Teaching Vocational Courses in Business

Abstract

Book Title - Learning to Teach Business in the Secondary School A Companion to School Experience 1st Edition Chapter Author - Sarah Crawford-Singh Chapter Number & Title – chapter 5 Teaching vocational courses in business Teachers of business are likely to deliver a vocational qualification. These courses can vary widely in terms of assessment, grading and outcomes, but they all aim to provide pupils with necessary skills for working in industry, often utilising case studies or coursework. One of the fundamental factors in delivering academic courses is teaching pupils to effectively answer examination questions, and the same applies to vocational courses. Although there is often a lower external examination content in vocational courses, teachers will need a firm understanding of all assessment methods and how students can access the higher grades in their course. There are a range of business vocational courses such as BTEC, the Certificate in Financial Education, Cambridge Technical, Cambridge National and Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ). This chapter will give practical insights into how teachers can prepare for different types of vocational courses to guide pupils to make progress and achieve, and how this is different (or not) to academic qualifications. It is important to recognise the key features of how vocational courses are structured, assessed and graded to inform your teaching methods.