Economics A-Level
Economics at A-level now follows the Edexcel specification from September 2024. We recommend a Level 6 in Maths to gain entry to this course.
Economics A-Level Course Intention
Economics at Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School is a ‘real time’ subject which enables students to build a deeper understanding and interpretation of local, national and global issues, which they will take forward with them into their future career and life paths. The course provides students with analytical tools to interpret the world around them to find ways to shape positive change on the great challenges we face in the economy.
From the start, students will be challenged, and expectations are high. Students will be expected to understand and use technical vocabulary of the subject in all discussions. Connections will be made to many and varied historical and current case-studies and current affairs ranging, for example from the financial crash in 2008, the global covid pandemic, the demise of the NHS, the negative consequences of online gambling to name a few. Students will be expected to keep up to date with current economic events through reading a reputable news source and bring this knowledge into each lesson.
The analytical tools are split into microeconomics and macroeconomics. Students will use writing skills to apply theories and build arguments alongside mathematical skills of statistical modelling by using graphs and charts to communicate theory and real-life application.
The journey of microeconomics will enable students to learn the fundamental economic problem of finite resources but infinite wants, how markets operate to solve this problem or not and how the government needs to intervene to correct any market failure, such as environmental problems, under provision of education and health care and the over consumption of certain goods such as sugar, alcohol, gambling as some examples. Understanding how competitive markets operate and affect the decision making of firms will be examined and how the government may also need to intervene to combat uncompetitive behaviour from firms.
The macroeconomic journey takes the student away from looking at particular industries, markets and firms and evaluating the wider economic issues affecting all, such as economic growth, inflation, unemployment and international trade. These are all affected by different government policies which will be examined and judged in their effectiveness. This is expanded onto the global perspective, to understand why some economies are more economically developed than others or why there is more global inequality and poverty in some parts of the world and what strategies exist to further promote their development, such as global trading partnerships.
The intention is to equip students with a cultural capital in economics to facilitate a different way of seeing the world that makes them stand out from other students. By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Converse in an informed way about some of the greatest challenges facing their generation.
- Confidently command the use of evidence and data to support arguments.
- Use economic theory and models about real world scenarios to demonstrate strong analytical skills that help you examine the causes and consequences of different economic phenomena.
- See balance in situations, weighing up competing arguments and seeing different viewpoints.
- Through studying economics, students are gaining the skills and preparing themselves to open doors to their future careers, be that at university or apprenticeships with global organisations.