BUSINESS (BTEC National Extended Certificate Edexcel)

Cottingham Sixth Form College

Who is the course aimed at?     

The course is aimed at those who have an interest in developing an understanding of the business industry and gaining practical business skills or who are intending to work in the business sector.

This specification have been developed in conjunction with the business sector to provide vocationally-related education and training.

The BTEC National Extended Certificate in Business is equivalent to one A Level.

What will you learn?     

The BTEC qualification gives you the opportunity to develop a range of skills and techniques, personal skills and attitudes essential for successful performance in working life.

You will learn about:

• Exploring Business (Internal coursework)
• Developing a Marketing Campaign (External controlled assessment)
• Personal and Business Finance (External examination)
• Investigating Customer Service (Internal coursework)

You will also learn about the variety of different skills required to be successful in the real world, such as:

• Organisation
• Time management
• Problem solving
• Research and investigation
• Decision making

How will you be assessed?         

In each unit, you will build a coursework of evidence to meet the criteria, which can include word documents, posters, witness statements and research evidence.

You will submit your work for each unit on both the interim and final deadlines. To pass a unit, you need to meet every pass criterion; to gain a merit, all the pass and merit criteria need to be achieved; to gain a distinction, all the pass, merit and distinction criteria need to be achieved.

Your progress on the course will be shared with you following the interim and final deadlines for each unit. You will be given feedback on your work, which gives you an indication of your progress, assessor comments and targets for improvements.

You should be aware that grading is different to other A Level courses and you will be given a separate grade for each of the tasks that you complete as below:

• Pass = Grade E = describe (what)
• Merit = Grade C = explain (how)
• Distinction = Grade A = justify/evaluate (why)

How will you learn?       

The course gives you the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding relevant to the business industries in applied, practical and academic learning contexts.

You will develop practical skills through “hands on” business tasks, while researching relevant topic areas and applying theory to develop your practice.

You will work individually, in pairs and in groups to complete the different units, which will require planning, analytical and practical business skills.

Enrichment activities and independent learning?           

We offer a range of opportunities to develop your business knowledge through visits to real businesses. During the customer service unit we will visit Meadowhall.

We actively encourage you to take part in competition work through business programmes that are run within the East Yorkshire area.

What or where next?    

The course can provide you with a springboard to a university degree, higher BTEC qualifications or employment.

More information          

For more information about this course please speak to departmental staff or contact the sixth form team.