I was very distressed at the recent news from Jenny Wales, that 'A'
level Business Studies could be phased out and removed from the school
curriculum, because it is perceived to contain a 'vocational' element.
Well, with EIU flavour of the month across NC subjects, do not all
subjects contain an vocational flavour?
I have been through the process of business education from both a HND
and BA (Hons) course and can only stress that whilst the HND is
considered a more vocational perspective than that of the degree course,
that it most certainly was not an easy ride and contained many advanced
academic and professional concepts.
I am currently nearing the end of a PGCE in Business Education and am
teaching GCSE, 'A' level and GNVQ business studies students. I am also
currently helping to prepare years 11 and 13 for their impending
examinations. I wonder what they would have to say if I suggested that
the government is planning to discontinue the course and that all their
hard work wasn't really academic after all - WE WERE ALL ONLY
PRETENDING! :-(
Any students who desires to progress to university to study higher level
business related courses, from HNC/D to degrees, is prepared from either
the GNVQ or 'A' level pathway, but is at a distinct advantage if they
originate from the more academic 'A' level avenue.
Similarly, whilst GNVQs provide the forward momentum for vocational
business development, businesses - the employers who seek to attract the
results of the education system - require not only the fundamental
development of business skills and acrumen, but desire and need a
spectrum of potential recruits that can meet their variety of needs -
which includes generalistic vocational employees and those with a slant
to more academic potential.
Whilst it is true to observe that Business Education is not an historic
academic subject in the mathematics, chemistry or latin sense, it is a
subject that accurately meets the diversity of students capabilities,
the differentiation the DfEE is so keen to promote and a healthy balance
between an education that is based on academic fundamentals and
practical application - perhaps the one subject in the school curriculum
that is the spoke of all other NC subjects.
The post-Dearing proposals for removal of the 'A' level Business Studies
syallabus will be devastating for students and does absolutely nothing
for the secondary teaching profession, who in many cases (myself
included) have left sound careers behind to enter the teaching
profession to share their enthusiasm and business skills with the
generations that are emerging as tomorrows leaders.
As a concerned teacher of business education and a member of the EBEA, I
urge all Business Education colleagues, whether secondary or college
based, 'A' level or GNVQ directed, to carefully consider the
implications of such drastic action and to share such views with Jenny
Wales so that she might best represent the interests of our students,
ourselves and the future of business directed professionals. We cannot
destroy a qualification that attracts over 30,000 scholars a year and
addresses the very needs of businesses.
With thanks...
--
Andrew G Longstaff
Email: [log in to unmask]
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URL: http://www.ourden.demon.co.uk/index.html
Tel: (UK) 01904 431641
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