Reading through the range of media reports regarding the so called ‘soft’ subjects that universities no longer want potential students to apply with I could not but help see what I would term as ‘an onslaught’ on the commercial subjects. A range of reasons are given by the universities that compile such lists and yet one still feels that there is something not right about the entire exercise. Denying students place because they have the ‘wrong’ A-levels even though they have done well in those smacks of elitism. It is no wonder then that the universities that are most likely to apply such restrictive measures tend to be the more traditional elitist universities. The Russell Group’s name more often than not does pop up quite often in articles regarding this matter – usually in defence of such restrictive measures. To be fair though I believe we need to understand their reasoning before being too critical of their judgement.

‘Soft’ and ‘Hard’ subjects

An article that appeared in the Daily Mail in 2008 listed Accounting ,Finance, Business Studies and Law A-levels as ‘black listed subjects’ by a number of universities.. These are considered soft subjects as opposed to hard subjects indicating the – I assume – amount of effort need to study the subject and pass it. Now obviously I have my own opinion on the matter but I would like to understand the rationale behind the attitude that so many universities have

Rationale

I have identified some of the reasons given by universities in interviews given to the media and they go something like this:

‘Cambridge advises students that it considers 20 A-level subjects “less effective preparation”for courses’ and ‘But its tutors felt they did not provide enough subject knowledge for degrees offered by Cambridge, or that they placed too little emphasis on examinations’ (Daily Mail)

‘Top universities will today issue guidance which acknowledges officially for the first time that they favour students who study traditional subjects at A-level. It asks students to question why they are not taking traditional subjects: “Are you trying to avoid a challenge?” It states that while there is no “set definition” of a “hard” or “soft” subject, so-called “hard” subjects are like the ones the top universities prefer and are more theoretical. It gives media studies, art and design, photography and business studies as examples of “soft” subjects and states that they are “vocational or have a practical bias”.’

‘Critical thinking and general studies are recommended to be extra subjects, on top of three or more A-levels. Science and maths A-levels are recommended for degrees in archaeology, anthropology and geography among others, and law degrees do not require law A-level. History may be useful instead, the guidebook states. For history degrees, some universities do not require history, but believe English is useful.’ (Inmytrends)

‘Informed Choices emphasises the importance of ‘facilitating’ subjects, such as maths and English, which are particularly effective in equipping students with the skills they need for a large number of competitive courses and in increasing a student’s chances of getting on to those courses’ (BBC News)

My criticism of such restrictive measures is that they seemingly know very little regarding some of the subjects that they term as being ‘soft’. Let’s examine the criticism:

Less effective preparation for courses – Yes if the subject is not linked to the course that they wish to study then I agree. However, courses such as Accounting and Business Studies are no less effective than Maths or Science in preparing a student for university level courses in general. In fact the commercial subjects in my opinion give those students that have taken them as A-levels an advantage over other first year students that did not take them and find themselves on Accounting or Business degree courses at university.
At this point I would like to refer to some research undertaken. Rohde and Kavanagh (1996) indicate that considerable research has been conducted into the relation between students’ level of previous accounting knowledge and their subsequent performance in first year university-level accounting. Their study considers variables for academic performance and previous accounting knowledge in an attempt to quantify the advantage that high school accounting gives students entering tertiary business courses. Their results indicated that for students entering tertiary courses with similar academic ability, i.e., obtained the same entrance score, the first year tertiary accounting result obtained by a student who studied accounting previously is between one and two grades higher than that of a student who did not study accounting at high school.
Another study by Gul and Fong (1993) on students in Hong Kong indicates that results using 455 students in the introductory accounting class as subjects, and a multiple regression model indicate that self-expectation of examination results, English secondary school education, high school certificate level grades in English and Mathematics, personality type, intention to obtain a business degree and previous knowledge of Accounting were significant predictors of student performance. Clearly a case is made for both approaches here, mine and the opponents of my approach but what is important to note is the presence of Accounting as an influencing variable on student performance.
The final study that I will refer to is a study by Tho (1994) where their study aimed to develop a model to identify factors that would explain student examination performance in first-level tertiary Accounting course at the University of Malaya. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, three academic factors were found to significantly explain 66% of the variations in performance. Having studied high-school Accounting, Mathematics and grades in high-school Economics are important predictors of performance. Their study’s model compared favourably with the results of other published findings in the USA, Australia and Hong Kong.
Too little emphasis on examinations – Each module in Accounting and Business Studies is subject to very rigorous and tough examinations that aim to test the student’s understanding of the work learnt and their ability to apply it. Do we dare say that Maths or Science does not do the same? Are the latter examined more often?

Avoiding a challenge – Clearly the individual or institution that made this statement has not sat through an Accounting or Business Studies exam. These exams are tough. The content of these courses are of a high quality and extensive. These subjects are no walk in the park as the saying goes and to intimate that they are is being a little more than just disingenuous.

Effective skilling from traditional subjects – The statement that courses such as Maths and English are effective in providing students the skills they need for competitive courses is certainly true but disingenuous in that commercial subject courses can be just as effective as those courses yet no mention is made of that. Interestingly how could an English course be more effective at preparing a student for a degree in Accounting than an Accounting A-level or than Business Studies for a degree in Business or Management? Some criticism in my opinion seemingly defies logic.

Unjustified

After doing some research on the matter it would appear that much of the criticism against the commercial subjects is unjustified and at times, in my opinion, disingenuous. Sound bites against ‘soft subjects’ tend to be made with no suitable or visible researched support. Have there been many studies conducted by independent researchers that can support the assertions made against the ‘soft subjects’?

The bias against them is clear. These subjects represent a core group of A-level courses that are not taught generally at the elitist universities and do not fit in with the traditionalist mould of a university subject. They are too ‘vocational’ or ‘applied’. As if it was a bad thing that they are! Especially in these tough economic times when we should be looking at equipping our students with skills that they can apply and can also use to get into university.

In my experience as an Accounting teacher at the secondary level and as a private tutor at university level, a student that has A-level Accounting can walking straight into any financial job and start to earn an income. A history graduate (never mind an A-level student) would struggle to do so in this economic environment.

Conclusion

I think that a number of universities are doing our young people a disservice by insinuating that some subjects are more valued than others. They are denying young people choices which could ultimately benefit them more in the long-term. I believe that professional accounting bodies should become more vocal on this matter in order to add some balance in what has so far been a very one-sided fight in favour of elitism.

Sources:

Gul, F.A and Fong, S.C.C (1993) Predicting success for introductory accounting students: some further Hong Kong evidence. Accounting Education, Vol 2, Issue1, pp 33 – 42

Rohde, F.H and Kavanagh, M (1996) Performance in first year university accounting: Quantifying the advantage of secondary school accounting. Accounting and Finance Journal. Vol 36, Issue 2, pp 275-285

Tho, L.M (1994) Some evidence on the determinants of student performance in the University of Malaya introductory accounting course. Accounting Education, Vol 3, Issue 4, pp 331 – 340

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-567169/Universities-backlash-soft-subjects-accounting-A-levels.html

http://www.inmytrends.com/soft-subjects-harm-students-chances.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12365050

Copyright © Nicolas Athinodorou 2011

Contact details:
Email nico122@hotmail.com
Address Flat 3 Kingsley House, London road, Harrow, HA13JQ

The concept of work related learning (WRL) is an important element of the 14-19 school curriculum in England and Wales; especially in the vocational business courses. It has been a statutory element at key stage 4 since 2004. Indeed, the role out of the new Diploma qualifications and their aim of introducing a more vocational element in the curriculum has made the focus on work related learning even more necessary. A recent DCSF Report has indicated that the number of work experience placements needs to increased as a result of introducing the new Diplomas. The work experience element of WRL is of particular interest to BEE and that is the focus of this paper.

Many teachers and even more students have been through periods of work experience. The effectiveness of the placements and the student’s experiences of them have varied from school to school and borough to borough.

However, has such work experience been of any benefit to students taking business studies? Is there a way of making such work experiences more applicable to the business curriculum? Is there a way forward to transforming existing work experience programmes and enhancing its value to students of business, economics and enterprise? There is a way of doing this.

Existing practise and approaches to work experience

I will start off by relating my exposure to work related learning and work experience. I believe that there are many readers out there that may be able to relate to these experiences. The school is a large comprehensive located in an inner city London borough. It has a sixth form college as part of its educational offering. A full time co-ordinator was assigned to undertake all the necessary planning and administrative work regarding work experience placements for the year 11 students. The same co-ordinator arranged the work experience placements for vocational Business Studies students. These placements were originally for a two week period but were eventually, in the last two years, reduced to a one week (5 day) period. A recent DCSF Report states that the aim, with regard to the diplomas especially, is to have at least a minimum of ten working days in place for work experience.

The placements were found through a combination of strategies. These were to work with the local education business partnership and as well as the neighbouring borough’s education business partnership. It also included approaching staff that had contacts with local businesses and organisations to try and obtain placements with those contacts. The placements were usually of an administrative nature and involved placing students in an office environment provided by the employer and undertaking mundane administrative tasks.

Teachers would telephone employers to enquire about the students and pay at least one visit to the student. The visit would usually include an observation of the student functioning in the work environment and having an informal chat about how they are finding the placement. The visit would also include a chat with the employer. The necessary documentation would also be completed at this time

The current role of work experience in BEE

As was stated earlier, work experience is compulsory at key stage 4. However, it is also a crucial element in vocational business courses such as the former GNVQ’s, AVCE and NVQ courses. It still forms an important component in the current range of vocational business courses available such as the GCE Applied Business, OCR National diplomas and BTEC courses. It is an element that should include any business functional area under the broad heading of enterprise education. The Diplomas will also require an element of work experience to be included in their composition and offering.

The reason for the current deficiency in work experience provisioning for students of BEE, in the opinion of this article, is the lack of clarity or purpose that many practitioners have for this element in vocational business education. This is created partly through the lack of a coherent and standardised definition of enterprise education amongst academics and practitioners. Davies and Brandt (2006) cite a CEI document that indicates that there is an issue with defining enterprise education. This lack of definition may be linked to a lack of a clear and tangible vision for enterprise education in some schools.

The shortfalls in the current approach and their solutions

The situation, as has been described, is not a useful one for the field of BEE. In fact, the DCSF also recognises the need for a review of existing practices in WRL and states that ‘that there remain issues to address to meet the needs of the future’ and that one recommendation is ‘to develop a new vision for work-related learning, including fresh guidance, which we will do with our delivery partners and stakeholders (DCSF 2007)’.

This article identifies five main problems. They are:

1. The lack of clarity of purpose and vision,
2. The work placement (organisation or environment),
3. The nature of the work,
4. The structure of the work experience
5. Lack of continuity.

These five problems are not conducive to encouraging or furthering any business knowledge on the part of the student during a period of work experience.

The first issue is that of clarity of purpose and vision by teachers in the BEE field. Often, teachers send students on work placements just for the sake of meeting a statutory requirement but without a real understanding behind the purpose of such placement. This is understandable especially in view of the pressures put on Business teachers to meet targets, limited contact time, limited resources and difficult working conditions. Business teachers and especially those that have responsibility for the work experience component of their courses must formulate a vision for this component in their course. They must state with clarity what it is that they wish to achieve by sending their students on work experience and how this ties in with the theory that they are teaching. Ideally they would formulate a mission statement for their work experience component and develop aims that can be coupled to this statement. Head teachers of these schools should also be drawn in to assist in formulating this mission and give their support to the relevant departments.

The work placements that are found are sometimes not relevant to the field of BEE, certainly not initially. Placements in community centres or nursery schools may be ideal for the purposes of WRL generally but for a business student it is of no real value. Students need to be placed in an organisation or environment that is business or strongly management orientated. That is an organisation that has a profit motive or is functionally organised and hierarchical. The students must be able to see a clear link between the theory that they are learning and the organisation that they are placed in. This is where the vision for this component of the course by the BEE teacher comes in; it will guide the selection of work placement venues.

 The nature of the work that students undertake on a work placement programme and the structure of the work experience should have a BEE orientation to it. A clear link should be made with the theoretical learning in the classroom. Taking on administrative work such as filing and maintaining a database is not sufficient to reinforce the theory of BEE. It may at times not be relevant. This work may therefore be perceived by students as being mundane, repetitive and they quickly lose interest and enthusiasm for the project. The work should reinforce the theory that the student has been taught in the classroom and allow them an opportunity to apply it no matter how trivial the task may seem. Greater integration should take place between the work placement and the theory of the subject. The BEE teacher should consult with the work placement employer and together they should develop a set of activities and possibly a simulation or case study activity that the student must undertake during the course of their time there. Successive Ofsted Reports have stated that the links between schools and businesses are weak and need to be improved. In addition, one Ofsted report states that some of the best work that they see is where employers set students a problem based on their business and indeed, are involved in evaluating the solutions presented by the students. This clearly shows the importance of making the work experience relevant and involving the employer in doing so.

Lastly, there is the issue of continuity. All too often the work experience placement is seen as a once off event and consigned to history. It should rather be seen as the initial phase of a gradual and longitudinal study that can be carried out by a student and possibly developed into an assignment that can be submitted for assessment. The potential for learning and teaching from a work experience placement is tremendous and BEE teachers should capitalise on this fact. 

Some recommendation for the future

In having identified the issue of concern for BEE teachers regarding work experience, this article would like to forward some recommendations that may assist in overcoming these issues.  These recommendations are linked to the issues highlighted earlier. The BEE teacher should do the following:

1. Create a vision and mission statement for the work experience component of the courses that they are teaching.
2. Develop a close relationship with work placement providers. They can do this by approaching parents with businesses, local shops and organisations and specifically social entrepreneurs in their area.
3. Develop a specific learning programme for students to undertake during their work placement. They should develop this together with the employers concerned and it should include at least one business problem activity that is specific to that employer.
4. Create an assignment that can be taken over the course of the qualification that they offer that is linked to their work experience placement. It should have a subject related holistic approach.

Conclusion

This article acknowledges that the task of the BEE teacher is not an easy one. Certainly not with all the administrative and additional responsibilities that are placed on them. Thus, it is a real issue that BEE teachers sometimes do not have the time or resources to give their full potential to ensure that work placements are made with all the necessary composite elements in place and with the best links possible. This article also does not claim to have the right answer for the many issues faced by the BEE teacher concerning work experience but rather aims to introduce some ideas into an area that is very important to the BEE field. However, it must be said that if we, as BEE teachers, are to ensure that our subject area makes an impact on learning for young people and remains relevant, we may have to go that extra mile in order to ensure that such placements do work optimally. This will, in my opinion, certainly pay dividends in the future.

References:

Davies, P and Brandt, J (2006) Business, Economics and Enterprise – Teaching school subjects 11-19. Routledge. Oxon.

DCSF Report (2007) Building on the Best: Final report and implementation plan of the review of 14-19 Work-related Learning.

Ofsted Report (2008) Developing young people’s economic and business understanding: Business education in secondary schools, colleges and initial teacher education

Ofsted Report (2008) Identifying good practice: A survey of business administration and law in colleges

Copyright © Nicolas Athinodorou

Contact details:

Email nico122@hotmail.com          

Address Flat 3 Kingsley House, London road, Harrow, HA13JQ

It is at this point that all the fears felt during my PGCE come flooding back; will I be good enough?  Will my pupils enjoy my lessons?  Can I achieve the right work/life balance?  How supportive will my school be?  And yet, I feel like a child at Christmas.  I can’t wait for my first day of teaching and am looking forward to being part of such a vibrant teaching team. 

Having visited the school on several occasions, prior to the end of the summer term, I feel I have a better understanding of the school ethos, policies and structure of the school day.  I am also better equipped, with a map!!! and an additional bank of helpful resources.  However, my second visit coincided with meeting my form and their parents – a truly daunting experience as this presented a number of challenges; firstly, remembering my way to my form room (not as easy as it sounds!), secondly, presenting myself in a calm and confident manner (I don’t think they could hear my knees knocking) and thirdly, being able to chat to parents in an informal yet professional manner.  I feel I achieved this but a few did recognise my NQT status – will this go against me in their eyes?  It didn’t appear to at the time but I recognise that I have a long road ahead of me when trying to build professional relationships with parents.

I am lucky enough to have my own classroom and although I am no Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen I am proud that it looks bright, cheerful and welcoming.  Unfortunately, I am being challenged to keep it this way by builders who insist on splashing paint on my new walls and making it look like the Tasmanian devil has run through it!  Oh well, if that is one of my only worries then I consider myself to be lucky.

I am not wearing rose tinted glasses (well not all the time) I know that this is going to be a tough year with plenty of work to do, challenges to face and problems to solve but I am looking forward to every minute of it.  Whether my optimism holds on the toughest of day’s remains to be seen.  I’ll keep you posted……………….