Modelling Curriculum Choice at A-level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

Bachan, Raymond; Barrow, Michael

doi:10.1016/s1477-3880(15)30118-3

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(31 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Between 1992 and 2000, the number of students taking economics in England fell by over 50%, while the number taking business studies increased by over 80% (Bachan 2004). Several researchers have examined why economics has become less popular as an A-level subject, and they have come to similar conclusions (Ashworth and Evans 2000;Ashworth and Evans 2001;Reilly and Bachan 2002;Bachan 2004;Bachan and Barrow 2006).…”

Section: The Context -Choosing A-level Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Of the three subjects being considered in this study, economics attracts the smallest proportion of female candidates across the UK (DCSF 2009). Ashworth and Evans (2000) state that the perceived abstract and/or mathematical nature of economics is off-putting particularly to girls, while Bachan and Barrow (2006) found that females are more likely to believe that they will not find the subject interesting and enjoyable. A comparison is made between male and female achievement in accounting, business studies and economics over the four-year period of this study.…”

Section: Relative Difficulty Of Different Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Student performance–university preference model: a framework for helping students choose the right A‐level subjects

Wilkins

2011

Educational Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Every year, many students in the UK fail to achieve a place at their preferred university because they take the wrong A-level subjects. This study aims to suggest a framework for helping students choose the right subjects. Data on student achievement in A-level examinations were obtained from a UK sixth form college over a four-year period. Statistical techniques were employed to support our hypothesis that a student's choice of A-level subjects should be based on both the student's ability and a university's preference for particular subjects and grades. Despite the limitation of small sample size, a model has been created that will maximise a student's chance of achieving a place at his/her university of choice. The model presented could easily be extended in future to incorporate more levels in each of the attributes considered, and in this way it could provide the optimal choice of subjects for each individual student given his/her particular aspirations. IntroductionThe General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (commonly referred to as an Alevel) is the main qualification taken by 18-year-olds at the end of their school education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There has been considerable media coverage recently about the disadvantages to students of studying "soft" A-level subjects in obtaining admission to reputable universities. The notion of "soft" A-level refers to the perception of these A-level subjects being easier than other subjects to score high marks. We acknowledge that there are many factors that are considered by students when making their A-level subject choices. There are also external influences on students to choose particular subjects. These influences could be in the form of parental preference, peer pressure, media hype, etc.In this paper, we are not looking at the reasons why particular A-level choices are made by a student; rather, we have concentrated on the effect of the choice of A-level subjects in obtaining a place at university, with the aim of suggesting a framework to achieve maximum aspiration-achievement match for the student. It is also necessary to consider the admission criteria universities use, their perception of "soft" and "hard" A-level subjects and their view of suitability of a particular A-level subject for a chosen degree course. Most universities' admission criteria are based not only on grades but also on the type of subjects the student has taken at A-level, which are in general categorised as "preferred" and "not-preferred" by the universities. The "preferred" subjects tend to be subjects commonly regarded as "hard" and the "not-preferred" subjects tend to be those commonly regarded as "soft". This may lead to the situation of a student gaining admission to a university with a lower grade in a "preferred" subject but not gaining admission with a higher grade in another perceived to be a "soft" subject.The complexity of the problem is further increased by the perception of the students about different subjects as suitable subjects for their study...

show abstract

Section: The Context -Choosing A-level Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Relative Difficulty Of Different Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student performance–university preference model: a framework for helping students choose the right A‐level subjects

Wilkins

2011

Educational Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, between 1992 and 2004, the number of students taking economics in England fell by 62 per cent while the number taking business studies over the same period increased by 70 per cent (Bachan and Barrow 2006). However, the number of students taking economics at A level in 2009 increased by 15.2 per cent from the previous year (DCSF 2010).…”

Section: Vocationalisation Of the School Curriculummentioning

confidence: 98%

“…There is consensus in the literature about which Alevel subjects are easier or more difficult, and business studies is always categorised as being easier (Fitz-Gibbon and Vincent 1994;Alton and Pearson 1996;Dearing 1996;Bachan and Barrow 2006). However, these studies did not distinguish between the applied business and traditional, 'academic' business studies A levels.…”

Section: Vocationalisation Of the School Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

Applied and academic A levels: is there really a need for the applied track in UK further education?

Wilkins

Walker

2011

Journal of Further and Higher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The term 'applied track' in UK further education has been used to refer to the applied A level, the vocational, coursework-based version of the traditional academic A level. Vocational and coursework-based courses are often criticised for being easier than academic courses, for only attracting students who do not satisfy the requirements to take academic courses and for not developing in students the skills they need to be successful in higher education. This paper considers the extent to which these criticisms may be justified and explores the reasons why students chose to take an applied A level. The study involved 666 students at a large, mixed sex sixth form college in the UK, who were taking both applied and academic A levels. Although statistical analysis showed that students on the applied course performed worse than students on two academic courses once their different GCSE scores had been accounted for, it was also found that the applied students were relatively well qualified, that they were generally well motivated and hard working, and that they were extremely satisfied with the course. Finally, it is suggested that perhaps universities are misguided in assuming that applied courses do not develop in students the skills that they need to be successful in higher education.

show abstract

“…They also reported that these differences have been stable over time. Given that high grades are more difficult to achieve in Economics than Business Studies there has been an incentive for students to prefer Business Studies (Bachan and Barrow 2006).…”

Section: Advanced Level Subject Difficulty and Individual Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Hard and soft choices? Subject selection by schools and students

Davies

2018

Oxford Review of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Modelling Curriculum Choice at A-level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

Cited by 7 publications

References 24 publications

Student performance–university preference model: a framework for helping students choose the right A‐level subjects

Student performance–university preference model: a framework for helping students choose the right A‐level subjects

Applied and academic A levels: is there really a need for the applied track in UK further education?

Hard and soft choices? Subject selection by schools and students

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About