Dear Student

Welcome to the Business Education PGCE here at Sheffield Hallam University. We hope you are looking forward to a challenging, dynamic and rewarding professional year.

Preparation for the course

It would be beneficial for you to consider a number of areas prior to joining the course:

• Further development of your experiences of Business Education lessons in a secondary environment would be beneficial.

Access to GSCE and Advanced Business Education syllabuses would be beneficial. Include all BE courses in your search including vocational/applied courses. eg BTEC and Cambridge Nationals.  Popular examination boards/courses for the subject include:

• www.aqa.org.uk
• www.ocr.org.uk
• www.edexcel.org.uk
• www.eduqas.co.uk

I would not spend a lot of money at the moment on GCSE or A level syllabuses as it would be better to target specific exam boards when you know what you will be teaching on school placement.

Consider current courses against your own BE experiences and reflect on the level of subject content. It has recently changed!

An understanding of the current situation regarding Economic Wellbeing, Work Related Learning (WRL), Careers Advice/ Information Advice and Guidance (IAG) and Enterprise Education. Have a look at where any Business Education areas are positioned, especially the Citizenship Curriculum for KS3 & 4.

• www.gov.uk/government PSHE Education
• www.gov.uk/government Citizenship
• www.gov.uk/government Careers

An understanding of recent and current Government strategies regarding Business Education specific areas

• www.education.gov.uk/publications (Wolf report on Vocational education)
• www.gov.uk/government/publications/enterprise (report on relevance of Enterprise Education)
• www.gov.uk/Getting_ready_for_work.pdf (report on the provision of Enterprise Education and WRL in secondary schools)

An awareness of the use of technology that can enhance BE teaching and learning. Consider your own ICT/Computing capabilities.  Look also at the Computing curriculum that came into place in Sept 2014

• www.gov.uk computing

As well as the subject based issues above, consider some of the whole school issues highlighted below. What are your experiences of them?

• School status and structures
• Management structures
• Pastoral systems
• Assessment and monitoring
• Parental involvement
• Rewards and sanctions policies

Books worth looking at, include:-

• Business, Economics and Enterprise: Teaching School Subjects 11-19. P Davies & J Brant. Routledge.
• Teaching Business Education: M Jephcote & I Abbott. David Fulton Pub.
• Successful Teaching Placements in Secondary Schools: Achieving QTS. K Shilvock & M Pope. Learning Matters.
• Understanding Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools. A Hramiak & T Hudson. Longman

I look forward to meeting you all at enrolment and induction week and if you need further advice please contact

Marcus Beck              m.beck@shu.ac.uk             0114 225 6024.