Curriculum – Economics

Economics at Southend High School for Girls gives students a unique toolkit with which they build a deeper understanding of the world around them from their local reality to more abstract global issues.  It provides a framework for SHSG students to interrogate past events, evaluate current economic conditions and assess economic predictions, all skills that are invaluable to our students as they compete for world class career opportunities.  It is a vibrant, stimulating and ‘real time’ subject which will engage and challenge all students, whether they are new to the subject in Year 12 or are building on their GCSE Economics skills learned prior to joining the SHSG Sixth Form.

The Student’s Economics Toolkit sub divides into two; one for Microeconomics and one for Macroeconomics.  Both toolkits enable students to engage with economic problems in writing (by applying theories and building arguments), through mathematical and statistical modelling and by using visual representations such as graphs and charts to communicate their ideas.  By the end of Year 12 an SHSG economics student’s microeconomic journey will have taken them from the root of the fundamental economic problem (finite resources yet infinite wants!) through how markets operate to solve this problem, to being able to evaluate the actions of Government as they step in to correct the various ways in which markets fail to deliver their promise.  Environmental problems, the continual under provision of health care and education and the over consumption of high salt/high fat foods are amongst the real-world problems that can be attributed to market failure. By the end of Year 13 an SHSG Economics student will have added a detailed understanding of the structure of competitive markets and how this influences the behaviour of firms, evaluating the response of Governments to the challenges that uncompetitive behaviour by firms presents.

For Macroeconomics, SHSG Economics students will start by developing the aggregate demand aggregate supply model which they then use to explore economic issues within the UK economy such as evaluating the effects of economic growth, inflation, unemployment, and international trade. They continue by considering the macroeconomic objectives of the UK Government and exploring the policy prescriptions adopted to try to achieve them.  They will contrast these with policies adopted by other governments, building an evidence base from which to make judgements about the effectiveness of the different approaches to management of national economies.  By the end of Year 13 this expands to a global perspective as SHSG Economics students are challenged to understand why some economies are more economically developed than others and what strategies exist to further promote their development. The global theme continues as students ask deeper questions about the parity of global trading relationships, global inequality and poverty and a detailed investigation into the global banking and financial markets and the financial crisis of 2008.  By the end of the course SHSG Economics students will be able to discuss and articulate different perspectives on a wide range of economic and social issues, thinking evaluatively about the approaches that have been adopted and innovatively about alternative solutions.

Studying economics at Southend high school for girls is as rewarding as it is challenging. Each lesson you will be faced with a new economic idea or school of thought that you will incorporate into the ever-expanding economic landscape that you will be building in your mind. You will need to draw and redraw this map, challenging and refining your thinking so that, overtime, your arguments will be rooted in the solid foundations of economic theory and honed by an understanding of real-life evidence. You will be expected to keep up to date with current economic events through reading a reputable news source and bring this knowledge into each lesson. The more connections you make across topics and economies the more value you will get from the subject (and the more successful you will be!).  You will be encouraged to ask questions about these events and work collaboratively with your peers to make sense of them to reach well-reasoned judgements.

Expectations are high from the beginning, and you will be encouraged to understand and use the technical vocabulary of the subject in all discussions.  You will sound and act as an economist from day one. Whether your future is within a global city-based investment bank, or a Global NGO working with grassroots micro finance the economic understanding that you develop will stand you in good stead.  In recent years the SHSG Economics department has prepared students for courses at Oxford and Cambridge, LSE, Nottingham and Bath Universities as well as city Apprenticeships with global institutions such as Ernst and Young, KPMG and Merryll Lynch.

To complement the course, you will attend the IEA lecture programme.  This will give you the opportunity to update your economic landscape with some of the latest thinking.  It will also bring you into contact with real life working economists and economics students from other schools. This is further extended through TED talks and visits from alumni students working in a variety of Banking and finance careers.  There is also a walking tour of the City of London which you give you a fascinating perspective into what happens behind the shiny exteriors of iconic office buildings such as the Shard and the Gherkin.

Throughout the course you will be encouraged to take part in prestigious competitions.    These include the IEA essay competition, the London Institute of Banking and Finance investor challenge and the Royal Economics Society Young Economist of the Year competition.

When you leave the subject at the end of Year 13 you will have a way of seeing the world that makes you stand out from other students.  You will be able to converse in an informed way on some of the biggest challenges facing your generation. You will be able to command the use of evidence and data to support your arguments and see when others are overextending the reach of their evidence in the points that they make.  You will be able to think in abstract models about real world scenarios and will demonstrate deeply honed analytical skills that help you examine the causes and consequences of different economic phenomena.  You will also be able to see balance in situations, weighing up competing arguments and seeing different viewpoints.

Please click on the button below to download the assessment policy for Economics.