Nuffield Curriculum Centre

Nuffield Economics & Business

Directors
Stephen Barnes, Nancy Wall and Jenny Wales

Nuffield Advanced Economics & Business: background
The Nuffield Economics & Business project was set up and funded in 1991 just before the Nuffield Curriculum Centre opened. It was a publisher that introduced the team of Stephen Barnes, Jenny Wales and Nancy Wall to the Nuffield Foundation.

Given the regulation of the pre-16 curriculum, the Nuffield Trustees had decided to make the education of 16 to 19 year-olds the main focus for new projects. Economics & Business were two subjects which had not so far been the focus for innovative development work.

Aims
The aim of the project was to make Economics and Business accessible, relevant and rooted in practice. The teaching approach encourages students to build their conceptural understanding by investigating problems and case studies.

Economics & Business is treated as a joint subject concerned with the study of how people make the best use of scarce resources. Economics analyses the principles by which resources in society are allocated. Business explores the decision taken by people and organisations during the actual allocation.

Exploiting ICT
The Nuffield Economics & Business team first collaborated with Steve Hurd and teachers in Staffordshire to develop a data disc as a basis for analysis and investigations.

The project has continued to explore the potential of ICT in this field by developing a variety interactive features and case studies on CD.

Business and Economics pre-16
In 1994 it became clear that it would be possible to extend the work to provide courses for 14 - 16 year olds with the support of the oil company BP. BP and the publisher were both keen to see the programme providing worthwhile experiences for all young people in the age range. Hence the move to cover GVNQ as well as GCSE.

The development work
Development work for the Nuffield Economics & Business A-level project, and the subsequent GCSE & GNVQ projects for 14 to 16 year-olds, has all been based in the Nuffield Curriculum Centre.

The advanced course was published with Longman and the GCSE and GNVQ resources with Collins.

The advanced course was first published in 1996 with a second edition for Curriculum 2000. The first edition of the GCSE course came out in 1996 with a second edition in 2001. The texts for GNVQ Foundation and Intermediate courses were published in 2000.

As the resources date or go out of print, they are adapted, updated and revised for free publication on the Nuffield Economics & Business web site.