How will the new Edexcel course for 2008 differ from the current Nuffield Economics & Business course?

Eliminating coursework will make a big difference. This removes a major part of the formal emphasis on investigation as a way of learning. However, investigation is still very important in the 2008 course (see the Unit Content in the Edexcel specifications for Unit 1, in particular). Various aspects of the assessment requirements, such as the case study and decision-making questions in the A2 question papers, will show how students have developed their investigative skills. The Edexcel booklet Getting started gives many indicators for investigative activities in its Activity Sheets.

Removal of content overload will enable teachers to use a wider range of active, student-centred, investigative teaching strategies. This will lead to deeper understanding of the course content and corresponding improvement in student capacity to analyse real-world issues.

The international focus of the course content will encourage all teachers and students to address major issues relating to trade, growth and multinational business operations.

Some aspects of the new course, such as in Unit 3, relating to India and China, will need new teaching ideas and resources. Some of these will come from Edexcel and publishers; teachers will also need to accumulate media resources and data that they will enjoy using. Where content is similar to the existing Nuffield Economics & Business course, existing resources will often be suitable and relevant.

In general, the ideas contained in Edexcel's booklet Getting started will ease the transition to teaching the new course considerably. Other resources which are planned to appear between now and the start of teaching will add to the stock of ready-made or easily adaptable teaching ideas.