Key Stage 4 Business Studies - BTEC
Business Studies is delivered in KS4 as an option subject through the BTEC First Certificate route, which, if successfully completed equates to two GCSE's at grades A* - C.
Students who opt for Business Studies have four one hour long lessons each week and assessment is coursework based whereby students are required and are assessed through their completion of coursework portfolios in the following units:
- Unit 1 – Exploring Business Purposes
- Unit 3 – Investigating Financial Control
- Unit 5 – People in Organisations
Unit 1: This unit will help learners to begin to understand the business world, with all its complexities and differing interests. It introduces learners to the range and variety of business activity to be found in their local community and at national, European and global levels. The unit enables learners to discuss their understanding and knowledge of businesses in their local environment. This unit begins to develop learners' knowledge and understanding of the importance of businesses and how they operate. Learners will be able to explore business purposes and relate this to different types of ownership.
Learners will also be introduced to different classifications in business. This unit introduces them to a wide range of aims and objectives pursued by business organisations in the public, voluntary (not-for-profit) and commercial sectors. Research is developed through exploring the functional areas of business organisations and the way they work together to ensure the business achieves its aims and objectives.
In addition to the primary purpose of a business — e.g. manufacturing, retailing or as a service provider — larger businesses will have a number of functional areas, such as administration, customer service or human resources, that support the aims and objectives of the business as well as linking with and supporting other functional areas. Learners will develop their understanding of these areas and how they function. They will also gain an understanding of how this kind of infrastructure operates in smaller businesses without such clearly defined departments.
The unit provides a business context within which learners in employment or on work placement may use their experience, while also developing a greater understanding of business activity for those seeking employment.
Unit 3: This unit looks at the financial aspects of running a business, starting with an investigation into the types of costs that different businesses will incur. This is followed by exploring how the sale of products or services generates revenue to give the learner the basis upon which they can develop their understanding of profit.
The awareness of profit leads the learner into break even analysis. This is a technique used to forecast whether a new venture or the sale of new products or services is likely to make profits in the future and how risky this might be if the revenues or costs are not as originally predicted. The unit then looks at the concept of cash flow forecasting, which is concerned with predicting the amount of money entering and leaving the business's bank account each month. This will identify whether the business has sufficient money in the bank to meet their bills or not and what steps a business can take to meet any shortfall. This is followed by exploring how cash flows can be managed more effectively and the learner will be given an insight into one of the primary causes of business failure — the problem of payment timing rather than that of profitability alone.
Finally, the unit looks at how businesses record transactions and the financial process behind a simple business transaction. The learner will be made aware of the potential for fraud within companies handling these transactions and how this may be addressed.
Unit 5: This unit introduces learners to the importance of the roles people have and to the contribution individuals and groups make to the effectiveness of organisations. The skills of employees both individually and collectively, are important for the success of organisations. Organisations will select employees by assessing whether they have the right attributes and attitudes. Organisations will then seek to develop their employees as change occurs both internally and externally.
People will be expected to work in ever changing groups and will need to be flexible and adaptable as they mesh their abilities with those of others as organisations try to achieve their purposes. In addition, people will want to enhance their skills and improve their career and employment prospects and enjoy greater rewards as they seek a fulfilling work life, much of which will be spent within organisational settings.
The unit begins by asking learners to consider what skills, knowledge, qualifications and interests they have and how these can be used in choosing a suitable job. Learners will move on to develop their knowledge and understanding of terms and conditions of employment. Once employed, an employee will be required to make an effective contribution to the work of the organisation, so learners need to understand the structures and ethos of different organisations and how employees work within them. Employees work with others, so learning to be a good team member is important. Contributions to team working are made not just by senior employees but also by junior staff and learners will appreciate that they too will be expected to contribute to the successful work of teams. Learners will experience some of the performance review measures that are used by employers or by their school or college. In time, they may want to be promoted so learners need to know how they can plan their careers and move on to more responsible jobs.