Economics

Economics seeks to analyse and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. By the end of the A-level Economics course, students will have a greater understanding of government policy and strategy and why they make the decisions they do. Furthermore, students will have an array of knowledge built up on global trade, poverty, competition, employment, fiscal/monetary policy. Additionally, students will learn and take a closer look at how our banking system helps the economy and of course supply and demand and how it affects consumers producers and governments. During their course of study, students will be encouraged to develop a critical approach to economic models and methods of enquiry. They will have a good knowledge of developments in the UK economy and government policies over the past fifteen years.

Our intent is that, having learned a rigorous and broad two-year curriculum, our students will be ready to study economics and related courses at university. It takes account of the fact that few of our young people will begin the course with the depth of powerful knowledge which the exam specifications assumes.

Students will be expected to acquire competence in quantitative skills that are relevant to the subject content and be familiar with the various types of statistical and other data which are commonly used by economists. They should be able to make relevant calculations from economic data and be able to interpret data. Students should understand the role of evidence in economic decision making but should appreciate the importance of value judgements.

It is expected that students will acquire a good knowledge of trends and developments in the economy which have taken place over the past fifteen years and also have an awareness of earlier events where this helps to give recent developments a longer-term perspective.

Key Principles of Economics A-Level

• Studying Economics will enable students to apply economic theory to support analysis of current economic problems and issues, and encourage students to appreciate the interrelationships between microeconomics and macroeconomics
• Economics A-level draws together knowledge and skills from a number of subject domains and enables students to consider contemporary issues using an interdisciplinary approach
• Economics A-level will prepare students for the next stage in their education as it cultivates the kinds of knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in the workplace or university such as how to analyse data, think critically about issues and make informed decisions