-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Riley <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: 21 June 2001 08:04
Subject: Re: university Entry Requirements
I suppose much depends on the traditions of the school and parental
expectations. At the RGS Newcastle we never considered Business Studies
even though the take up would have been fine - because we offered
Economics (A Level and GCSE) and Politics in the Department and there
was little scope for new staff to teach Business Studies. At my new
school we offer the same combination (but not as yet GCSE Economics).
Subject combinations:
No hard and fast rules - but the following combinations are becoming
more and more popular here
Economics + Maths + Two Languages
Economics + Maths + One Science + A Language
Economics + Politics + History
Economics + Politics + Geography
Economics + Geography + Maths
Economics + English + Politics
Interestingly - last year of 73 economists in the sixth form, only 34
were taking A Level Maths
Next September of 78 opting for Economics, 59 will have Maths and over a
quarter will have at least one language
Geoff
I had a similar experience at Leeds Grammar School. In the early years
Economics was in decline. In my first year I think there were only 20 or so
Economists. Business Studies on the otherhand was massive. Those taking
economics tended to be humanities type people (History, Geography etc). By
the time I left The Economics department att A level was huge and business
studies roughly constant, still attracting the weakest candidates the school
had to offer. Interestingly enough The calibre of the economists improve
massively as we did tend to have more scientists and mathematicians doing
the subject. I recall one group of 14 having 12 A grades and 2 B grades. I
have mentioned this list to Mssrs Elsworth and Law and I would be interested
to here the current state of play at leeds. At Plymouth College the A level
is the second largest option and the GCSE the largest option. However we do
the Nuffield Economics and Business course, which is different in approach
to the AQA economics and business courses. At the moment we are attracting
the full range of students and it is interesting that with the AS levels
more and more of the echools high calibre 3 science students are attracted.
I strongly believe ( no bias here) that economics is an ideal subject at AS
level. It combines logic with value judgements, so as a bridging subject/
complement between/ to maths/ sciences and arts it is ideal.
Jonathan Shields
(Plymouth College)
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