Volume 15 Number 2 - EBEA

Summer 2011

The Economics, Business and Enterprise Association

Volume 15 Number 2

In this issue

A new look at Enterprise

The use of concept mapping in Economics

Using sport to teach topics inEconomics and Business Studies

Enhancing the delivery ofvocational Business Studies

through outward facingactivities

Developing personal learningand thinking skills in GCSEBusiness Studies students

Business Studies brain teasers

Credit crunch cheat

Resource allocation – thecurious case of Tesco, the local

pub and an invisible hand

Ideas on increasing the numberand calibre of students who

choose Business and Economics

How new advertising regulationaffects social networking sites

Cameroon: where has it gonewrong and what signs of

optimism are there?

Support for dyslexic pupils in the classroom

Teaching Business & Economics – Summer 2011

Teaching Business & Economics2

TEACHING AND LEARNINGA new look at Enterprise Page 5Adil Khonat Are you still using Richard Branson, Anita Roddick and Alan Sugar as your examples of entrepreneurs? Isn’t ittime to refresh your thinking on the subject? Adil Khonat presents a different way of looking at Enterprise andchallenges stereotypes.

The use of concept mapping in Economics Page 8Peter Imeson Many readers will be familiar with mind maps. In this article Peter Imeson looks at a similar idea, concept maps,and shows how they can be utilised to help students organise their understanding.

Using sport to teach topics in Economics and Business Studies Page 11Harriet Thompson If you have a group of students who love sport then why not take advantage of the ideas presented by HarrietThompson to make links between what they might know and love with what they need to learn in BusinessStudies and Economics? This article shows examples of some really creative methods that young teachers areusing to generate interest in our subjects.

Enhancing the delivery of vocational Business Studies through outward facing activities Page 14Paul Bentley Paul and two students outline how they made use of funding to develop skills and confidence, as well asenhancing business understanding.

Developing personal learning and thinking skills in GCSE Business Studies students Page 17Sandra DonnellyThe very mention of PLTS might leave you thinking that this is just another acronym for something which takesup too much time for little reward. Sandra Donnelly shows how embracing the idea can help to provide a newapproach to teaching existing topics, as well as meeting the requirements set out by the, then, QCA.

LESSON IDEASBusiness Studies brain teasers Page 20Carol Sumner Simple but effective – a ready to use resource to copy and give to students to get their brains working onidentifying some key Business Studies terms. Ideal for using with groups or as a homework task – maybe even toget parents involved!

Credit crunch cheat Page 21Charlotte Davies Most readers will have played the card game ‘Cheat’ before. Here Charlotte Davies utilises this popular game tointroduce some ideas relating to ethics, morals and why the credit crunch occurred. Yes, there is a link!

Resource allocation – the curious case of Tesco, the local pub and an invisible hand Page 23Keith Hirst At first glance, it is quite clearly a pub. On closer inspection, it is not. This article highlights not only aninteresting case study on resource allocation, but serves as a useful reminder that there are lesson ideaseverywhere around us.

MANAGING DEPARTMENTSIdeas on increasing the number and calibre of students who choose Page 26Business and Economics Amy Croft Most Business Studies and Economics teachers know what it is like to battle against established departmentswho have the luxury of teaching their subject from Year 7. In this article Amy Croft outlines some strategies thather school has used to attract more students to study Business Studies and Economics.

BUSINESS UPDATE Page 29How new advertising regulation affects social networking sitesMargaret HancockNew regulations have been announced which affect a range of online advertisers. Margaret Hancock providesan overview of these new regulations and how they might affect businesses that rely on online advertising.

Teaching Business & Economics – Summer 2011

Teaching Business & Economics

Cameroon: where has it gone wrong and what signs of optimism are there? Page 31Nye WilliamsThis article turns the tables on normal teaching and learning. Teachers of Development Economics can use thisexcellent article written by a student as a case study to develop student understanding.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTSupport for dyslexic pupils in the classroom Page 35Kirk DoddsThe chances are that every classroom will have at least one student with dyslexia in it – whether they know it or not.Here Kirk Dodds, himself a dyslexic, offers a timely reminder of some important strategies to help support theselearners in our classrooms.

Reviews Page 39The fact that we have a slight lull in the development of new qualifications and are not quite at the stage of revisiting existing courses (yet) gives us an opportunity to be able to look at a range of other resources thatmight be of interest to readers.

We have reviews on Mind Maps for Business, a fascinating story of the trials and tribulations of business start-upswhich could be used selectively with both GCSE and GCE students, a new book for IB Economics, a book for thosewho like a more cerebral beach-read by Will Hutton and an interesting departure from the traditional textbook.

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Teaching Business & EconomicsGeneral Editor: Andrew Ashwin. Please send comments on this edition or material for publication to: Long ViewHouse, 12 Wing Road, Manton, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 8SZ or (preferably) e-mail: [email protected]: 07901 675649Editorial Panel:Kevin Abbott, Karen Borrington, Peter Davies, Sandra Donnelly, Darren Gelder, Keith Hirst, Louise Horner, PeterImeson, Marwan Mikdadi, Carol Sumner, Dave Gray (Assistant Editor), Nancy Wall (Reviews Editor).Materials for review should be sent to the EBEA Office, The Forum, 277 London Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex,RH15 9QU or email [email protected]

Front cover photographThe autocratic style of Sir AlexFerguson is contrasted with othermanagement styles in ‘Using sport toteach topics in Economics and BusinessStudies’ starting on page 11.

All magazine contributors please note that submissions should be sent, via e-mail, tothe General Editor, Andrew Ashwin. The deadline for submissions for the Summer 2011 edition is 15th July 2011.

Articles might include ideas for lesson plans, activities and resources (especially thoseyou may have used and which have proved to be successful), articles of special interest,on curriculum development, running and managing departments, improving studentlearning, implementing change to improve departments, observations on Ofstedinspections, ideas for vocational, work-related and enterprise education, economic wellbeing – in fact anything which you think will be of interest to colleagues in theprofession.

Please supply files in Word format – via e-mail – including any relevant charts, images,suggestions for images, graphs etc. Images should be hi-res where possible.

Please noteEBEA officers, staff & contacts onpage 4.Current subscription rates on the back cover.

Message from the editorA great deal has happened since the last edition of TBE wasprepared in the Autumn, the Wolf Report and the debateabout the effect the English Bac will have on the future of oursubjects being just two of significance. The EBEA has been atthe forefront of putting across the interests of Business,Economics and Enterprise education at the highest levels andmany thanks are due to Duncan Cullimore for his sterlingefforts in rousing the troops.

Mr Cameron’s speech about ‘the enemies of Enterprise’ did setme wondering just who these people were. Could it be those

who might oversee Business Studies, Economics and Enterprisebeing squeezed from the curriculum as Heads chase everhigher league table positions?

As always, your views on these issues would be welcome forthe next edition along with any other interesting lesson ideasor topics relevant to our subjects which you may want to sharewith colleagues. I think that this edition highlights just howdynamic and dedicated teachers are in our disciplines. Maybewe need to send a copy of TBE to Mr Gove …

Andrew Ashwin


PresidentProfessor Colin Bamford

Vice PresidentsProfessor John KayProfessor Patrick Minford Professor David MyddeltonJenny WalesIan Marcousé

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Officers, staff and contacts

Teaching and Learning


ADIL KHONAT

A new look at EnterpriseEnterprise and Enterprise skills form the basis of anumber of Business Studies qualifications as wellas being an integral part of the curriculum in manyschools. This article presents some backgroundthinking on Enterprise and outlines an interestingway of introducing Enterprise skills and qualitiesto students regardless of whether they are lookingat Enterprise for the first time or revisiting it aspart of revision.

Teaching Enterprise is something you will either love orhate. I am lover of Enterprise, the power of Enterpriseand the fact that it does not discriminate. Anybody canstart their own enterprise, regardless of their gender,religion, culture, social class, background or anythingelse. When teaching students about entrepreneurs, whatit means to be entrepreneurial and everything that goeswith it, it is easy to fall into the trap of stereotypingEnterprise, associating it with business start-ups. I believethere is a lot more toEnterprise and thatEnterprise has a lot moreto offer.

The stereotype?When you think of anentrepreneur what sorts ofimages/thoughts areconjured up in your mind?For many people (andstudents) it could besomeone famous, such asBill Gates, Alan Sugar, TheoPaphitis, James Dyson,Richard Branson or anotherof the TV millionaires whoare seemingly portrayed asbeing the embodiment ofwhat it means to be anentrepreneur.

This list perhaps confirms a misconception that allentrepreneurs are millionaires and have lots of brilliantideas on how they’re going to make their next million ortwo. The fact is that two out of three new businesseswill fail. Maybe it is time to put Richard Branson, JamesDyson, Anita Roddick and the well and truly overdoneentrepreneurs in Business Studies on the back burner fora while. To support this idea, some facts about smallbusinesses may prove interesting.

Figures from Bytestart.co.uk, a small business portal,show that there are around 4.3 million enterprises in theUK. Of these, there are around 2.7 million sole traders,approximately 520,000 partnerships and just over amillion limited companies. Small businesses classed ashaving 0-49 employees account for over 46 per cent ofemployment. 99.3 per cent of enterprises employbetween 0 and 49 people, 27,000 employ between 50and 249 people and just 6,000 employ more than 250people. 3.2 million small businesses employ no people.

Figures such as these help put business into somesort of perspective. These 3.2 million small businesses arenot hiding millionaires – that privilege is the preserve ofa very small minority of entrepreneurs. So, it may beworth dispelling at an early stage the idea thatEnterprise is about making a million. So what is itabout?

Young parents asentrepreneursHaving attained thefunding from the phonecompany O2, I have startedmy own social enterprise,aiming to motivate andinspire young parents toconsider the option ofEnterprise. Many scepticshave asked, ‘How manyyoung parents areinterested in starting theirown business?’ There’s onlyone way to find out. Witha greater number of youngparents within and outsidethe school community, Ibelieve we should offergreater levels of assistanceto such groups. Offering

some form of business start-up extra-curricular activityopen to all, we can make a difference.

Some of the young parents I have worked with haveoffered some inspiring ideas. One young parent, havingspotted a niche in the market, has recently started acourse in nail art alongside taking extra modules in hairand beauty. The parent noticed that there are now nailart studios popping up on every corner of the highstreet. Hair and beauty is a competitive industry with

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many salons everywhere you go. If you can’t get tothe salon, there are people that can come to yourhouse.

This young parent sat back and asked some keyquestions, ‘What about blind people? What aboutdeaf people? What about the disabled? Don’t theyhave a right to look good?’ They may not be able toget to a salon or feel comfortable with a stranger in

their home. Having spotted a gap in the market, she isplanning to explore the possible opportunities.

In introducing Enterprise and entrepreneurs tostudents and in looking for inspiration, we do nothave to travel far – after all, the figures suggest thatthere are plenty of small businesses. When looking forways to engage students, therefore, we do not needto turn to the tried and trusted larger corporations –

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Suggested lesson activity

Would you describe a young parent as an entrepreneur? Take, for example, a teenager, who left school withfew qualifications, is responsible for bringing up a child, is living in a council house and is in receipt ofbenefits. Is this a stereotypical young parent? Or is this a stereotypical entrepreneur?

This is a suggestion for a way to introduce Enterprise and entrepreneurial skills.

1. Get two images, one of a young parent and another of a famous entrepreneur.

2. Project the image of the young parent onto a whiteboard or similar or pass round a paper copy of the image to students who could work in pairs or individually on this task.

3. Ask students to carry out a blue skies thinking activity, considering all the words they can think of that describe the young parent.

4. Now present the image of the more famous entrepreneur and ask students to consider all the words that describe that person.

5. Ask students to compare and contrast their two lists. This could be done by pinning up the results of their activity around the room, via an interactive whiteboard or any other appropriate method for your classroom.

6. Now ask students to list the skills/qualities/traits they think each of the two share. This might be presented using some form of Venn diagram. Ask students to explain why they think the two people sharethe skills/qualities/traits.

The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate that many of the skills, qualities and traits of famous entrepreneursare shown every day by ‘ordinary’ people in many different ways and in different circumstances. Are these notentrepreneurial traits? Are these not the same skills and qualities that most well known entrepreneurs have?

The following are some examples, which could be used as a prompt for students.

l Young parents are independent, often with little access to support.

l They have to be determined, persistent and self-motivated.

l If they don’t look after their children, who will?

l They are committed, will persevere and in many cases work twice as hard as anybody else to achieve half as much as everyone else.

l They are visionary. They have vision for themselves, their children and their lives.

l However gloomy the outlook may be, they are risk takers and have a tolerance of failure.

Using this simple activity, we not only give students a more holistic picture of entrepreneurism, we introducethem to the skills/qualities/traits that successful entrepreneurs possess. The exercise can help to explain whyentrepreneurs need such skills/qualities/traits, alongside introducing students to some of the key themes youwill explore with them in follow up lessons on Enterprise.

The activity could also be used in Citizenship lessons to introduce students to the idea of tackling stereotypes,allowing them to explore both sides of the coin before making judgements.



there are other businesses than Tesco or McDonald’s.When designing tasks for the increasingly popularBTECs, we do not need to be boring and bland. Realbusiness ideas of young parents could be utilised, forexample.

Students could benefit from a real life researchtask or real life scenarios underpinning the tasks theyneed to complete. All it takes is a call or an e-mail toyour local Business Link or Enterprise Agency, or evento a social enterprise concerned with entrepreneurism.These young parents are more than willing to offer ahelping hand. The question is: ‘will you accept theiroffer to help you?’ It does require moving away fromwhat can become a comfort zone.

Trade-offs and Catch 22 As a follow up you can look at some of the issuesfacing young parents. For example, they invariablyhave to make trade-offs.

l If they stay home to look after their children, theyrisk being classed as becoming too dependent on welfare.

l If, as the government seems determined to encourage, young parents decide to enter the world of work, who will look after their children?

l Young parents may have access to child care, but how much will child care cost? It may be about £30 a day and that’s on the cheaper end of the scale.

l Would the wages earned by such people be sufficient to cover the cost of child care? If not, how could young parents be helped to get into work?

l Even if work is available, there is the possibility that they may have limited skills, qualifications and flexibility and so getting work may be difficult.

Are there solutions?The solution may be enterprise and creativity. Askstudents to think about what is meant by thefollowing saying:

‘Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day.Teach a person to fish, and you feed them for alifetime’.

This can be followed up with a session on generatingideas. Key to any enterprise is the initial ‘idea’ andyoung parents and students are not short of ideas andcreativity.

One way of sparking this creativity is to prepare a

long table at the back of the room. Pile the table withany old junk that you and colleagues have lyingaround the house, unwanted. Students can be dividedinto groups of three or four. One member of eachgroup takes four or five items from the table andeach group is then given twenty minutes to ‘produce’something with the collection of ‘rubbish’ they have.

Each group then has to give a short 2-3 minutepresentation to explain what they have come up withand how it could be useful.

Finally, a brief discussion can be held on majorproducts that arose as a result of accidental creativity.Some examples are provided in this activity:http://www.bized.co.uk/educators/16-19/business/marketing/activity/portfolio.htmbut there are others which can be used as well (see, for example:http://spiritualnetworks.com/DorothyNed/blog/failure-is-success-turned-inside-out/)

SummaryEnterprise isn’t for everyone. Regardless, Enterprisecan create independence, self-sustainability andrespect. In addition to completing my PGCE I run myown social enterprise called ‘Start your own ... ?’aiming to motivate and inspire those fromdisadvantaged backgrounds to start their ownbusinesses. The odds are stacked against youngparents and the chances of starting a successfulenterprise seem illusory. Nevertheless, if we give themhalf a chance, then half the time they too willsucceed. I believe that enterprise could be a solutionfor young parents – allowing them to break free fromthis Catch 22. A good time to start the process is atschool and Business Studies qualifications provide anexcellent opportunity for exploring some of the keyideas and issues which may sow seeds for the future,as well as help students to perform more effectively inexams.

Adil Khonat graduated with a first class honoursdegree in Accounting and Finance from DurhamUniversity. He is completing a PGCE at WarwickUniversity.

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Teaching and Learning PETER IMESON

The use of concept mapping in Economics


Concept mapping is a techniquewhich was developed by JosephNovak in the 1970s. It is a visualmeans of representing knowledgeand the relationships betweendifferent variables and, as such, isan excellent way of developingstudents’ understanding ofeconomic relationships. In thisarticle I describe a number of waysin which I have used concept mapsin the classroom to developstudents’ learning.

Collaborative conceptmapping This exercise was the first I developedusing concept maps and the one I haveused most often. The aim here is to usethe technique as a way of encouraginggroup discussions. The exercise is basedon an article by a team of researchers(Boxel et al) and cited in the journal‘Theory into Practice’ (Vol 41).

The aim of this exercise is to getstudents, in groups, to produce aconcept map showing some of thetransmission mechanisms for monetarypolicy. The end product the studentsproduce should look like Figure 1.

Alternatively a more complicatedversion could be produced whichincludes the foreign exchange channelas shown in Figure 2.

Resources neededl Cut out each of the concepts in the

above map onto small slips of paper.l Blank sheets of A4 paper.l Pencils.

Running the activityThe first step is to explain to the students what aconcept map is and what it should look like. I usually

do this simply by showing the class a concept map onanother topic. Each group is then given an envelopecontaining the slips of paper with the concepts on, ablank sheet of paper and a pencil.

The groups then have to arrange the slips ofpaper and draw lines between them to produce theconcept map shown above. By having the slips of

Figure 1 Monetary policy concept map

Figure 2 Monetary policy concept map with a foreign exchange channel

Monetary policy in a recession



paper on the A4 sheet, the students can easily changetheir minds, move the concepts around and illustratetheir points in the discussion. It is worth telling thestudents that the quality of their discussion is asimportant as getting the concept map absolutelycorrect.

Benefits of the activityThe use of concept maps helps students engage indeep learning and to participate in meaningfuldiscussions of the relationships between the different

variables. Presenting therelationships in a visual way,along with the kinaestheticaspect of moving the slips ofpaper around, seems to facilitatethis discussion and keep the talklargely on-task. It is also possiblefor the teacher to quickly seewhere misunderstandings occurand intervene in a way whichencourages students to thinkthrough their own responserather than just giving them theanswer.

Teaching analysis andevaluationThe completed concept map canthen be used to develop analysisand evaluation in relation to thetopic. It can be explained tostudents that the differentchannels on the concept map

represent the analysis of the policy and include thechain of events which cause GDP and inflation tochange. The teacher can then lead a discussion ofwhich of the channels has the biggest impact andconsider factors which might affect the size of theimpact of each channel, i.e. evaluating the channels.As well as encouraging students to engage in high-level thinking, it is also a useful way of illustrating thedifference between analysis and evaluation, whichmany students find difficult even towards the end of

Year 12. An example of a slideevaluating a channel ofmonetary policy is shown inFigure 3.

Other uses of conceptmapsThe concept map exercise carriedout here can be adapted forother government policies (suchas the fiscal policy map in Figure4) as well as being used toanalyse and assess the impact ofother changes in the economy,for example, increased foreigninvestment or a change in thevalue of the pound.

Concept maps can provide auseful plan for an essay. Thestudents can produce a very


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Figure 3 Evaluating a channel of monetary policy

Figure 4 Fiscal policy map


1. If a large number of people are on fixed rate mortgages.2. If interest rates are already low.3. Dependent on how far interest rates change.



logical, well structured essay which includes bothanalysis and evaluation if they are given such a taskfollowing on from doing this exercise in class.

Getting students to produce a concept map basedon a newspaper article they have been given mightforce students to engage with the material in adeeper, more meaningful way that would otherwisebe the case.

Teacher produced concept maps can be used as abasis for instruction or as a means to revise topics thathave already been covered. The map in Figure 5 wasused as part of a revision session on economic systemsand animated to introduce the concepts one at a timeto facilitate some teacher questioning.

ConclusionAlthough there is evidence from research that conceptmaps can be a useful way of improving learning inEconomics (they can also be used for Business Studiesobviously), examples of their use in textbooks and onthe Internet are rare. However, Economics andBusiness Studies seem ideally suited to their use as

they involve studying the relationship betweenvariables and the complexity of these relationships can be better understood when represented in avisual way.

References and further resourcesCollaborative Concept Mapping: Provoking and SupportingMeaningful Discourse http://www.jstor.org/pss/1477536

The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Themhttp://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryCmaps/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.htm#_ftn1

Effectiveness of concept maps in economics: Evidence fromAustralia and USAhttp://www.soc.uoc.gr/marangos/pdf/42-2007-Learning%20and%20Individual%20Differences.pdf

A video of my presentation at the EBEA Conference 2010 inwhich I explain the use of concept maps and show a videoof students engaging in this activity can be found at: http://www.ebea.org.uk/tv/#/1/5/0

Peter Imeson is Head of Business and Economicsat Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire.

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Figure 5 Concept map on economic systems

One of the fundamental principles in learningtheory is that it pays to ‘start with what youknow’. In the classroom we can get lots ofmileage from applying economic and businessideas and theories to situations that are alreadyfamiliar to students. To exemplify this, whatfollows is a list of recent (at the time of writing)topics that can be illustrated by referring to theworld of sport (as this is one of my and most ofmy students’ particular interests), although nodoubt a similar list could be composed for other‘real world’ situations.

Free market, mixed and commandeconomiesI find that a good way to get students to come upwith a list of the advantages and disadvantages of afree market system versus a command economysystem to allocate scarce resources, is to get them toconsider the way that new players are assigned toteams in the UK football league as opposed to the US(NBA) basketball league.

In the former, the player usually goes to thehighest bidder, that is the club most willing and ableto pay. In the latter, the Draft Lottery is held annuallyby the NBA (the ‘government’ of the economy).Although the NBA doesn’t assign individual players toteams, only the fourteen non-playoff teamsparticipate in the lottery and it is weighted so thatthe team with the worst record amongst them has thebest chance of obtaining higher draft picks (this is asimilar principle adopted in most of the other majorUS sports).

For every Chelsea fan who is happy that their clubwas able to pay £50 million for Fernando Torres, thereare other fans who can see that the Premier Leaguewould be more competitive if a draft-style systemwere instigated in England. From here it’s only asmall jump to considering income and wealth equalityin the economy as a whole and what this means forresource allocation.

Maximum pricesSalary caps in professional sport provide a goodexample of a maximum price system at work and alsoprovide an interesting contrast to a consideration ofthe National Minimum Wage (NMW). Although manysports in America and Australia use individual and

whole squad salary caps, they are much less commonin Europe and to find them in the UK we have to turnto the world of rugby.

In rugby union, teams in the Aviva Premiershipmust abide by a ceiling for whole squad salaries of £4million, whilst in rugby league’s Super League, teamscannot spend more than £1.65 million before prizemoney payments on their top 25 earners. There areoften reports in the media of teams and individualscriticising these systems, which not only provide goodevaluative points for students, but also often containfurther economic analysis, for example, Leeds Rhinos’star Jamie Peacock’s recent comment that ‘[as] thepound is much weaker now against the Aussie dollar,their salary cap is going up while ours stays the same,so you're definitely going to see more players go outthere.’

ElasticitiesI find that making references to sporting events helpsstudents to develop a more nuanced, evaluativeapproach to the various elasticities.

First, different people will have different priceelasticities of demand (PED) and income elasticities ofdemand (YED) with respect to the same good orservice. For example, it is easy to understand that adie-hard football fan will have a very price andincome inelastic demand for tickets to see his/her clubplay, whereas a more occasional attendee will have amuch more price and income elastic demand. You canextend this analysis by getting students to think aboutwhat strategies they would adopt if they managed afootball club to maximise gate revenues, the ideabeing that they should reduce the price for those withprice elastic demand (possibly children or those whodon’t usually go to the games), and raise price for thededicated season ticket holders.

Second, in terms of the cross (price) elasticity ofdemand, two very similar goods or services are notnecessarily substitutes for one another, as anyManchester City fan who is offered a ticket to watch aManchester United game will testify! This can help tointroduce the idea of strong and weak substitutes andcomplements.

I also use football stadia to illustrate the idea ofperfectly price inelastic supply. Figures for stadia

Teaching and Learning HARRIET THOMPSON

11Teaching Business & Economics

Using sport to teach topics inEconomics and Business Studies



capacity and attendance for the big clubs are readilyavailable online. It is also interesting to discuss withstudents that as clubs earn a revenue stream fromrefreshments and programme sales etc. (and there arearguments to say that teams play better with a largernumber of fans supporting them), they should reducethe price on any tickets unsold at the usual price untilall tickets are taken. This is, of course, a form of pricediscrimination and there are indeed lots of examplesof peak-load pricing and other forms of third-degreeprice discrimination to be found within sports ticketsales.

Finally, we can explain the high wages earned byprofessional sportspeople by reference to the veryprice inelastic demand for and supply of them.Students can easily see that the reason I do notbecome a professional footballer, despite the hugewage on offer, is because I do not have the necessaryskills, as is the case for the vast majority of thepopulation and hence the price elasticity of supply forprofessional footballers will be very inelastic.

Even more interesting, a recent study by AlexBryson at the LSE1 found that two-footedness (theability to use both feet equally well) adds a premiumof around 20 per cent to a footballer’s salary,controlling for all other variables. Students can drawsupply and demand diagrams to illustrate thedifference in salaries between, say, a teacher, a right-footed footballer and a two-footed footballer.

Labour immobilityWe can again use professional footballers to illustrateboth geographical and occupational (im)mobility oflabour. Footballers are very geographically mobile.Consider the Beckham family relocating fromManchester to Madrid to Los Angeles and perhapsback to the UK. They must have the same network offamily and friends that most workers have, so why arethey so mobile? This is a good example of theimportance of income as a determinant of labourmobility.

Conversely, professional footballers areexceptionally and famously occupationally immobile.Apart from the few who successfully make thetransition into management or commentary, theoptions seem limited for a player following a career-ending injury, or retirement. I find it’s interesting toget students to imagine they are careers advisors toprofessional footballers and to come up withoccupations they could move into and suggest whatthe players would need to do to be able to followthat career path.

The aims of firmsPerhaps my students are particularly cynical, but I findthat it is almost impossible to persuade them that a

firm might have any other objective than profitmaximisation – they even see CSR objectives as anattempt to attract more customers so as to increaseprofit. It has, therefore, been productive to ask themwhy Roman Abramovich, in addition to spendingapproximately £600 million in his first five years as theowner of Chelsea Football Club, has been content tosee the club record losses every year since he acquiredthem.

Indeed, in a 2006 study, two sports economists,Garcia-del-Barro and Szymanski, found that Englishand Spanish football teams seemed to be consistentlyaiming for win maximisation rather than profitmaximisation over a ten year period2.

Management stylesIt is an interesting homework task to get students toassign football managers as democratic, paternalisticor autocratic managers, or to give examples ofMcGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y managers.Possible answers might include (although students arefree to argue that the suggestions below are incorrectand why):

l Autocratic / Theory X Manager: Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) – has a high level of power over the team, infamously hit David Beckham on the head with a football boot during a changing room tirade and had a similar spat with former international Peter Barnes. Brian Clough went through a particularly aggressive phase during his last few seasons at Nottingham Forest.

l Paternalistic: Ian Holloway (Blackpool) or Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspur) both lead people through encouragement and enthusiasm. Holloway’s public support of Charlie Adam and Redknapp’s of Peter Crouch are good examples here.

l Democratic / Theory Y Manager: Owen Coyle (Burnley and Bolton Wanderers) and Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool) are examples of the classic ‘tracksuit managers’ who deliberate with team members and either provide adequate authority to the team members to decide on their own or heavily use their contributions to make decisions.

Alternatively, an interesting case study is provided bythe introduction of salary contracts for referees in theEnglish Premier League in the 2001/2002 season. Untilthen (and still in the lower leagues), referees werepaid a match fee for each game that they officiated –piece rate work. A study3 using this naturalexperiment found that the move to salaries improvedthe performance of referees, equating to the issuingof an average of half a card less per match (or animprovement of one-sixth). This supports thetraditional labour market economic theory that theuse of salaries rather than piece-rate payments

12



improves worker performance because of thereputational effects that it creates and the self-sortingof workers that it generates.

Other topics that can be illustrated withexamples from the world of sportl Foreign takeovers of companies – the Glazers’

ownership of Manchester United is still regularly in the news and elicits very strong feelings from fans. Their concerns about how the club will be run can be applied to non-sports companies’ takeovers too.

l Labour market discrimination – a large body of work exists using data from football, cricket and baseball to estimate how much racial discrimination is a feature of the labour markets in professional sports and whether the discrimination is on the part of the managers (in their hiring and team selection) or the fans (in their attendance decisions).

l The strength and role of trade unions – at the time of writing the NFL Labor Agreement in America is about to expire and there is a strong possibility that this will lead to a league-wide lockout. In the UK, one of the PFA’s main aims is to help with advice and funding about training courses for professional footballers to help them find work after they retire from the sport.

l The 2012 Olympics is going to cause huge positive and negative externalities, which can all be investigated. It is also interesting to consider to what extent the UK holding the Olympics is a public good and whether this justifies governmentexpenditure on it.

l Corporate Social Responsibility – in September 2006, FC Barcelona began a five-year partnership with UNICEF that involved the UNICEF logo appearing on the club’s shirts (the first time in its 107 year history that such placement had taken place) and the club donating €500,000 in publicityassets to promote the partnership each year.

l Marketing – there are huge amounts of money spent on advertisements shown in the commercial breaks during the Superbowl each year. Why should firms do this? Is this mass marketing worththe outlay?

l Methods of raising finance – in the 1990s a fairly large group of UK football clubs were publicly floated on the stock market (Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leeds United etc.). Most of these flotations have now ended and the trend has been instead for ownership by wealthy foreign investors. Why were the share issue schemes mostly unsuccessful, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each method of finance?

Useful sourcesNewspapers are full of sports stories and with a littlethought many of these can be applied to theEconomics and Business Studies classroom. Similarly,The Economist occasionally runs relevant articles onglobal sporting matters.

The International Association of Sports Economistspublishes the Journal of Sports Economics quarterly(http://jse.sagepub.com/). Also to be found online arethe Journal of Sport Management, the SportManagement Review, the International Journal ofSport Finance and the Journal of the QuantitativeAnalysis of Sports.

Financial information on the major UK footballclubs and news stories about the political economy ofsport globally can be found atwww.footballeconomy.com.

A number of sports economics websites areestablishing themselves. They mainly have anAmerican focus, but feature interesting stories andideas nonetheless. The best is:http://thesportseconomist.com/.

Harriet Thompson teaches Economics atMerchant Taylors’ School and is a PrincipalExaminer (Examination Supervision) for a majorawarding body.

References1. Bryson, Alex (2010), ‘The wage premium of two-footedfootballers’, Centre Piece, Summer 2010, (downloadablefrom http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp312.pdf).

2. Garcia-del-Barro, Pedro and Szymanski, Stefan (2006),‘Goal! Profit maximisation and win maximisation in footballleagues’, International Association of Sports Economists,Working Paper Series, Paper No. 06-21, October 2006.

3. Bryson, Alex, Buraimo, Babatunde and Simmons, Rob(2010), ‘Men in black: the impact of new contracts onfootball referees’ performance’, Centre Piece, Summer 2010 (downloadable fromhttp://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp314.pdf).

13

Teaching and Learning PAUL BENTLEY

Enhancing the delivery of vocational BusinessStudies through outward facing activities

The Sinnott Fellowship scheme was launched in2009 by the then Department for Children,Schools and Families (DCSF) in commemorationof NUT chief Steve Sinnott. Initially two groupsof teachers were given funding to allow themtime away from their normal work to develop‘outward facing’ practice in their school,described by Bubb (2010) as:

‘ … innovative external links and relationshipsto improve pupil aspiration and attainment … ’

In January 2010 I was lucky enough to receiveone of these rewards which allowed me time todevelop relationships with a range of localbusinesses and other organisations in order toenhance the delivery of Business Educationcourses in my school and sixth form consortium.

In order to examine the impact of this activity I choseto complete a small-scale action research projectwhich served as the basis of my dissertation for theBusiness and Enterprise Education MA at WarwickUniversity.

Over the course of three half terms I monitoredstudents completing a range of outward facingactivities. One of these projects involved a group ofstudents being commissioned by an organisationcalled Creative Partnerships to investigate the successof a series of PHSE and Enterprise Educationworkshops which were run in the Oceana nightclub inWolverhampton.

The original workshops took place in December2009, with groups of year 10 students from across theregion spending half a day in the club learning aboutdifferent issues to do with gangs, drugs, alcohol andpersonal safety in an environment where they may, infuture, encounter such problems.

In order to secure funding to run the event againin 2010 the organiser, Jeremy Brown, a representativeof Creative Partnerships, chose to commission a groupof Business students to act as consultants and carryout a review of the project. This work provided mysixth form students with an opportunity to develop arange of business skills and knowledge and togenerate evidence for their BTEC National portfolios,specifically Unit 4 – Business Communication. Thegroup participating in the Oceana project was given

over 500 evaluation forms completed by year 10students who had attended PHSE and EnterpriseEducation events during the previous December. Theyanalysed these documents and produced a report fordistribution to potential sponsors for the followingyear’s event. They then prepared a presentation whichthey delivered to representatives of the local council,police and schools in addition to representatives offunding bodies and local businesses. This event wasorganised and run by the students who managed thevenue (a city centre theatre) for the afternoon,greeting guests, signing them in, showing them totheir seats and distributing documents to them.

By participating in this event students were ableto work with a professional mentor and deliver workthat contributed to the future of a real business.

The evidence that I gathered through my threeaction research cycles pointed to studentsparticipating in this activity benefiting in a number ofways. One pleasing result was that their courseworkwas completed to a high standard (all studentsparticipating achieved above their target grade onthis and subsequent modules) and on time. Interviewswith the students participating indicated that this wasbecause they felt that there was a difference betweenthis work and other tasks and they did not want to letdown their ‘employer’ by handing in work late or to alow standard.

Other benefits were evident in the personaldevelopment of students. Gains were seen in terms ofthe confidence, motivation and behaviour of students.For example, the team leader chose to stand forelection as head girl following this project –something that she explained she would not havebeen confident enough to do without the experienceof leadership gained through this project.

Although there was a number of benefits fromthis work, there were still difficulties. A lot of trusthad to be placed in the students participating andelements of my scheme of work and BTEC assignmentbrief had to be redesigned to accommodate theproject, which was time consuming.

In order to follow up this success I placed theparticipants in the Oceana project into groups withother members of their Business class and asked eachgroup to plan a school trip for a lower year group as




part of their unit on ‘Managing a Business Event’. Thisallowed them to further develop their own skills andexperiences, as well as helping other group membersto develop their own skills in a practical setting.

The gains to students from participating in theseactivities are best explained by the students themselvesand what follows are accounts written this term bytwo year thirteen students, Manraj Chagger and Sarah Marsh.

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Manraj ChaggerAt the start of sixth form, most of the teaching wassimple. It mainly involved working through a textbookand listening to the teacher, even when a course is100% coursework. This changed towards the end ofyear 12 when I was asked to be part of a group tocarry out a project.

I was involved in a group with five other students.We had to assess the different methods of teachingand how it made an impact on the learning ofstudents. We were asked by Jeremy Brown, who worksfor the company ‘Creative Partnerships’, to assess anddraw conclusions on the differences betweentraditional lessons and learning through experience.

Jeremy had set up an event at the Oceana Club inWolverhampton town centre. The event hosted year 10students from local schools. Over 400 students tookpart in the project which covered different scenarios,such as a knife crime scene in the disco or a cocainescene in the toilets, to make the examples feel realistic.

The main purpose of this event was to find out ifstudents learnt more about these topics by watchingthem happen or by sitting in a classroom listening tothe teacher talk about them. Following the sessions,each student completed a questionnaire to ascertainwhich worked most effectively.

My group was asked to analyse the results andpresent our findings to help Jeremy earn funding tosecure the future of this event. Essentially we wereworking for Jeremy and the company and what wesaid stuck! These findings were used for the company’sresults, which put a lot of pressure on our teambecause we couldn’t ‘blag’ our way through! This eventalso tested our teamwork and evaluation skills.

We found that we learnt a lot more and were ableto understand the task better as we became furtherinvolved. It was an enjoyable experience compared toreading a passage and drawing our own conclusions.As we got more involved with the activity it motivatedus to achieve more and make ourselves stand outbecause we were not just giving it to our teacher, wewere delivering it to important business people, theWest Midlands Police and Wolverhampton Councilmanagers (among others).

The feeling of presenting to such an important

audience motivated us to work harder and also madeus feel important. I felt that I had a job to do and thispurpose gave me inspiration to prove to the publicwhat I am capable of doing, it took me out of the‘school student’ mode and turned me into a moremature young adult.

Once this unit and presentation was complete, wewent back to basic work – listening to the teacher andreading from books. Automatically you could see thechange in motivation in myself and my team. I feelthis could be a reason why, when at school, it’s possibleto feel less important as there are so many otherstudents around. However, this presentation andworking for ‘Creative Partnerships’ made me feelimportant and that, in itself, was a great motivator.

When I reached year 13, again there was anopportunity to carry out an event. The choice of eventrested entirely with my group that I had chosen. Weall came up with a venue to host it, remembering thepurpose of the event was to provide students adifferent way of learning a subject.

After careful research, we decided to take thewhole year 10 Business Studies group to Thorpe Park inLondon to support their learning of ‘marketing andpromotion’.

This event hopefully will allow my group, schooland Business Studies teachers to get an idea ofwhether or not the students can work more effectivelyunder the influence of activities or the influence ofbook work. When we evaluated the event we foundthat students had enjoyed their time at Thorpe Parkand improved their understanding of marketing andpromotion. This was because they had a mixture oftheory (a presentation by park staff) and practice(activities we set them about how the rides they wenton were related to different ‘promotions’ to attractcustomers/consumers).

I feel that when you are physically involved in thelearning you tend to learn, listen and understandmore. You feel that you have a job to do and feelmore important, whereas when you have written workpiling up you sometimes get demotivated, as wasproven from the results from the students’questionnaire. Results showed that when studentswere involved in an activity, learning improved. Resultshave also shown that work improved and wasproduced at a higher standard. ‘Fun work is a keymotivator.’



Sarah MarshWhen I was asked to apply for the Oceana project I was enthusiastic. I liked the idea of being able to dosomething practical instead of the classroom-basedtasks that I was used to on my sixth form courses. The project involved analysing findings from over 400questionnaires, focus groups and other sources ofdata. We were given much of the data by JeremyBrown from Creative Partnerships who mentored usthroughout the project.

The project benefited me more than I could haveever imagined. From owning sole responsibility forpresenting the correct findings to delivering ourresearch to a theatre full of people that I had nevermet, the project never failed to push my boundaries. I knew that the future of the ‘Safe Night Out’workshops depended on our group completing thiswork on time and to an outstanding level of quality.

Before starting this project I was a timid girl whowould find the idea of standing in the Arena theatrepresenting our graphs, thoughts and findingsfrightening enough to send me into hiding! Now I ama much more confident person when talking topeople that I don’t know or to my peers in class. Afterthis experience I now concentrate on excelling atwhat I do rather than the people sitting in front ofme.

The overall experience has definitely beenrewarding and analysing a real life project enabledme to understand and learn from the outside world ofwork. I was proud of the work that we produced and I had a real sense of achievement from doingsomething that made a positive difference for otherstudents.

Paul Bentley is the Head of Business andVocational Education at a CatholicComprehensive school in the West Midlands. Heis currently researching a PhD thesis on theimpact of employer engagement on learnerachievement and motivation.

Manraj Chagger is a year 13 student followingcourses in Business, Product Design and GeneralStudies. He is planning to take up a place on anAccounting and Finance degree at BirminghamCity University.

Sarah Marsh is currently a year 13 studentfollowing courses in Business, Health and SocialCare and ICT. She is deciding which universityoffers to take up.

ReferencesBubb, S. (2010). Outward Facing Schools - The SinnottFellowship, London: Institute of Education.

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Sadly many worthy teaching initiatives imposedon busy teachers can end up becoming a tickbox exercise. When we were asked ‘to formallyembed the assessment of Personal Learning andThinking Skills’ (PLTS) into our Key Stage 4schemes of work (hot on the heels of a newspecification, Assessment for Learning grids(AfL) and Co-operative Learning structures)there was a collective sigh of ‘here we go again...’. However, despite our cynicism, we havefound the implementation of PLTS extremelyeasy and it has had clear impact on the qualityof outcomes in lessons. Oh and the studentsseem to love the lessons and buy into it.

So this article is aimed at the cynics like us. Itprovides an outline of PLTS, shows how quickly andeasily PLTS can be embedded into existing schemes ofwork and how many opportunities there are in oursubject to develop PLTS. It also gives an example ofhow we have used the PLTS framework in a GCSEBusiness Studies lesson and some of the work thatwas produced.

What are PLTS?Personal learning and thinking skills (PLTS) are aframework for describing the qualities and skillsneeded for success in learning and life. The PLTSframework was developed and refined by the QCA. Itcomprises six groups of skills:

l independent enquirers;l creative thinkers;l reflective learners;l team workers;l self-managers;l effective participants. For each group of skills, a focus statement sums upthe range of skills and qualities involved. This isaccompanied by a set of outcome statements thatdescribe the relevant skills, behaviours and personalqualities.

Our school chose to adopt a whole schoolapproach to PLTS and used the descriptions above todevelop a set of templates, an example for reflective

learners is shown in Figure 1. The wording in thecentral column is used across the school to try toachieve a consistent approach between subjects andindividual teachers. These templates formed the basisof implementation within Business Studies.

Figure 1 A template for reflective learners

PLTS and GCSE Business StudiesOur school has taken the approach whereby eachcurriculum area can choose to focus on the areas mostappropriate to that subject. We made the decision tofocus on independent enquirers, reflective learnersand team worker skills.

At a department meeting we spent thirty minutesreviewing our schemes of work, where we simplyhighlighted existing activities where we could developand assess PLTS. We agreed it was important not todo a PLTS activity in isolation, but to have a follow upactivity. This allows students to develop their skillsand set themselves targets in the first activity andthen be able to use those targets to improve their

Teaching and Learning SANDRA DONNELLY


Developing personal learning and thinkingskills in GCSE Business Studies students



Figure 2 First page of year 10 scheme of work

Developing a PLTS lessonThe first PLTS task was simple – to research twoentrepreneurs and write a mini CV for each of them,focussing on independent enquirers’ skills, as shown inFigures 3 and 4. This is described as ‘Young peopleprocess and evaluate information in theirinvestigations, planning what to do and how to goabout it. They take informed and well-reasoneddecisions.’ We used our school independentenquirers’ template (Figure 5) as the basis of ourlesson development.

Through discussion, we developed the grids. Itwas difficult, initially, to decide on the elements ofeach skill level and to describe them in a way that wastransparent to the students and which showedprogression. That said, it took longer to type thetemplate than agree the wording.

The impact of PLTS on business skillsThe grids were used with three classes of GCSEBusiness Studies students and in all cases the qualityof work produced improved compared to when thistask has been delivered previously. In all classes nostudent achieved less than a level 3, with more thanhalf achieving level 5, simply because the expectationsof them were far clearer. It was also evident thatstudents were far more self-motivated than inprevious independent research tasks and there was asignificantly higher level of focus in the classroom.

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performance in the second activity. We identified ahuge number of opportunities, some of which arehighlighted in green in the first page snapshot of ouryear 10 scheme of work in Figure 2. For us, this meant

no new activities develop; we simply need to think inthese lessons about how to promote skilldevelopment.

Figure 3 Lesson objectives

Figure 4 Mini CV



At the end of the activity students were asked toself assess their skill level and set themselves targetsfor improvement, then hand the PLTS grid in withtheir work. On the whole, self-assessment was fairlyaccurate, but where there were discrepancies betweenwhat the student did and what they think they did wewere able to give specific feedback. A number ofstudents struggled to set meaningful targets, forexample ‘work harder’ being one. In future we willaddress this by directing them to use the wordingfrom the next grid up from where they are and bygetting in pairs to help each other set targets.

Figure 5 A template for independent enquirers

Figure 6 A template for team workers

A summaryPLTS is easy to use and, in our experience, highlyeffective in developing a range of skills that are highlydesirable in business students. The ability to useexisting schemes of work and activities means PLTS arenot onerous to implement, but they do help focuslessons on individual needs and promote effectivelearning. We have since implemented PLTS skills forteam workers (shown in Figure 6) and reflectivelearning at both GCSE and AS Level with similareffect.

For more information on PLTS follow the websitelink given below. The full set of Fallibroome AcademyPLTS templates and the resources shown in this articleare available to download from the EBEA website.

With thanks to the staff at Fallibroome Academywho helped to develop this initiative.

[email protected]

http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/plts/index.aspx

Sandra Donnelly is Head of Business Studies,Economics and Enterprise, The FallibroomeAcademy, Macclesfield.

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Lesson Ideas CAROL SUMNER

Business Studies brain teasersA simple game to engage students and focus onsome key terms. The game could be set ashomework or done as part of classwork. It ispossible to extend this by asking students toidentify an example of each of the answers. Feelfree to photocopy and distribute. If you cancome up with some more of the same then sendthem in and share them with EBEA colleagues.

Example: E of S = Economies of Scale

1. AV ……………………………………………................

2. 1 o is a ST ……………………………………................

3. 4 e of the m m

…………………………………………………………...…

4. 3 S of I …………………………………….....................

5. PLC ……………………………………..........................

6. Maslow’s HoN …………………………………….........

7. S and D (market forces)

…………………………………………………………...…

8. USP ……………………………………...........................

9. TQM ……………………………………........................

10. JIT m of s c …………………………………….............

11. BEP o w tr = tc …………………………………...........

12. P,P,P and P …………………………………….............

13. 4 p in the PLC …………………………………….........

14. 4 c in the BM ……………………………………..........

15. 3 m of p (J, B and F)

…………………………………………………………...…

16. P = TR - TC ………………………………………………

17. PESTLE ……………………………………………….......

18. SWOT ..………………………………………………......

19. P&L and BS ……………………………………………...

20. AT ratio ………………………………………………....


1. AV – Added Value2. 1 o is a ST – 1 owner is a Sole Trader

3. 4 e of the m m - 4 elements of the marketing mix

4. 3 S of I – Sectors of Industry

5. PLC – Public Limited Company

6. Maslow’s HON – Hierarchy of Needs

7. S and D (market forces) – Supply and Demand

8. USP – Unique Selling Point

9. TQM – Total Quality Management

10. JIT m of s c – Just In Time method of stock control

11. BEP o w tr = tc – Break Even Point occurs where total revenue = total cost

12. P,P,P and P – Product, Price, Place and Promotion (Note – the ‘4Ps’ can be in any order)

13. 4 p in the PLC – 4 phases in the Product Life Cycle

14. 4 c in the BM – 4 categories in the Boston Matrix

15. 3 m of p (J, B and F) – 3 methods of production (Job, Batch and Flow)

16. P = TR - TC – Profit = Total Revenue - Total Costs

17. PESTLE – Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal

18. SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

19. P&L and BS – Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet

20. AT ratio – Acid Test ratio

Carol Sumner is Director of Business andEnterprise Specialism at New Mills SchoolBusiness and Enterprise College in Derbyshire.

Business Studies brain teasers – Answers

!

This is a game which may be known to a numberof students, designed to help them understandwhy people might compromise their moralstandards in order to do the ‘next deal’ or whyconsumers might carry on buying goods evenwhen they know they cannot afford them. It is auseful primer as part of a course of studycovering the ‘credit crunch’, to help explain whybankers continued to trade sub-prime debtwhen at some level they must have understoodthe risk, why the auditors turned a blind eye tothe scale and recoverability of sub-prime debtand why consumers took out loans which theycould not repay. It is also useful when looking atbehaviour such asinsider trading andthe actions of roguetraders, such asJerome Kerviel, thetrader who almostcaused the downfallof Société Générale in2008. The game can bereferred to whendiscussing collusivebehaviour inoligopolies.

Setting up thegame –requirementsA group of 8-12students.

Three packs of cardswith, say, all the fours,eights and Jacks removed. Removing the cards makesit more difficult for students to play without cheating.During the game it slowly dawns on some studentsthat certain cards are missing and hence they knowthat other students are definitely cheating. Avariation on the game can be played where, perhaps,one or two of the students are told which cards aremissing.

A table around which to play the game.

Student briefing and rulesDo not tell the students that any cards have beenremoved. Tell the students that there are three packsof cards.

The rules of the game are that:

l cards can only be put down in runs, i.e. 2,3,4 or 5,6 etc.;

l runs do not need to follow on from each other;l no doubles can be put down, i.e. 5,5 is not

allowed;l no single cards on their own can be put down;l Aces are high and cannot be used as a 1.

Leave the studentsto shuffle and dealall the cards equallyto all the players.Players in turn placecards face down inthe centre of thetable, announcingwhat they claim theyare placing down,e.g. ‘Queen, King’.The player who isfirst to get rid of alltheir cards is thewinner, but studentsare usually happy toplay on until thereare about half ofthe players left. If aplayer places theircards downclaiming, say, ‘5,6,7’and another player

thinks that they are cheating, they may call out‘cheat’. The game then pauses and the last cardsplaced down are turned over. If they are as stated, i.e.5,6,7, then the person who called ‘cheat’ picks up thepile of cards in the centre. If the cards are somethingdifferent, then the person who cheated picks up thecards. The game then continues.

Lesson Ideas CHARLOTTE DAVIES


Credit crunch cheat

Lesson Ideas


The game During the game make notes of the students’behaviour. Some of the following are usuallyobserved.

l Some students struggle to grasp how to play the game, because they do not have any runs in their hand and cannot quite believe that they will needto lie to get rid of their cards. These students often get rid of their best cards first and are then,very obviously, lying to get rid of the rest of their cards. The other students tend to either ignore this or always call that student a ‘cheat’, using that student as a smokescreen for their own cheating.

l Some students realise that it is better to lie early on and keep their best cards for later when they are desperate to get rid of their cards to finish thegame. Being caught lying early on tends to bring a lower penalty in terms of a smaller pile of cards.These students tend to be the ones that win.

l Some students go on playing and letting other players cheat for a variety of reasons.

1. They have cards that they wish to place without getting caught cheating, so they do not want to trigger off a run of people crying ‘cheat’.

2. The group focuses attention on one or a few players and ignores the behaviour of other players.

3. They want a quiet life and do not want to risk calling ‘cheat’ wrongly (‘The best of all monopoly profits is a quiet life’, JR Hicks, 1935).

After the gamel Debrief students about the game: ask them about

the strategy they used to try to win and whether it worked or not; ask why some students called ’cheat’, whilst others avoided calling; ask the students to identify which cards were missing from the packs, whether they realised this during the game and how it affected their strategy.

l Make links in the students’ comments to game theory, such as the Prisoner’s Dilemma, or to a recent event. Useful links might include the following.

The Big Four audit firms

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee:Audit Concentration Inquiry.

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committeehas been carrying out an inquiry entitled Auditors:market concentration and their role. It has beenlooking into domination of the audit market by theBig Four accountancy firms – PricewaterhouseCoopers,Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG.

The Committee explored concerns that marketdomination by a small number of firms damagescompetition and reduces choice in the audit market,as well as raising questions about the quality ofaudited accounts and possible conflicts of interestbetween the auditing and business consultancy rolesof the Big Four.

The Committee also considered whether auditorsshould have done more ahead of the banking crisis toalert investors to the riskiness of assets held by thebanks.

1. A link to the senior partners of the Big Four firms giving evidence to the enquiry. http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/practice/big-four-bosses-face-lords-335pm/463649

2. Oxera’s studies on the audit market summary. http://www.oxera.com/cmsDocuments/Press%20Releases/Oxera%20press%20release%20-%20audit%20market%20-%20October%2027th%202010.pdf

3. Restrictive audit clauses in banking agreements. http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2025145/challengers-join-forces-audit-change

The banking crisis

1. The cost of supporting banks which are too big tofail – NEF report. http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/feather-bedding-financial-services

2. The behaviour of Fred Goodwin and other senior bankers in the build up to the credit crunch. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-rise-and-fall-of-fred-the-shred-960336.html

Consumer spending on credit

1. Understanding why consumers go on spending oncredit when they do not have the resources to payoff the debt. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/2821797/Credit-crisis-brightens-sub-prime-lenders.html

Charlotte Davies teaches Business Studies atReigate Grammar School.

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The allocation of resources can be a trickyconcept for AS Economics students to grasp.This may be due to the specific terminology,which is generally outside of the typical 16 yearold’s everyday usage. How often do we ventureinto the sixth form common room and overhearconversations about ‘resource allocation’ or‘factors of production’?

Specifications require students to understand the roleof the price mechanism and how markets allocateresources (Table 1 shows some examples). Far frombeing a dull, dry topic, I feel this is one of the mostinteresting and provocative areas, and one which canbe used to most readily engage students throughtheir own experiences. In essence, this topic can beused to illustrate and underpin the primacy ofEconomics as a discipline and as a means to explaineveryday activity.

Table 1___________________________________________________AQA3.1.1 – Scarcity, choice and the allocation of resources3.1.2 – How markets and prices allocate resources

OCR3.1 – Competitive markets and how they work

Edexcel1.3.1 – What is the nature of Economics?1.3.4 – Functions of the price mechanism___________________________________________________

In John Kay’s wonderful book, The Truth AboutMarkets, he deals with notions of resource allocationin a section called ‘spontaneous order’. In thispowerful section, which I often refer to with mystudents, Kay describes a microcosm of how marketswork. His framework is that most ubiquitous featureof people’s lives today – the visit to the supermarket.As a lead into the discussion a useful task is toconsider the following questions with students.Possible anticipated responses are indicated.

When you visit a supermarket and you have yourshopping, what do you do next? Take it easy. I’ll be out of here soon enough. Try toget served/get out of the place as quickly as possible.

What is your goal? Self-interest: try to get served/get out of the place asquickly as possible.

What is your individual strategy when you go into asupermarket? Look for the shortest queue. Look for the queuewhich contains people with least items in theirbaskets. Head for the ‘10 items or less’ checkout orself-service.

What other alternatives might exist? A system where a supermarket employee directspeople to specific queues (a ‘command economy’approach).

Kay considers how, when undertaking a visit tothe supermarket, we have certain objectives. Oneimportant objective is to be served and be out of theplace as soon as possible. The achievement of thisgoal is the desired outcome. But this is not asstraightforward as it might seem and Kay expresseswhat we perhaps already know, namely, that thereare different strategies we can adopt to achieve thisgoal. His point is that, by individuals (spontaneously)acting in their own self-interest, the result is lowerwaiting times than would prevail under any othersystem that might be imposed by a central authority.This is the notion of the ‘invisible hand’.

Lesson Ideas KEITH HIRST


Resource allocation – the curious case of Tesco,the local pub and an invisible hand

Lesson Ideas


From the supermarket to the high streetStudents, when out with friends, might buy lunchfrom a local deli, a fish and chip takeaway or anestablished chain and probably not give a secondthought to why that business is supplying their needs.Come to think of it, how does the UK manage to feed60 million people three times every day? There isn’t agovernment department or official charged with thiselemental task. It just seems to happen. But why doesit just happen? The answer clearly lies in thespontaneous nature of markets, with business ownersoperating in their own self-interest to meet consumerwants.

Examples of the allocation and reallocation ofresources are all around us. Whilst sixth form studentsmay not be parlaying about spontaneous order andresource misallocation, they will know, from their ownexperience, examples of:

l people who have lost jobs and have found new, different employment;

l land that was once used for a specific purpose (factory, warehouse, railway line) but has now been redeveloped;

l retail premises that once sold electrical goods and are now coffee shops.

Resources are being allocated and reallocated all ofthe time and the reason behind this lies in the motivesand self-interest of individuals and businesses.

The invisible hand in actionThe activity detailed below, with the accompanyingpresentation, can be used as a lead-in to the idea ofresource (re)allocation or might be used as a recap ofthe topic and a vehicle to elicit deeper understanding.The resource came about as a result of a commentfrom my youngest daughter as we were driving pastwhat seemed to be a typical pub. Only on closerproximity did it become apparent that the ‘pub’ was,in fact, a Tesco Extra.

So what has happened here to turn this formerpublic house into a mini-supermarket? Demand,supply and the invisible hand have weaved their spell.One explanation lies in the demise of the British pub.The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) recentlyreported that 25 pubs close every week in the UK. In2010, 1,300 closed down. Obviously the demand forthis most traditional of establishments is declining.This, in itself, lends itself to discussion with students.Reasons include the price of beer, wine and spirits inpubs, supermarkets are much cheaper and peopleincreasingly choose to imbibe at home rather than‘down the local’. The tax on alcohol has contributedto the price increase. The BBPA reports that the tax onbeer has increased by 26% since March 2008. Facedwith higher prices consumers, acting in their own self-interest, are attracted by alternatives. Other reasonsinclude the growing emphasis on the home as the

place where people spend their free time. There is

growing evidence that we are becoming lessgregarious and prefer our own company and that ofour family, to the detriment of the local pub. The pubpictured here has fallen victim to this invisible, organicchange in people’s tastes and preferences. Alongsidethe fall in demand for the local pub is the rise of thesupermarket. Growing demand for the varied waresof even the smallest supermarket has had a majorimpact on high streets across the UK. Pubs have notbeen immune. An added factor is the fact that Tesco,with almost 25% market share in the supermarketindustry, has had to find other means of expanding.One arena is the convenience store market, whereplenty of scope exists for expansion. It is thereforerational for businesses like Tesco to move resourcesinto this type of market. Demand exists.

Let us underscore the processes at play here. Nogovernment organisation or individual made the pubclose down. The market dealt its verdict and theowners, in their own interests, chose to close down.Similarly, no-one made Tesco open the Tesco Extrastore in its place. As a private sector enterprise, itsmanagers made a judgement that this would be aprofitable decision. The invisible hand of the marketmechanism has been at work. In doing so it ischanging the very nature of many high streets andcommunities. Whether this is good thing or not isanother debate, but one about which our studentswill certainly have their own views and will probablybe keen to contribute. By such real-life, realisticexamples we can engage them in the fundamentals ofEconomic analysis and help secure theirunderstanding.

Learning activityPreparationLoad the Powerpoint presentation (available from theEBEA website).

ActivityGo through the slides and allow students to spot thechange in use – allocation – of the building from apub to a small supermarket. Slide 7 offers a summaryof points, although is not intended to be exhaustive.

Extension activityAsk students to carry out some simple research intochanging resource allocation. This could be done bybringing images into the next lesson which show howresources are being allocated. For example,‘traditional’ petrol stations may be increasinglyconverted to hand car wash (a similar analysis to theabove can be applied to this) and there is a growingnumber of coffee shops in town and city centres.

Homework task Bring to the next lesson/email your teacher with animage demonstrating resource (re)allocation in yourlocal area.

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Lesson Ideas


Keith Hirst is Assistant Headteacher at Wickersley School and Sports College, Rotherhamand is also an experienced author and Chief Examiner for GCSE Business and Economics fora major awarding body.

25

Managing Departments AMY CROFT

Ideas on increasing the number andcalibre of students who chooseBusiness and Economics

‘To live is to choose. But to choose well, youmust know who you are and what you stand for,where you want to go and why you want to getthere.’ (Kofi Annan)

One of the main problems faced by manyBusiness and Economics departments is inrecruiting sufficient numbers and quality ofstudents to follow examination courses. Unlikesubjects such as history and geography, moststudents below year 10 do not get much of achance to have any contact with Business andEconomics. Once students have opted in year 12the battle is on to encourage them to continuetheir studies through to A2. In this article, AmyCroft outlines some of the strategies adopted bythe Business and Economics department atLoreto Grammar School to recruit and retainstudents.

I’m sure that you’ll all recognise the routine at theend of year 9 or year 11 options evenings: theexhaustion, the quiet reflection, the cup of tea (orsomething stronger) and then bed. Initially Iconsidered that I had exhausted my quota of wordsfor the day on the parents and students inattendance. That must be the reason my boyfriendwas suddenly dating a mime artist! I thought that itwas just me, an NQT, worn out from explaining: (a)what Business Studies involves; (b) what Economicsinvolves; and (c) the difference between them(obvious, surely?).

Finding sleep difficult because of the adrenalinestill pumping from the evening, my mind starts towander and the doubts start forming. Had I explainedit all clearly enough? Had I communicated my passionfor the subject? Had I conveyed the prestige of thesubjects enough? Had I demonstrated the variety ofteaching methods we use? Had I attracted motivatedstudents, to raise attainment levels? Had I enticedanybody at all into choosing Business at GCSE andBusiness or Economics at A-Level? And so the story

begins of my quest to raise the profile of BusinessStudies and Economics within my school.

As an options subject, we have to enter into theworld of competition for students whether we like itor not. Yes, it’s sad that there is an element of salesand marketing that has to take place on suchevenings, but isn’t getting pupils interested andexcited about the subject one of the reasons that westarted this exhausting career in the first place? Ihave faced particular challenges this year. I am in aschool for girls and whilst in 2010 girls achieved moreA/A*s than boys, nationally, our department still hadfewer entries into Economics A-Level than we wouldhave liked. Second, Economics A-Level was onlyintroduced as an option in 2009, (at the request ofthe students) and three of the other competing A-Level options have a record of exceptionally goodresults.

One of the biggest issues faced is the level ofignorance about what Economics is and what sort oftopics students could expect to cover at A-Level.Clearly, during options evening, all teachers highlighttheir subject’s strengths and USPs. So we have nowtaken a more holistic approach. Rather than focus onthe hard sell during just one evening, we have nowdecided to take a softer but more widespreadapproach.

The strategiesAll our Key Stage 4 and 5 tutor groups competeagainst one another in a ‘Social Science News Quiz’ –think University Challenge but less intimidating. Thecompetition will culminate in a final in the mainschool hall, with a prize (currently under negotiation).This has helped to spark interest in Business andEconomics, takes minutes to prepare (a Sundaynewspaper and a couple of questions per colleague),illustrates the dynamic nature of the subjects andearns whole school brownie points for providing a funactivity during tutor time.


Managing Departments


We have also found a ‘Question of the Week’board to be similarly effective. This involves a blankwhiteboard in one of the teaching classrooms with apertinent question on it each week (also useful for astarter or mid-lesson break should you need it).Questions can be written by students, but are typicallydone by teaching staff to evoke responses from thestudents at a suitably high level. This also ignites thecuriosity of any students who happen to be in thatroom, resulting in discussions focused on Economicsand Business.

In order to appeal to the ’utility maximisers’ wesow the idea that ‘Business & Economics are fun’ intostudents’ consciousness. This includes trips to AltonTowers and other local businesses. Students have anamazing ability to gossip and such adventure is soonpassed on through word of mouth advertising. Thefinal ‘fun factor’ so far this term has been provided bya guest speaker. It’s almost offensive how just havingsomebody else saying exactly what you would havedone is so much more exciting to a class! Of course,we were aided by the fact that we are a girls’ schooland the guest speaker was a professional sportsmanwho happens to be 6’4’’ and rather dashing. Talkabout free publicity! I think it even made Facebook(that master of marketing tools) with a ‘Double Bus issooo much better when someone FIT comes in to yourlesson’!

DepthWe have GCSE Business students continuing throughto A-Level, but the question is how do we attractstudents who have never experienced these subjects?This is where depth comes in. I needed to accessyounger students in the school who did not know menor anyone in the department and did not know what

Business Studies was about. I’m sure that most of youalready run Young Enterprise programmes with adegree of success. My school is not unusual in usingYoung Enterprise to promote the subject, but schoolsseldom seem to use year 10 to form the company(especially when there is a sixth form). This helps uspromote Business and Economics lower down theschool – we actually launch it during a year 9 assemblyin the summer term when the existing company hasbeen wrapped up. Aiming at PR lower down theschool, we have also recently participated in a ‘Makeit Challenge’, provided free by the ManufacturingInstitute (events dependent on your region), which isessentially equivalent to enterprise days not dissimilarto those run in many schools at KS4. This challenge,however, is aimed at year 9s (providing anotheropportunity to advertise the subjects and thedepartment during an assembly). Students who takepart in the challenge are out of school for the day andare responsible for generating their own publicity.

As students make that important decision abouttheir options choices, all this publicity and effort doeslead to an increase in the number of students who‘want in’ on all this activity and excitement,particularly when they see the photographs of theecstatic faces on our newly erected departmentalnotice board.

BreadthThere is a range of other activities that need nointroduction to fellow professionals, includingexternal revision workshops, debate forums andcompetitions on the virtual learning environment(VLE), trips abroad and even the use of the headteacher as a guest speaker on leadership (aninteresting angle given that many students do not

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Managing Departments


consider the head teacher to be a ‘leader’). All ofthese have been invaluable in generating discussionand interest in the subject, but an equally successfulroute is that of personal endorsement.

Being new to the school, I have chosen to beheavily involved in the wider school community. Thisincludes events such as attending a charity ladiesnight (having coerced staff into attending for mystudents’ sake), or standing freezing by the side of anetball court for 5 hours. Making this humanconnection with students is a simple way to attractboth their time and respect in return, leading toincreased uptake.

ExtensionSo what of the calibre of students? If numbers are up,hopefully we should see an increase in the gifted andtalented students choosing the subject too?Traditionally Business Studies has suffered from beingthrown in with other ‘Studies’ subjects that studentsfear top universities don’t hold in high esteem, andEconomics has suffered because the most ablestudents are choosing traditional subjects such asMaths or the Sciences. To address this, thedepartment has introduced some new extensionopportunities, as well as publicising more heavily itsexisting activities.

One such activity is MUN (Model United Nations)which I had not encountered during my PGCE.Essentially it is a simulation of the United Nations thataims to educate participants about current events,topics in international relations, diplomacy and theUnited Nations agenda. Doing this does come with awarning – not only does it require numerous higherlevel thinking skills (e.g. independent research andsynthesis, negotiation, analysis of policies and activelistening) but also demands some plucky students whoare able to speak publicly (and persuasively) in a roomfull of strangers, and following an unfamiliar format.

No doubt many of you are aware of and alreadyparticipate in The Times & Bank of England Target 2.0Challenge. This year I took a team comprising bothEconomics and Business Studies students. The BusinessStudies group had not studied external influences atthis time and so were terrified but it did serve to givethem a sense of the significance of what they arelearning about. The major difference this year is thatcertificates, printed by The Times to prove studentshad participated in the competition and to thankthem for doing so, were given out in KS5 assembly(and this helped to encourage the year 12 Economics

students to continue their studies onto A2, given thatparticipation in the competition is a useful addition totheir UCAS applications). In addition, the news waspublished in the whole school news bulletin thatstudents of all years, and importantly their parents,take home to read over the Christmas holiday.

Most recently the department has participated ina newly launched Literary & Philosophical Society,essentially a Friday lunchtime event for students toattend and participate in an extension activity similarto that which they may join at university. Topics arewide ranging, from feminism to the troubles inNorthern Ireland, or the pre-determination of gender.The effect for Business and Economics students andthe department is threefold: 1, wide publicity throughleading a debate on any controversial issue, e.g.corporate social responsibility; 2, the opportunity toask questions and listen to answers after speakershave opened up the floor so that students can see justhow everything can be a Business / Economic issue;and 3, interaction with students that may otherwisenever have been taught by or had any contact withthe Business and Economics department.

So are these strategies working? Has it beenworth it? The answer is ‘yes’. GCSE numbers haveincreased, A-Level uptake is up in both Business andEconomics and the current A2 Economics students are(touch wood) all on for A*s in August! The wholeprocess has cemented us together as professionals in adepartment that we are all proud to be a part of (andof course whose support I could not do without).With fingers crossed I now rest easy thinking aboutthe new classes in September, by which time I willprobably be wishing for the days of single digit classnumbers!

Amy Croft teaches Business and Economics atLoreto Grammar school for Girls in Altrincham,Cheshire. Amy did her PGCE in BusinessEducation at the University of Manchester.

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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)website is a useful source of informationproviding interesting case studies in relation tomarketing and advertising. The caseshighlighted by the ASA are often controversialand interesting and useful in stimulatingstudent interest and generating discussion tohelp build analytical and evaluative skills. Theexplosion of online advertising presents newchallenges for regulation and this article willhighlight the main changes which have beenmade to the ASA’s remit with regard to onlineadvertising.

The name Advertising Standards Authority shouldprompt the words ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’to pour unconsciously from students’ pens. SinceMarch 2011, this phrase can now be applied tomarketing claims on companies’ own websites and onthird party space under their control, such asFacebook or Twitter. While the regulatory frameworkhad already protected internet users from companiesrunning misleading or inappropriate advertisementsfor their goods or services on other people’s websites,such as using pop-up adverts, banners or in emails, itseems extraordinary that, with the World Wide Webcoming into its own in the mid-90s, it has taken overfifteen years to extend further the ASA’s remit onlineto companies’ own websites in order to providegreater protection to consumers.

‘This significant extension of the ASA’s remithas the protection of children andconsumers at its heart. We have receivedover 4,500 complaints since 2008 aboutmarketing communications on websites thatwe couldn’t deal with, but from 1 Marchanyone who has a concern about amarketing communication online will beable to turn to the ASA.’

ASA Chairman Lord Chris Smith – September 2010

This regulation has come close on the heels of the

Unfair Trading Regulations. These regulations (fulltitle – Consumer Protection from Unfair TradingRegulations) came into force in 2008 and replacedand strengthened much of the previous consumerprotection legislation, including the repeal of almostevery part of the once-favourite of business students,the Trade Descriptions Act. Now, with thoseregulations and this extension to the ASA regulatoryframework, the consumer safety net is spread evenwider.

Advertising Codes applied by the ASA lay downrules for advertisers and media owners to follow andare designed to ensure that advertising does notmislead, harm or offend. As with everything aroundlegislation, regulatory standards and codes ofpractice, aspects of this Code can be complex.However, to give students a simple summary, it issufficient to state that this new regulation covers thefollowing.

l Marketing communications on companies’ own websites. So, in the case of, say, a complaint thata children’s furniture website was showing imagesof children in an inappropriate or harmful way, this would now be the subject of investigation by the ASA, in the same way as misinformation in a newspaper or on a billboard would have previously been investigated.

l Marketing communications by companies on other third party space under their control, i.e. web space marketed and provided by another organisation but over which users have control of some of its content. Typical examples of third party space of this nature are social networking sites such as a company’s Facebook or Twitter pages. The same children’s furniture company therefore would have to be sure that any images or statements it might make extolling the virtues of its goods on social networking sites pass the ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’ test.

To grasp fully the implications of this regulation,it is important to understand the ASA definition of a

Business Update MARGARET HANCOCK


How new advertising regulationaffects social networking sites

Business Update


marketing communication and how this could impacton social media sites such as Facebook. A marketingcommunication is seen as an ‘invitation to purchase’.In an article for the November 2010 edition of NewMedia Age, the trade magazine for businesses usinginteractive media to communicate with theircustomers, the ASA gave the following example.

‘If a company makes a statement on itsTwitter feed saying “Great half-price offerson all men’s jumpers in store today” itwould fall within remit – because it’s clearlya marketing communication. Whereas ifthey tweet “Quarterly results are 10% up onlast year” this is clearly not a marketingcommunication and therefore falls outsideof the remit.’

Classroom discussions may inevitably turn to thequestion of user-generated content (UGC). UGCcomprises comments made by users on interactivewebsites such as wikis, social networks or blogs. Sosomeone might write a blog stating that using CollinsRevision Guides guarantees that you will pass yourexams, or on Facebook that drinking Irn-Bru curedtheir spots. Those businesses have no control overwhat people might write on these sites and acomplaint about such things would not beinvestigated by the ASA. However, if a companydecided to adopt some UGC and incorporate it into itsown marketing communications on its website or asocial networking site, that would fall within theremit of the ASA.

This newly acquired weapon in the ASA batterycould prove to be of considerable interest to ourmembers, not least of course because it is a landmarkregulatory development of which business studentsneed to be aware as part of their knowledge andunderstanding of consumer protection. It should alsoprove to be an engaging topic. Asking the question,‘Who knows what new advertising regulations nowcover Facebook?’, may well be a way of capturing theattention of the class. Thinking beyond the world ofbusiness studies and wearing your PSHE, citizenshipand/or life-skills hats, however, it is an ideal cross-curricular opportunity to raise awareness amongst ouryoung people of the need to be discerning andevaluative when viewing marketing claims in themedia, and of the subliminal nature of internetadvertising – perhaps the advert we catch out of thecorner of our eye as we are emailing or the pop-upwe quickly shut down. Ofcom reports that, in the UK,social networking accounts for nearly a quarter of all

time spent on the Internet, with 61 per cent of 15-34sclaiming to be accessing social networking sites. Theprotection for our young people in their use of theInternet has now been enhanced by furtherregulations around the relentless bombardment ofadvertising.

To finish off, moving out of the digital age to goback almost 100 years, I offer you this quotation,which may possibly be familiar to some of you. It could be a useful starter for a lesson on advertisingregulation.

‘Advertising is the art of convincing peopleto spend money they don't have forsomething they don't need.’ Will Rogers – American comedian 1879-1935

Margaret Hancock is a retired teacher ofBusiness Studies and a former PrincipalExaminer for a major awarding body. She is theEBEA Website Manager.

References and acknowledgementsWith thanks to Matthew Wilson, Press Officer, AdvertisingStandards Authority, for his additional comments whichhave been incorporated into this article.

Further information on this topic:http://www.asa.org.uk/Media-Centre/2010/ASA-digital-remit-extension.aspx

About the ASA: http://www.asa.org.uk/About-ASA/Who-we-are.aspx

Advertising Codes: http://www.cap.org.uk/The-Codes.aspx

Ofcom reference: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2010/08/tv-phones-and-internet-take-up-almost-half-our-waking-hours/

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Cameroon: where has it gone wrongand what signs of optimism are there?This article has been written by Nye Williams, astudent at St Paul’s School. It looks at theAfrican country of Cameroon and covers some ofthe key economic data relating to the countryand some of the portents for the future. It couldbe used as a case study with students coveringDevelopment Economics. Nye has added somequestions at the end to help build some of theunderstanding and the skills linked with studiesof Development Economics.

Cameroon, sometimesknown as the ‘hingeof Africa’, is a ‘small’West African country,about the samegeographical size asCalifornia. Favourablecomparisons stopthere. Cameroon, aFrench colony until1961, has per capitaGDP (PPP basis) of$2,300 compared toCalifornia’s $42,300.Set against the $1,060per capita GDP of itsfellow sub-SaharanAfrican countries,Cameroon looks lessof a struggler.Nevertheless, with itsmeasly wealthdistributed unequally(in 2005 the UnitedNations DevelopmentProgramme estimatedCameroon’s Gini co-efficient at 0.44), as many as 40 per cent of Cameroonians live inpoverty. Cameroon is not without natural advantages;it has a 402 km coastline from which to trade and arange of natural resources to exploit, includingbauxite, iron ore, timber and oil. Yet this hasn’t addedup to economic success. Why has economic successeluded Cameroon? What are the problems and arethere solutions that offer hope? I will highlight three

related aspects of Cameroon’s plight – its neighbours,its over-dependence on commodities and its low shareof foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa.

In his book ‘The Bottom Billion’, Paul Collier(Oxford, 2007) develops a model to explain whyAfrican countries have failed economically. Collier’smodel identifies a number of ‘traps’, several of whichapply to Cameroon. The first trap is being ‘landlockedby bad neighbours’. Though not landlocked,

Cameroon is located ina ‘very badneighbourhood’. In thenorth it borders theCentral AfricanRepublic and Chad, inthe east and south, theDemocratic Republic ofCongo, EquatorialGuinea and Gabon andin the west, Nigeria. Allof these neighbours,most notably Chad andthe Central AfricanRepublic (CAR), havesuffered civil wars andinstability as rivalpolitical groups, oftenwith tribal roots,quarrel to control thewealth created bynatural resources,especially oil.

Cameroon hasavoided civil war. Italso has politicalinstitutions that look

democratic. The badnews is that underlying

this relative ‘stability’, the multi-party political systemhas been abused by President Paul Biya since he cameto power in 1982, corruption is rife and governmenttax revenues and aid flows are wasted or stolen byofficials. In the 2010 corruption index, published byTransparency UK, Cameroon was ranked 146th out of182 countries surveyed. Regional political instability

Business Update NYE WILLIAMS


Figure 1 Cameroon

Business Update


also undermines economic development in Cameroonand makes it hard to do business there. According tonew International Finance Corporation (IFC)(Washington DC, 2011) data published at the start of2011, Cameroon is the 168th most difficult country inthe world for doing business. Having chaotic, lowgrowth neighbours certainly doesn’t help and meansthat Cameroon has enjoyed no spill-over benefits fromthe economic successes of others. The Chad-Cameroonoil pipeline project, commissioned in 2000 and fundedby the World Bank, was the most notable attempt togenerate mutual benefits for Cameroon and aneighbouring country. The project aimed to developChad’s oil resources, reduce its people’s poverty and tobring benefits to Cameroon through oiltransportation revenues and improving stability acrossthe border. In the event, the failure of the Chadgovernment to use its wealth to alleviate domesticpoverty (a precondition for the loans) caused theWorld Bank to hold back project funding (BBC Newsonline, London, 12 January 2006) and prevented anybenefits for the region arriving before the globalrecession set in during 2008.

Cameroon suffers from primary productdependency centred on oil and cocoa. Non-manufactured goods account for over 28 per cent ofGDP. Alongside oil and cocoa, the other‘big 4’ exports are timber, coffee, cottonand palm oil. Manufactured goods exportis in its infancy, accounting for less than 10per cent of GDP (CIA World Factbook,Langley, 2011) The scale of this primarydependency is less than that of neighbourssuch as Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil and gasexporter, but Cameroon’s economy isnevertheless highly sensitive to externalprice and volume demand in oil and cocoa.This sensitivity is measurable using thePrebisch-Singer Thesis, which expresses acountry’s terms of trade as:

Terms of Trade = Px/Pm = index of the value ofexports (x) relative to imports (m)

Calculated in this way, a basket of primaryproducts with an index value of 180 in 1960 had fallento 80 by 2000. Within this trend there have beencycles, where single, groups or all primarycommodities will have risen in value. Overall,however, primary product dependent countries havefaced export value deflation for the past 40 years.Under this model, worsening terms of trade forceprimary producers to export more to fund theirimport bills or face mounting balance of paymentsdeficits (m>x). The necessary increase in the volume ofexports can have the counter-productive risk of

creating a glut, sustaining weak prices and so creatinga terms of trade downward spiral.

Consistent balance of payments deficits result inthe accumulation of external debt, usually providedby multi-national lenders such as the World Bank, bysingle trading partner countries in the form of exportcredit debt or by commercial bank loans. In 2009,Cameroon’s balance of payments was slightly positive,though annual deficits had averaged 2 per cent ofGDP each year since 2002. Its external debt stood at$2.7 billion in 2010, around 10 per cent of GDP.

Cameroon has made progress in external debtreduction and is one of those countries that is eligibleunder the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) planfor debt forgiveness. The country’s level of debt pointsto a lack of trade competitiveness, with all its knock-on effects. Its commodity exports pay for the capitalgoods imports that are essential to diversifying theeconomic base. Cameroon’s main imports aremachinery, electrical equipment and transportequipment from trading partners such as France (21per cent share of imports in 2009) Nigeria (10.7 percent), China (10.2 per cent), Belgium (6.6 per cent) andthe US (4.3 per cent). Cameroon’s slowindustrialisation means that 70 per cent of the

population is still engaged in agriculture andonly 15 per cent each in industry and services(World Bank Country Data). Furthermore,agriculture represents just 20 per cent ofeconomic output, suggesting that it isinefficient and in need of investment. ThusCameroon has not reached the development‘take-off’ which Rostow so forcefully arguedwas a precursor to self-sustaining economicgrowth, the point where changes in labourdistribution conform to the Lewis Two-SectorModel.

Under this model, workers in agriculture,having a marginal revenue productivity (MRP) of zero,can move to the cities without a loss of output andbecome part of an emerging manufacturingworkforce. This dynamic has been central to theindustrialisation of all economies since the Britishagricultural and industrial revolutions of the 18th and19th centuries. Driving Cameroon to that take-offpoint, in the absence of large domestic savings (S=I),seems likely to require a substantial increase inforeign direct investment.

After the experience of colonisation in the 19thand early 20th century, African leaders have notalways been friendly to foreign investors, oftenplacing restrictions on trade and investment links withformer colonial powers like the UK and France. Before

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Business Update


1989, Cameroon‘s trade policy was protectionist, withnon-tariff barriers and punishing tariffs on selectedimported and exported products. This regime resultedin Cameroon being one of the lowest recipients of FDIamong developing countries until the 1990s. FDI inCameroon has been narrowly focused on exploitingnatural resources, such as oil and minerals. Foreigncompanies and governments are accused of havingcorrupted local political elites and having supportedpoor governance in the interest of resourceexploitation. In this way, as Collier (Oxford, 2007)explains it, the ‘resource trap’ of primary commoditydependence and the ‘governance trap’ represented bycorrupt elites and weak political institutions havebeen mutually reinforcing.

Beyond resource projects, where the returns oftenjustify the higher investment risk being taken, foreigndirect investors generally have shied away frominvesting in badly run countries in ‘badneighbourhoods’ within Africa. According to theWorld Investment Report, (UNCTAD, 2010), Africareceived just 5 per cent of all world FDI flowscompared to 10 per cent received by Latin and SouthAmerica and 30 per cent by developing Asiancountries. As FDI tends to be a force for globaleconomic integration its absence, as a supplement tothe domestic savings/investment gap, has stuntedCameroon’s development, and that of sub-SaharanAfrica as a whole. Figures from the World Bank(African Development Indicators, 2004) show that sub-

Saharan Africa had an aggregate savings/investmentgap of 2 per cent of GDP in the decade 1975-84 whichclosed to 0 per cent in 1985-94, but which widenedagain to more than 1 per cent during the period 1995-2002 (see Figure 2). Since 2002 this gap has almostcertainly widened again due to the low growth andpersistent current account deficits which Cameroonhas run in the period.

While the world, excluding Africa, has beenintegrating through FDI and globalisation, sub-Saharan Africa’s share of global trade has halved from3.1 per cent to 1.4 per cent since 1980. Without FDI ona significant scale, Cameroon is failing to capture thebenefits FDI brings, namely employment generation,increased skill levels for local workers, access tomodern technology and the infrastructuredevelopment necessary to support moderncorporations. As a result only 10 per cent ofCameroon’s roads are paved, 11 out of 34 airportshave paved runways and only 193,000 fixed linetelephones are in place (CIA World Factbook, 2011).So far Cameroon’s FDI record is confined to small-scaleinvestments in resource and food sectors. Thegovernment has been working with the World Bankand the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a seriesof programmes to clean up its intellectual propertyregime, its banking system and raise the efficiency ofagriculture to support the export of processed foods.These are small but important steps forward.

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Figure 2 Gap betweensavings andinvestment in sub-Saharan Africa(as a % of GDP)

Source: adapted fromWorld Bank AfricanDevelopmentIndicators, 2004.

Business Update


Given the nature and scale of the problems I haveidentified as critical to Cameroon – its neighbours, itsoverdependence on commodities and its low share offoreign direct investment – are there any grounds foroptimism, especially given the difficult globaleconomic environment?

Internally, in Cameroon, achieving the post-completion point status under HIPC for debt relief is aclear positive, as is IMF-led reform of governance andbanking. The Cameroon government has also recentlyannounced a long-term development strategy knownas ‘Vision 2035’. For the first 10 years, 2010-20, a‘Growth Employment Strategy Paper’ (GESP) will serveas a framework for policy. The GESP focuses onboosting GDP growth to an annual average rate of 5.5per cent, cutting underemployment from 75.8 percent to under 50 per cent by creating more ‘formal’jobs, and reducing poverty levels substantially. Thisprogramme is good news but ironically, the biggestreason to be cheerful is that Cameroon’s neighboursare getting their act together.

Gabon, a classic ‘Bottom Billion’ country which hassuffered a corrupt elite impoverishing its people for41 years since its independence from France, hasannounced $4.5 billion of agriculture andinfrastructure ventures funded by Indian andSingaporean investors. The Financial Times (London,16/08/10) calls it the ‘biggest investment package byAsian powers in Africa’. In the same month, Nigeria,sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest oil and gas producer andCameroon’s giant neighbour, announced theprivatisation of its power generation and distributioncompanies in an attempt to attract capital frominvestors in Canada, Saudi Arabia, China and India.These projects suggest that West Africa, Cameroon’sneighbourhood, is now in the sights of investors fromAsia where the world’s greatest capital surpluses areheld. A Financial Times editorial (London, 26/08/10)argued that the Chinese ‘are doing business andstriking deals all over Africa’ and that theinfrastructure that the Chinese are building will have‘positive spin-off effects for industries outside naturalresources’. As Collier’s (Oxford, 2007) analysis shows,such neighbourly improvements matter. Collier hascalculated that, on average, if a country’s neighboursgrow by an additional 1 per cent, the country itselfgrows by an additional 0.4 per cent. So, perhaps,Cameroon’s luck is changing. A set of neighbours withabundant resources, rising FDI, improvinginfrastructure and improving human and industrialcapital may be the spur that Cameroon needs to shiftits own economy along the development runway.

Nye Williams is studying A-level Economics,along with Maths, Chemistry and Physics, at StPaul's School, London. He was awarded theSchool’s Chibnall Prize for Economics for thisessay and was a recipient of the Barnett Prizefor Economics. He hopes to read Economics atUniversity next year.

Questions1. To what extent does Cameroon’s failure to grow

serve as a lesson to other sub-Saharan African countries?

2. Discuss the gains to be had from increased Foreign Direct Investment.

3. Evaluate the impact of increased oil prices on the Cameroon economy. (Note Cameroon is a net exporter of Oil.)

4. To what extent does government corruption, such as in Cameroon, play a part in the decision making process of foreign investors?

5. Discuss, with reference to a developing economy you have studied, how geographical location and factor endowments can help or hinder growth.

Bibliography1. Berthelemy, Jean-Claude, ‘Will there be new

emerging countries in Africa by the year 2020?’, IMF Working Paper, August 2002.

2. BBC News online, London, ’Chad defies World Bank over Oil’, 12 January, 2006.

3. Brautigam, Deborah A and Knack, Stephen, ‘Foreign Aid, Institutions, and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa’, January 2004.

4. CIA, The World Factbook. www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.

5. Collier, Paul, The Bottom Billion, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007.

6. Dupasquier, Chantal and Osakwe, PN, Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: Performance, Challenges and Responsibilities, African Trade Policy Centre Work in Progress, No. 21, 2005.

7. International Finance Corporation, Washington DC, www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/cameroon/.

8. The Financial Times, London, ‘Gabon to get $4.5bn Asian Investment’, 16 August, 2010.

9. The Financial Times, London, ‘Scramble for Africa’, 26 August, 2010.

10. Transparency International UK: Corruption Perceptions Index, 2010, www.transparency.org.

11. World Bank Country Data, Washington DC, 2011, http://data.worldbank.org/country/cameroon.

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Despite the considerable publicity surroundinglearning disabilities in the last ten years, thereare still large numbers of teachers who havelittle or no understanding of one of the mostcommon forms of learning disability – dyslexia.This article provides a timely reminder of thisimportant learning difficulty and outlines somebasic strategies for both teachers and students.There are many challenges facing education andteachers today; from issues of finance andpolicy to literacy, communication needs anddyslexia. Arguably, the latter is one of the mostfundamental issues for both teachers and pupilsalike.

The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) estimates that10% of the UK population, which equates to 6.18million people, suffers from dyslexia and 4% has asevere form of the condition. Using the 10% rule ofthe BDA, this figure would be the equivalent of730,000 pupils in the UK suffering from dyslexiawithin state funded primary, secondary and specialschools. This means that, within any classroom, thereis a high chance that at least one pupil will havedyslexia.

The challenge facing teachers the length andbreadth of the country is how to ensure quality oflearning in a way that will support all students –including those who suffer from this condition.

So what is dyslexia?Awareness of dyslexia has grown dramatically overthe last few decades and this interest has led to anindependent report by Sir Jim Rose, who created thecurrent accepted working definition:

‘Dyslexia is a learning difficulty thatprimarily affects the skills involved inaccurate and fluent word reading andspelling.’

The disability, if undiagnosed and not supportedcorrectly, can severely affect pupils’ learningthroughout their journey through the educationsystem and beyond. It can impact on the person’sability to comprehend, making it more difficult tolearn through standard training methods.

Although the problems of a dyslexic student are notalways obviously visible, dyslexic students experiencegenuine difficulties, such as visual tracking, auditoryperception and organisation.

Pupils without an appropriate intervention or strategyfor dealing with dyslexia can develop a negativeoutlook to learning and a poor self-image. Due tothe stigma often associated with dyslexia, pupils withthe condition can be ashamed and embarrassed toadmit they have a learning disability.

So what support happens in school?Classroom teachers are responsible for assisting in thediagnosis process of dyslexic pupils, most noticeablyidentifying pupils at risk. Some key identifiers ofdyslexia that a teacher should look out for arephonological awareness (the connection betweensounds and the letters that produce them), verbalmemory, attention, mixing up left and right,organisation and sequencing. When the teachernotices that a pupil is demonstrating any of thesecharacteristics then raising concerns with the SpecialEducation Needs Coordinator (SENCO) is the first portof call. In most cases the SENCO assesses the pupil inquestion and decides whether to pursue the issuefurther via formal assessment.

After this diagnosis takes place, it becomes theresponsibility of the classroom teacher to cater fordyslexic pupils through differentiation. This adds tothe teacher’s ever growing landscape of work, whichcan be extremely labour intensive. What can makethis particularly labour intensive is tailoring materialsand resources to the requirements of the individuallearning needs of every dyslexic pupil. This is a bigtask, combined with the rest of the work scope:planning lessons, creating materials, teaching a fulltimetable, marking, extracurricular activities andparents’ evenings.

However, although strategies should be tailoredto each learner’s needs, a kit bag of tools is a usefulteaching support and there are small, generic changeswhich can be made to everyday teaching methodswhich would allow dyslexic students to achieve at thesame level as students who are not dyslexic.

Professional Development KIRK DODDS


Support for dyslexic pupils in the classroom

Professional Development


Table 1 Useful techniques for teaching dyslexic pupils

Table 1 highlights some useful techniques for teachingdyslexic pupils that can greatly improve academicprogress.

Source: adapted from The Rose Report 2009: Identifying and teaching children and young people with dyslexia andliteracy difficulties.

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Teaching technique Explanation

Chunking – oneinstruction at a time

If you have a lot of information or instructions to give, break it down intoshorter ‘chunks’ of language.

Re-ordering Say things in the order you want them to be done. So, instead of ‘Before youwrite your homework down, clear away the equipment’ say ‘Clear away theequipment. Then write down your homework.’

Cut down the amount yousay

Studies have shown that in some classrooms adults talk for up to 90% of thetime. Think about structuring lessons and activities so there is a mixture ofactivity-type.

Slow down Even slowing down your talking a bit means that students will give longerresponses and will say more. This doesn’t mean that you have to start talkingin a ‘sing-song’ voice.

Give visual support: usegestures, thinking/conceptmaps, demonstration andquick sketches

Visual support can take many different forms. Young people with dyslexia findinformation easier to understand and process if it is supplemented bysomething with a strong visual impact.

This could be a natural gesture, facial expression, use of pictures, video, quickdrawings on the whiteboard, using the interactive whiteboard, linking to theInternet, using real objects, demonstrating or showing instead of telling, orusing mind maps on the board.

Avoid idioms, sarcasmand double meanings

We all use phrases such as ‘off you go’ or ‘get your thinking caps on’ or usetone of voice to show meaning, for example when using the phrase ‘Oh that’sjust great!’. These can be really difficult for young people with dyslexia whomay easily take them literally or get the wrong end of the stick (there’sanother one). Be aware of times when you use language that is inferential ormay have a double meaning.

Simplify the grammar We often use a complex sentence when a simpler one would do just as well.Some sentences are very difficult for young people with dyslexia to understand,such as ones using the passive tense. Try to simplify your sentences.

Pausing after you haveasked a question

We know that adults often pause far too briefly when they have asked aquestion before switching from one child to another, or jumping in withanother question.

Young people with dyslexia often need more ‘processing time’ to get theirthoughts together and formulate a response. Waiting longer for a responsecan greatly help these students to engage and contribute.

Commenting For pupils with dyslexia, commenting on what they are doing, and pausing,rather than asking questions, encourages dialogue and supports their thinkingand learning, for example ‘So, businesses need capital to grow...’/ ’ I wonderwhat would happen if …’.



Strategies and coping mechanismsIt is not solely teaching techniques which help thedyslexic child to be successfully integrated into theclassroom environment, but the strategies that theycan adopt. Successful strategies can not only improvethe student's classroom performance, but can helpthem throughout the rest of their lives.

Table 2 Useful strategies that dyslexic pupils couldutiliseSource: adapted from The Rose Report 2009: Identifying and teaching children and young people with dyslexia and literacy difficulties.

Table 2 illustrates a number of strategies that dyslexicpupils could utilise to benefit their classroomexperience and daily lives.

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Strategy Details

Structure to note taking Be prepared. Students need to make sure that they have completed anybackground reading or preparation before the lesson and have made a note ofany important questions.Using a linear or patterned format to note the main points as key words andphrases.

Organise linear notes When utilising a linear format to notes, it’s beneficial if a wide-lined A4 paper isused, which leaves wide margins on both edges of the sheets and gaps foradditions or corrections.

Organise pattern notes When using pattern notes (sometimes referred to as spidergrams) use plain orcoloured paper, depending on the pupil’s preference, in a landscape positionand make use of coloured pens.

Organise notes generic Additional to the style of note taking, some generic advice is writing only onone side of each page so that extra pages can be inserted later. After thesession the notes may need organising or reorganising. A good idea is: Main point > Supporting points > Summary.Of assistance to a high majority of dyslexic pupils is using particular colours ofpaper, folders or dividers for different subjects/topics.

Useful strategies Children can be helped to better organise their tasks if they are taught how to:• skim and scan a page;• sort the information;• determine priorities;• make considered judgements.

Notes from textbooks Pupils who are making notes from textbooks should be encouraged to:• get an overview of the chapter by reading the first and last paragraphs and

by taking note of any headings, subheadings, maps, charts and diagrams;• make a note of the book, chapter and page for later reference;• think carefully about the key point as they read each paragraph – the

‘essence’ of the paragraph and what the supporting details are, and make a note, using as few words as possible.

Organising Writing Pupils with dyslexia may need explicit help to overcome the barriers of poorshort-term memory. Two ideas to help are using:• a scaffolding format, (such as KWL Grid) which helps them to plan a

sequence of events*;• a range of key words/sentences (provided by the students) which they can

refer to throughout their writing.



ConclusionIt appears that the responsibility of supportingdyslexic pupils is firmly left at the door of theclassroom teacher, via differentiation. This is ademanding challenge, however if the pupil is placedat the centre of learning (as the new coalitiongovernment has stated), every child should have theopportunity to fulfil his or her potential.

By providing a level playing field and supportingeach pupil, the classroom teacher is giving eachdyslexic pupil the opportunity to achieve their fullpotential.

Dyslexic children, like all children, thrive onchallenges and success.

Changing a child’s attitude to their own dyslexiaThe most important thing for a child with dyslexia isto understand what dyslexia is and to understand that it is not their fault that they are dyslexic; they didnothing to cause it. It is often useful to use ananalogy to help explain dyslexia, such as that of a Maccomputer and a PC. For example, a dyslexic studentcan do everything that all the other students can do,but in a slightly different way, just as a Mac does thesame job as a PC but with different software.

Kirk Dodds is a Business Studies PGCE studentteacher from Sunderland University, Tyne andWear. He has entered teaching after working inindustry as a Marketing Manager for a numberof start-up companies and well-known brandssuch as Unilever and Lotus Cars. He hasencountered pupils with dyslexia in both hisplacement practices to date and has personalexperience of the condition.

38

*A KWL Grid can be used in planning at the beginning of a topic or to follow progress and is a tool that helpswith reading comprehension. In a KWL Grid, readers break down material into a three-column grid. In the firstcolumn, readers write what they know about a subject (K), in the second they list what they want to know (W)and in the third they list what was learned during reading (L).

An example of a KWL Grid is shown in Table 3.

Table 3 KWL Grid

What I Know What I Want to findout

What I have Learnt How I will find out (experiments orsources of information)


Resource Reviews

CONTENTS

Mind Maps for Business, Tony Buzan, reviewed by Jamie Staddon

Local Heroes: how Loch Fyne Oysters embracedemployee ownership and business success,David Erdal, reviewed by Charlotte Davies

Economics for Standard and Higher Level,Jonathan Mace, reviewed by Roberta Keys

Them and Us: Changing Britain – why we need afair society, Will Hutton, reviewed by Geoff Moran

Learnloads, textbooks minus paper

Would you like to review a textbook or a resourcethat you use in the classroom on a regular basis?When texts come out in large numbers, at the timewhen courses are changing, some inevitably do notget reviewed at all. We would particularly welcomereviews of BTEC texts. If you would like to do this,please contact Nancy Wall, [email protected]

TEACHING BUSINESS STUDIES

Mind Maps for Business, Tony Buzan, BBC Books, 2010, 280 pages, paperback, £14.99, ISBN 978 1 406642 90 2

Tony Buzan is renowned for his work on the brain andlearning. In this book he explores mind mapping as atool and its role in modern day business.

Buzan explains that mind mapping is an effectiveplanning tool, which is particularly useful inorganising thoughts and ideas. Mind maps enablepeople to think clearly and process ideas effectively.

This book is clearly targeting business people andadvising them on the manner in which mind maps canbe used to assist business planning. However, it alsooffers some advice which could be utilised by businessteachers and students alike. It follows entrepreneursas they adopt mind mapping to help realize theirdesire to increase sales or plan for negotiations. Orthey may use the technique for note taking or simplyto create a ‘to do list’.

For teachers who would like to utilise mind mapsin their teaching, this book offers some excellentguidance on how to structure and build them toexplore a variety of issues. It also explores the use ofICT in their construction and again offers support inimplementing it effectively.

As for students, it is made very clear that mindmaps can be constructed by both individuals andgroups. Buzan examines the usefulness of mind mapsto group dynamics and the manner in which they canprovide a coherent and logical approach tostructuring a variety of ideas. As I have found, theycan easily be adopted as a group activity in lessons,either as a stand-alone task or in joint planning foressays, discussions and debates.

My year 13 Business group used this approach tostructure their group arguments for a debate on thebest method of international expansion for Tesco. Ifound that the system provided a solid structurewithin which they could explore the issues anddevelop their ideas. I have found previously thatstudents can lose focus when placed in a groupsituation, but the task of mind mapping held theirattention and increased their engagement with theissues at hand.

Buzan also assesses the role of mind maps insupporting the strategic planning of businesses. Inthis section he explores many A2 concepts and theway in which mind maps can enhance these, includingPEST analysis, Porter’s five forces, the Boston Matrix,SWOT analysis and Porter’s Competitive Advantage.He also follows businesses as they use mind maps tohelp manage change within their organisations.

This section could offer excellent support indemonstrating the practical use of these theories tobusinesses in the ‘real world’. The book isundoubtedly enhanced as a potential teaching toolthanks to the case studies it includes.

Buzan has access to some excellent examples ofmind maps created and used by some of the world’slargest firms including De Beers, Deloitte and Boeing.In addition to these are mind maps created inrebuilding Manhattan following 9/11, by the NewZealand Defence Force and even the JapaneseFootball Association.

In conclusion, whilst this book targets neitherteachers nor students, Buzan has explored a tool

Resource Reviews


frequently used within both the classroom andbusiness environment. It provides an intriguingopportunity for business teachers to bring the worldof business into the classroom.

Jamie Staddon is Head of Economics andBusiness at Wheatley Park School, Oxford.

A BUSINESS STORY

Local Heroes: how Loch Fyne Oysters embracedemployee ownership and business success,David Erdal, Viking, 2008, hardback, 233 pages, ISBN978 0 670917 54 9

This is a good, easy to read yarn. It introduces thereader to the agonies of business start-ups, the longhours and demands of the entrepreneur’s life, and thecomplexity of moving the business culture from anowner-led organisation to an employee-ownedbusiness.

The book keeps up a good pace, with lots ofhuman interest. It is peppered with gobbets ofbusiness knowledge that make good Business Studiesquotes and motivate further research beyond thebook. I could not help but go on to the Loch Fynewebsite to see how the business was doing today andalso to look up the Baxi Partnership website to findout more about how they promote and assistemployee buyouts. I am also tracking down the LSEresearch on costs and productivity for employeeowned businesses, to share further with my Economicsstudents.

The first half of the book tells the story of JohnnyNoble and Andy Lane as they set up first the fish farmand then Loch Fyne Oyster Bars and Restaurants. Itcovers the underlying philosophy of the founders, toestablish employment and business in the Loch Fynearea, to produce high quality, sustainable, ecologicallysound produce and distribute it nationally andinternationally. The themes covered include: sourcesof finance for a small start up business; externalfactors such as when Loch Fyne froze and destroyedstock; coping with the demands of supermarketchains; working long hours, seven days a week; thestrategies the founders used to keep their sanity andattempts to make the business decisions moreprofessional. The author shows the energy with whichthe firm built a brand from scratch, with very littlecapital, and the wit they used when it came tocheekily grabbing free publicity.

The story goes on to deal with the consequences

of the death of Johnny Noble for the business and thesubsequent need to put the business on the market,which ultimately led to the employee buyout.

The book is fiercely in favour of employee-ownership, which is not surprising given that theauthor, David Erdal, is employed by the BaxiPartnership. He argues his case well and explains howdifficult it is for both workers and management,psychologically to adjust to a change in power andaccountability. He explains the basic structure neededfor a highly leveraged employee buyout in simple tofollow terms. Through his narrative he gives a strongsense of the long, slow process of implementingchange, so that it is thoroughly embedded in theorganisation. He highlights the difficulties of dealingwith professional managers who are used toconsiderable financial rewards and power, and thestrategies used by the Loch Fyne employee trust tomonitor the power of the senior managers.

The second half of the book is useful in showingstudents how important succession management is toa firm’s survival and long-term success. It brings indetails about the need for training, transparency,good information and communication and at timesthe need to get Andy Lane, the surviving founder, tostep back so that power could be devolved.

It is a really good book for any student trying tounderstand business start-ups, business growth, andownership structures. I have recommended it not justto my AS students, but also to professional managerswho wish to reflect on and improve their ownmanagement style. I think that at times the book lackscritical reflection, but that can be a useful opportunityto empower students and encourage them to take onthat role.

Local Heroes is a practical book that is packedwith advice, ideas, humour and compassion. It links inwell with the vast amount of material that is availableon the John Lewis Partnership. References are alsomade to lesser known employee-owned businesses.David Erdal obviously enjoys communicating withemployees at all levels in an organisation and thisbook will communicate well with any Business Studiesstudent or teacher.

Charlotte Davies teaches Business Studies atReigate Grammar School.

40

Resource Reviews


TEACHING IB BUSINESS

Economics for Standard and Higher Level,Jonathan Mace, Anforme, 2010, paperback, 96pages, £6.95, 978 1 905504 36 7

This book covers the IB Diploma Programme atStandard and Higher Levels, with particular focus onthe Higher Level extension topics. It is written in 5sections with 25 chapters. It covers the whole of thestandard and higher level syllabi, but appears to bemore a revision or end of topic guide rather than acore text. In a sensible and chronological order, in linewith the IB specification, it covers both higher andstandard level topics which include: Introduction toEconomics; Microeconomics; Macroeconomics;International Economics and Development Economics.

At the end of the book there are numerous examtips, including a comprehensive analysis of examtechniques, which covers essay writing, data responsequestions and internal assessment. These provideinvaluable advice for use in the final weeks or on atopic-by-topic basis. Overall the book is a deceptivelycompact resource, providing an appropriate structurefor students and teachers alike.

This no nonsense, albeit brief resource, is a usefulread for both higher and standard level IB Economicspupils as a standalone reference beyond the classroomor as a valuable guide for those delivering the course.The format of the book is relatively user-friendly interms of layout, structure and design. Each chapter isconstructed in a visually accessible way around keythemes and vital information, thus making it aparticularly useful aid-memoire during revision. Itcould be used as an end of topic revision guide, givento students prior to some form of teacher designedsummative assessment. However, I would suggest thatthe book be issued to each pupil at the start of the IBcourse as a back up to their class notes, core text andextended reading. It provides particularly usefulinformation regarding internal assessments andrequirements relating to the structuring of research.

Whether this text actually enhances core teachingand learning of Economics may be debatable but itwould undoubtedly be useful to any Economics pupilthe night before an exam. Effectively, this resourcehas a rather ‘bare bones’ style that provides minimaldepth on any particular topic.

Most of my students struggle with the topic ofmonopolies and this text does cover the basics of thistheory well. But it only covers the basics. This book isgood, yes, but is not, as yet, proven to be a favouritewith my IB pupils. It could be improved for students if

it included some questions to test knowledge or checkunderstanding. For a publication focusing on revisionand looking towards examinable components, thelack of exam style challenges, end of unit questions orother methods by which to test pupil understanding issomewhat striking. Having some extension work oradditional reading, or end-of-chapter exercises, mightmake it more appealing to teachers. It is a goodaddition to the core IB Economics textbook. But torely on this text as the main learning source for the IBcourse may not be wise as it is so concise. It isdoubtful if any pupil would attain a 7 at standard orhigher level if they did so. Its greatest strength couldalso prove to be its greatest weakness.

In my view, it is £7 well spent if you want tocomplement your main resources.

Roberta Keys teaches Economics and Business atBromsgrove School in Worcestershire.

GENERAL ECONOMICS

Them and Us: Changing Britain – why we need afair society, Will Hutton, Little Brown, 2010,448 pages, hardback or paperback, £20, ISBN 978 1 408701 51 5

First – a word of warning. This is not the book to pickup on a Friday evening after a stressful week at thechalk-face! Will Hutton’s critique of what is wrongwith Britain and the global economy, and how itmight be put right, is a daunting read. When CherylCole reviews this book she will doubtless commentthat it is ‘a journey’, and ‘a roller-coaster ride’.

Mr. Hutton splits his book into three parts. Part 1,‘Understanding Fairness’, sets out his views on whathas gone wrong with the tradition of fairness inBritain. His opening sentence sets the scene. ‘TheBritish are a lost tribe – disoriented, brooding andsuspicious.’ He then proceeds to examine the reasonfor this malaise and compares the plight of themajority, facing the effects of dramatic cuts in publicexpenditure, increasing taxation and falling wages,with the astronomical rewards still being paid to‘casino’ bankers and the CEOs of major companies.He argues that Britain’s version of capitalism, with thebelief in the supremacy of the market in ordering allthings, lies at the heart of our present troubles, andhe sets out to forensically dissect the system andexamine its constituent parts. His underlyingargument is that Britain has had, in the past, a senseof what ‘fairness’ means, and cites Marx, ‘from eachaccording to his ability, to each according to his

41

Resource Reviews


contribution’. He also cites several modern studies bybehavioural psychologists, which show thatfundamentally this notion still applies. People willhappily accept that greater financial rewards shouldaccrue to those who put in the greatest effort, but areunhappy at the eye-watering rewards received bythose who have (allegedly) done little to ‘earn’ them –especially bankers who have merely recycled otherpeople’s money in ever more risky and outrageous‘products’.

In Part 2, ‘Fairness Under Siege’, Mr. Hutton looksback over the history of the development ofcapitalism in Europe and the USA. He examines ‘TheEnlightenment’ as a time when many freedoms wereintroduced, especially the freedom to set upbusinesses, the establishment of free markets, theseparation of crown and parliament, with the latterbecoming increasingly dominant, and the growingsupport for the mercantile class rather than thelanded aristocracy. This enlightened age allowed forinnovation in agriculture and industry, stimulatingeconomic and social development. However, thedevelopment of US free market capitalism has led tothe creation of industrial monopolies likely tosuppress future innovation, such as Microsoft, Google,Boeing et al. There is a need for constant vigilance inorder to prevent these massive corporations fromstifling innovation, which is the only way to ensurefuture economic growth.

Mr. Hutton analyses UK politics from the 1960sonwards, focusing especially on Blair and New Labour,and sees successive governments terrified ofalienating The City, big business and the press andultimately allowing the economy to be over-dependent on the financial sector to generategrowth.

In the final part of the book, ‘The Relaunch ofFairness’, Mr. Hutton considers what needs to be doneto put British society and the British economy back oncourse. He advocates the breaking up of the bigbanks so that they can never again be ‘too big to beallowed to fail’. He sees as important theimprovement of social mobility (which he says hasdecreased rather than increased in the past 30 or 40years) by changes to the education system – tocounter the undue influence of private schools, forexample. He suggests ways in which real poverty canbe addressed, and in which the electoral system canbe reformed to increase the quality of parliament andredress the balance in favour of the Commons overthe executive. He concludes with an upbeat summary,‘We are starting to understand the link betweenfairness, prosperity and the good life. Now we justhave to deliver it. After all, we deserve better.’

This is a book that I would thoroughlyrecommend – but I’m still not quite clear to whom Iwould recommend it! I suspect it will prove toodaunting for the average A-level student and roamstoo far from the basic exam specifications, eventhough Mr. Hutton’s style of writing is immenselyreadable. Top grade students might want to read it,or perhaps could be guided to specific sections of thebook. Certainly, I think A-Level Economics teachersshould read it, or at least dip into it. It has much tosay about both the society and economics of modernBritain. One for the department library, then, with anoption on a personal copy for the beach next summer!

Footnote

Mr. Hutton’s book paints a picture of modern Britainwhich I recognised all too easily. It made meincreasingly despairing as he analysed its failings. Thefinal section – how to put things right – merely raisedmy usual level of cynicism to new heights. Whatchance could there be of all the entrenched vestedinterests he details ever surrendering power, as hissolutions would require? And yet in just the pastweek I have read newspaper articles and seenprogrammes on television following the book’s themeof fairness and why it is so important. Perhaps thereis room for a degree of hope after all?

Geoff Moran teaches at Bosworth TutorialCollege in Northampton.

OTHER RESOURCES

Learnloads, textbooks minus paper,www.learnloads.com, £99 annual subscription.

This website offers an online textbook for AQA ASBusiness Studies. If you have a large number ofstudents this could work out cheaper than buyingtextbooks.

The content coverage is reasonably full and veryclosely aligned to the AQA specs. It is written in easyto follow, simple language. The case studies at theend of the units are useful. Each has a fewcomprehension questions for students to answer.There are no features such as key terms or tables thatsummarise the points made in the text but the text isbroken up with plenty of sub-headings. The contentlist links to the chapter files which are in PDF format.There are also PDF answer books.

This is literally a textbook on the web. It is very easyto trial in your classroom because Unit 1 is accessiblewithout charge.

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AFTERWORDS

The Spring issue of ‘Teaching Business and Economics’carried a review of ‘Edexcel Business for GCSE:Introduction to Economic Understanding’, by IanMarcousé, Jonathan Brook and Josephine Farmer,published by Hodder Education. Keith Hirst, who isChief Examiner for the qualification that this bookcovers, has sent the comment below. Teachers do needto be aware of the particular features of the markschemes, where questions are intended to provideexam practice.

‘The questions posed in this book bear littleresemblance to those being used in the actualexam and this might mislead teachers who useit. In the Unit examinations, all “explain”questions are worth 3 marks only and aremarked in a particular way designed toencourage students to use linked statementsand therefore meet the command word of“explain”. In the book, there are lots ofexamples where the command word “explain”has been used and a variety of different marksare awarded.’

Resource Reviews

Teaching Business & Economics 43

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