding the main economic groups, e.g. consumers, producers and the government
The role of markets– different sectors (primary, secondary, tertiary), supply and demand, how markets determine price and allocation of resources, price elasticity, the role of monopoly, oligopoly and competition, productivity, economies of scale and how wages are determined
The role of money and financial markets – the role and importance of the financial sector, different rates of interest in an economy and their impact on saving, borrowing and investment
The role of government – economic growth, GCP, types of employment and unemployment including how it is measured, the causes and consequences, distribution of income and inflation, the use of a number of government policies, e.g. fiscal and monetary, market failure
International trade and the global economy – the balance of payments, exchange rates, free trade, the EU and globalisation

How is the course assessed?

2 exams

Paper 1: How markets work (50% of GCSE)

Paper 2: How the economy works (50% of GCSE)

Each paper will consist of two sections:

Section A: 10 multiple choice questions followed by a range of calculation, short and extended response questions.

Section B: five questions involving a mix of calculations, short and extended responses.

Legacy Course

In this course, students develop their understanding of Economics. This is part of a three year course. There are two units, these are, Personal Economics and Investigating economics issues.

In Unit 11, students will study key topics which are:
• Money
• Work
• The National and Global Economy

In Unit 12, students will study topics which are:
• Managing the Economy
• Current Economic Issues

Assessment
The course is assessed with the two written terminal exam papers.
Unit 11 Personal Economics – Written Paper 50% of the final marks- 1 ¼ hours
Unit 12 Investigating Economic Issues – Written Paper 50% of the final marks – 1 ¼ hours

Year 9

Term	Topics
Autumn Term 1a	Introductory concepts In this section, students look at the nature and purpose of economic activity based on the production of goods and services and the satisfaction of needs and wants. Students explore the factors of production, leading to an understanding of how and why choices are made. Students will come to an understanding that there is always a cost attached to any economic choice.
Autumn Term 1b	Markets – Supply and demand Here, students look at the role of markets in allocating scarce resources. This leads into an exploration of the different economic sectors and concludes with a look at benefits and costs of specialisation, the division of labour and how this naturally leads to exchange.
Spring Term 2a	Interrelationships between markets In this section, students develop their understanding of markets, and look at intermarket relationships to understand the impact that changes in supply and demand in one market can have on other markets. The section concludes with an investigation of price elasticities, including how they are calculated and interpreted.
Spring Term 2b	Competitive and concentrated markets Here, Students come to an understanding that there are different types of market structures and explore competitive and non-competitive markets.
Summer Term 3a	Production, costs, revenue and profit Here Students explore the significance of cost, revenue and profit for producers, leading to an understanding of the significance of productivity on increasing profits. Students explore the concept of economies of scale and the benefits these can bring.
Summer Term 3b	Here students look at the growth of firms and the operation of the labour market and factors that determine wages.

Legacy Course

Term	Topics
Autumn Term 1a	Money – Savings In this unit students learn the basics of Economics to help them understand their place in and contribution to the local, national and global economy as consumers, workers and citizens.
Autumn Term 1b	Markets – Supply and demand Here students develop their knowledge of Demand and Supply theory, which is at the heart of Economics both at GCSE and A-level. Helping them to develop their skills and apply this theory to many different concepts
Spring Term 2a	Work In this unit, students consider the world of work and learn about the rewards of work an individual can receive both in monetary and non-monetary terms. Students will be introduced to the labour market and how this helps to determine pay
Spring Term 2b	Labour Market In this unit students develop their understand of labour markets and apply their knowledge of demand and supply to labour markets to help them understand and analyse labour markets in terms of pay, level of unemployment and the equilibrium wage rate
Summer Term 3a	Fair Trade Here students develop their understanding of previous topics such as, labour markets, demand and supply and competition and apply this knowledge to other areas such as fair trade and competition
Summer Term 3b	Project (Unit 12 Research Topic) Here students get an early insight into a year 11 topic by investigating a recent topic in terms of the Economics behind this issue and how the issue has wider Economic impacts that need to be considered.

Year 10

Term	Topics
Autumn Term 1a	Economic growth Students study the principal economic objectives of stable prices, economic growth, full employment and the Balance of Payments. Focusing on economic growth, students look at how it is measured, the factors that cause economic growth and their implications, both positive and negative, for an economy.
Autumn Term 1b	Unemployment Focusing on Unemployment, students look at how it is measured, the factors that cause economic growth and their implications, both positive and negative, for an economy.
Spring Term 2a	Price stability Focusing on inflation, students look at how it is measured, the factors that cause economic growth and their implications, both positive and negative, for an economy.
Spring Term 2b	Government revenue and taxation Students explore the sources of government revenue and how government spending and taxation can influence the level of economic activity.
Summer Term 3a	Macroeconomic policy – fiscal and monetary policy In this section, students focus on the role of fiscal and monetary policy in influencing the macroeconomic objectives of price stability, full employment, economic growth and the balance of payments.
Summer Term 3b	Macroeconomic policy – supply-side policies In this section, students focus on supply-side policies in influencing the macroeconomic objectives of price stability, full employment, economic growth and the balance of payments.

Legacy Course

Term	Topics
Autumn Term 1a	Managing the Economy In this section candidates will consider targets and policies the government may use to achieve its Objectives. Candidates will consider fiscal, monetary and supply side policies within the context of the Trade cycle. Candidates will consider the European Union and its effect on the UK Economy.
Autumn Term 1b	Candidates will look at the impact of exchange rates on the importing and exporting of Goods and services. And consider factors that impact upon the volume of imports and exports to the U.K Candidates should understand the effect that exchange rates have on the individual consumer, eg how this will affect the cost of travelling abroad and goods purchased in the UK.
Spring Term 2a	Fiscal & Monetary policy Students will look at how the government Collects revenue and its patterns of expenditure, analysing how the government can affect levels of income and Expenditure through fiscal policies. Candidates should be familiar with the role of the Bank of England in controlling the level of demand and how interest rates can be used to help manage the economy.
Spring Term 2b	EU Candidates should understand the significance of the EU as a Single European Market with a single European currency. And discussions are based around should England join the euro currency and how this will impact consumers and businesses
Summer Term 3a	EU project
Summer Term 3b	Revision

Year 11

Legacy Course

Term	Topics
Autumn Term 1a	Free trade and the balance of payments Students look at why countries trade and the importance of international trade to the UK. The measurement of UK trade through the balance of trade is examined, as are the causes of current account surpluses and deficits within the overall balance of payments.
Autumn Term 1b	Exchange rates and globalisation Students consider how exchange rates are determined as well as the impact that changes in exchange rates have on producers and consumers.
Spring Term 2a	Market failure and externalities Students explore the meaning of market failure and gain an understanding that the market mechanism does not always allocate resources efficiently. Students will explore the costs associated with misallocation of resources, and how government intervention can counter this.
Spring Term 2b	Importance of the financial sector the role and importance of the financial sector, different rates of interest in an economy and their impact on saving, borrowing and investment
Summer Term 3a	REVISION
Summer Term 3b	REVISION

Year 12

The Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Economics A is structured into four themes and consists of three externally examined papers. Students build knowledge and understanding of core economic models and concepts in Themes 1 and 2, and then build on this and apply their knowledge to more complex concepts and models in Themes 3 and 4. Students will need to apply their knowledge and understanding to both familiar and unfamiliar contexts in the assessments and demonstrate an awareness of current economic events and policies.

	Theme 1 – Introduction to markets and market failure	Theme 2 – The UK economy – performance and policies.
Autumn Term 1a	Economic problem, scarcity and choice. Normative and positive economics, specialisation and division of labour.	Measuring economic performance: Economic growth, inflation, unemployment, balance of payments
Autumn Term 1b	Demand and supply, price determination and equilibrium, price elasticity of demand	Aggregate demand and aggregate supply, macroeconomic equilibrium and national income, multiplier.
Spring Term 2a	Price elasticity of supply, income elasticity of demand, cross elasticity of demand, introduction to market failure and externalities.	Economic growth and economic cycles, causes and consequences of economic growth, conflicts in macroeconomic policy objectives.
Spring Term 2b	Merit and demerit goods, public goods, information gaps, monopoly. Government intervention, taxation, subsidies, minimum and maximum prices.	Public spending and taxation, automatic stabilisers, discretionary fiscal policy, monetary policy, quantitative easing.
Summer Term 3a	Pollution permits, property rights, buffer stocks, regulation, government failure	Supply-side policies, interventionist and market-based policies. Evaluation and macroeconomic policy instruments.
Summer Term 3b	Revision for Internal exams London School of Economics Essay Wring Competition. Stock market challenge.	Revision for Internal exams London School of Economics Essay Wring Competition. Stock market challenge.

Although there are no external exams, students will sit TWO internal exams in the summer term. Each paper will be 1.5 hours in duration, and will consist of multiple choice questions, structured questions and a choice of essay questions. Each paper will be worth 80 marks.

For more information, please click on the following link

Year 13

In Year 13, students will build on knowledge of microeconomics and macroeconomics gained in year 12 to complete the linear course. At the end of the year 13 students will sit 3 external exams covering Theme 1 and Theme 2 (studied in Year 12) and Theme 3 and theme 4 studied in Year 13.

	Theme 3 – Business behaviour and the labour market	Theme 4 – A global perspective
Autumn Term 1a	Objectives of firms, growth of firms, methods of expansion: mergers and takeovers, cost, revenue and profit.	Measuring economic performance: Economic growth, inflation, unemployment, balance of payments
Autumn Term 1b	Perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition. Price discrimination, contestable markets, and monopsony and competition policy.	Aggregate demand and aggregate supply, macroeconomic equilibrium and national income, multiplier.
Spring Term 2a	Competition policy ad regulation, demand and supply of labour, wage determination, wage differentials, poverty.	Economic growth and economic cycles, causes and consequences of economic growth, conflicts in macroeconomic policy objectives.
Spring Term 2b	Government intervention, labour market flexibility, taxation.	Public spending and taxation, automatic stabilisers, discretionary fiscal policy, monetary policy, quantitative easing.
Summer Term 3a	Revision for external exams	Supply-side policies, interventionist and market-based policies. Evaluation and macroeconomic policy instruments.

For the external examinations, students will sit three papers, each paper having a duration of 2 hours. The total marks available for each paper are 100 marks.

Paper 1 covers theme 1 and theme 3. This paper will consist of a range of multiple-choice and short answer questions. In addition, it will consist of a data response question and a choice of essay questions.

Paper 2 covers theme 2 and theme 4. This paper will consist of a range of multiple-choice and short answer questions. In addition, it will consist of a data response question and a choice of essay questions.

Paper 3 is a synoptic paper and is drawn from topics across Themes 1, 2, 3 and 4. The paper comprises of 2 data response questions and a choice of essay questions. Students choose 2 essay questions.

For more information, please click on the following link

Schools

International

Business & Enterprise

Economics

What will students study? (from September 2016)

How is the course assessed?

Legacy Course

Legacy Course

Legacy Course

Legacy Course

Walnut Tree Campus

Brooklands Campus

Reception

01908 677954