Curriculum 2000: Implementation of the new GNVQ

Teaching Business & Economics, Autumn 2000 by Sandiford, Bille-jean

DUE TO THE CHANGES NEW MATERIALS ARE BEING PRODUCED ALMOST DAILY, BOTH IN PRINTED AND ELECTRONIC FORM

INTRODUCTION

Schools and colleges have now started teaching the first units or modules of the AS or AVCE programmes. Hopefully the planned 'induction' produced positive results and everyone is adjusting to the demands of the new courses. In this first year careful note needs to be taken of what is working and what isn't.

This paper focuses on the main issues for teachers at this stage in the implementation process.

The development of the new specifications for the Advanced Vocational Certificates of Education has been time consuming and stressful for many teachers. Fears abounded over the extent of the changes; the syllabus content, the timing of teaching and the assessment process. Particular challenges were identified as a result of the removal of the 'elements' and the requirements for larger pieces of portfolio evidence. It is suggested that the following issues need to be considered:

NEW SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING MATERIALS

Departments had to take many decisions about implementation during the academic year 1999/2000 and the challenge now is to ensure that results are evaluated and issues not addressed during the planning stage are covered. It is particularly important not to forget that in this new framework, fears about delivery and timing must not outweigh our efforts to update our own knowledge and apply this to our work in the classroom. In a Utopian world this might seem straight forward and easy but, after twelve to eighteen months of planning timetables, recruiting the correct levels of staff, planning when external tests should take place and attending the relevant exam board meetings, little in the way of updating subject knowledge has happened in the corresponding period.

The re-vamped Core Units (1-6), and the new optional units offered by the exam boards allow for further specialisation in areas such as: customer service, market research, ICT in business and management and enterprise. It is perhaps easy to shy away from offering any modules that may mean the creation of completely new materials, but it is in essence, the ability to specialise that will make sure that the 'vocational' element of the course is differentiated from the AS/A2.

In order to update subject knowledge teachers could use specialist texts or reference books for particular subject areas, e.g., management, personnel, retail. To provide up-to-date, relevant and topical case studies for students, publications such as Management Today, The Grocer, Draper's Weekly and Campaign will prove exceedingly useful.

Due to the changes new materials are being produced almost daily, both in printed and electronic form. Teachers should carry out their own critical reviews of these resources, bearing in mind their criteria for actually buying the materials. Many publishers will welcome constructive comments from teachers as to how new editions could be improved, or which topics are not being covered in enough depth.

REVIEW OF THE PLACE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN OWN INSTITUTION

The imposed changes should give us time to think about the direction vocational education Post-16 is taking in general, and more specifically within our own institutions. Little thought has been given to the extended coverage of the new specifications and how that will impact on the long term future of vocational education.

BUSINESS LINKS

Good practice must not be allowed to fall by the wayside. It is at this stage; the laying of new foundations, that links with local and national businesses need to be maintained or created. Many core and optional units show opportunities for greater amalgamation of topics and interesting forms of delivery, these again are points that show not be overlooked. Now that portfolio evidence is not needed for those units which will be externally assessed teachers should be able to 'realise' the vocational elements of these units whilst still providing students with the underlying knowledge to pass the required tests.

Some examples of good business links could include:

Industrial Visits: A visit to a Direct Call telephone centre would easily cover topics such as Health and Safety, Customer Services, Business Location, Business Structure and Decisions, Communication and ICT in Business.

Industrial Debates: Simulations of management debates involving local business people could cover Industrial Relations, Marketing and Production issues.

Simulations: These could be designed to simulate many of the practical aspects of the course, Customer Service, Recruitment, Production, Public Relations

GUEST SPEAKERS

Creation of links with a local firms: students could work on assignments designed around 'real-life' problems faced by the firm.

KEY SKILLS

The Advanced Vocational Business course still remains a an extremely good conduit for the delivery of the three main Key Skills: Communication (presentations, reports, discussions, portfolio evidence), Application Of Number (collection and collation of data from various sources, identifying their significance to particular aspects of business activity) and Information Technology (presentation of reports, portfolio evidence, use of spreadsheets, databases, desktop-publishing, the emergence of e-business).