A light-hearted look at induction training
I’m always on the look out for neat little video clips I can use to bring ideas and concepts to life. I’ve just seen the latest McDonald’s TV ad for the first time and it looks a great way of getting across the concept of induction training.
read more...»Business Revision Workshops - Latest Availability
We are often asked how many places are left on our popular revisions workshops. So we’ve created a widget which shows you the latest seat availability! The details for the next series of revision workshops is shown below. It is updated each time our office processed a new or amended booking, so it provides an up-to-date overview of the remaining places.
read more...»tutor2u launches revision workshops for GCSE Business Studies
Following a large number of requests, we have decided to launch a programme of our popular cinema-based revision workshops for GCSE Business students. The initial programme takes us to two venues…
read more...»Making Finance Fun 2012 - CPD Course (London)
First details here of a new CPD course from the tutor2u team, which we’re running for the first time on 20 June 2012 in central London.
read more...»AQA & Edexcel GCSE Business Controlled Assessment 2012 - CPD Support Course
A date for your diaries in April 2012 if you teach AQA or Edexcel GCSE Business Studies. We are running CPD days in Manchester (19 April 2012) and London (20 April 2012) to support teachers preparing and supervising their GCSE Business students as they tackle the 2012 controlled assessment tasks. A separate course is being run for both the 2012 AQA and Edexcel controlled assessments. Each course will run from 10.30 a.m. until 2.30 p.m. including lunch.
Places on the courses will be limited, so please make a provisional booking as soon as possible. Places can be booked online here:
https://tutor2u.wufoo.com/forms/gcse-business-controlled-assessment-support-cpd/
GCSE Business Controlled Assessment - 2012 Survey
We are gathering the opinions of colleagues and departments who offer GCSE Business Studies about the Controlled Assessment. If you teach GCSE Business Studies, please take 5-10 minutes to provide us with your views using the following survey form:
https://tutor2u.wufoo.com/forms/gcse-business-controlled-assessment-survey-2012/
Unlimited vs Limited Liability? Box it off
Last year I found my students didn’t grasp the concept of unlimited and limited liability as quickly as I felt they should. I always take the view it’s not the students, it’s the teacher so this year I tried something different and it worked really well.
read more...»Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Unit 3 Meeting Customer Needs Zondle Quiz
Here’s another Zondle Quiz, based around Section 7 of the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies specification. There are a couple of games embedded below, but the quiz is also publicly available at Zondle’s website where you can choose from a wider variety of games. Enjoy, and Happy New Year to all.
read more...»Dragons Den - the board game

How many Business teachers and students received this as a Christmas present?
Certainly one student in my family did, and having tested it out the other evening, we found it quick to get into, good fun and quite competitive. Players take the role of Dragons, with a pile of cash to invest and several hundred cards with (rather brief) outlines of business ideas being pitched for investment. All the business ideas are, apparently, genuine; some you will recognise as having become big successes, some you may remember from the TV programme, some are very obscure. You have the chance to bet on the outcome of each, and the winner is simply the Dragon with the most money left at the end. After a couple of rounds we got into some wild all-or-nothing investments - some of which actually paid off!
My next investment plan is to buy this for the classroom; it only needs half an hour or so to play it, and will be worth having for those lessons which need some light relief!
Buy the Dragons Den board game from Amazon
Business Cafe - Christmas 2011
The Christmas 2011 edition of Business Cafe - our digital learning resource for all Level 2 and Level 3 business courses, is now available to subscribing schools and colleges. Details of the new articles and case studies in this edition are summarised below.
read more...»Edexcel closes the gap on AQA for GCSE Business as BTEC First powers ahead
Edexcel is closing the gap on AQA as the most popular awarding body for GCSE Business Studies. However, both AQA and Edexcel’s GCSE courses have been overtaken by the BTEC First in Business which is now by some distance the most popular Level 2 specification for business students in the UK.
Our recent email survey of over 8,000 business teachers has generated over 1,400 detailed replies. We asked colleagues to name their level 2 business options, including their current awarding body. The results of this survey have been mapped against our database of all secondary schools and colleges, including academies, sixth form colleges and FE institutions offering level 2 options. The results show a significant change in the GCSE Business landscape, with the prospect of further change in 2012.
read more...»Zondle Quiz Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Unit 1 Section 3 Putting an idea into practice
I have been writing a Zondle Quiz after each section of Edexcel GCSE Business Studies, but for the latest one I set my students the challenge of writing me some questions and answers that I could use to create a quiz. I used some of the best ones to produce this….
read more...»CGI modelling gauze and effect
Photographs of flawless models with tiny waists, perfect bums and endless legs, may hold the attention of consumers, but is it ethical to use computer generated images to promote a firm’s clothing ranges?

Job Production…Unwrapped
I owe a pat on the back to one of two of my Upper Sixth students, Georgina Carter & Mille Dunn, for telling me all about a US TV programme called ‘Unwrapped’ which goes behind the scenes of food production of some of the western world’s favourite foods.
read more...»Q&A Rapid Revision Guides for Business & Economics
Our series of Rapid Revision Q&A Guides is now extended to 14 units covering a range of Business Studies and Economics specifications. Details below of the current range and how to order:
read more...»Revision Quiz - Market Research for a Business Startup
This new revision quiz looks at how a startup can undertake market research. There are over 20 questions in the quiz bank for this topic and each time you run the quiz 10 questions are selected at random.
Launch Revision Quiz - Market Research for a Business Startup
The Business of Newcastle United

My love of Newcastle United is well known amongst my pupils; many minutes of Monday morning lessons have been eaten up whilst they attempt to prevent the start of a lesson by asking how the team got on at the weekend. Fortunately for me the discussions have been quite enjoyable this year… so far….
read more...»Problem for Pupil - PEST Solution
Entrepreneurs are risk takers, they spot gaps in a market where customers’ needs are left unfulfilled. They have to balance cash flow management against overstocking, anticipate the likely responses of intelligent rivals and the capricious behaviour of external regulators or governments.
read more...»Lesson Worksheet - Stakeholders in a Business
This lesson worksheet addresses the key topic of stakeholders in a business. Who are the internal and external stakeholders? What is the difference between shareholders and stakeholders? To what extent might stakeholders have different and conflicting objectives?
Download lesson worksheet on stakeholders
Zondle Packages for GCSE
At the end of the last school year I really took to Zondle. Its intuitive interface and fun games make it an easy win with students (I am working on the staff side having just uploaded the whole school into the system).
After seeing Geoff’s post on creating a package I thought to myself, “Gareth, if you create a few of those a week in the summer hols, you’ll be in clover come September”. Unfortunately some extreme decorating chez moi got in the way of my plans, but now I am back on the case.
read more...»GCSE Edexcel Business Studies Unit 3 Section 6 Marketing Quiz
Many thanks to Ian Pryer for providing these revision questions for . The questions can be played in a variety of game formats - three are provided here…
read more...»Entrepreneurs and Calculated Risks
Over the summer I have been re-reading the new Smarta Business book which is packed full of practical, real-life advice on starting a business from 100 top entrepreneurs.
I came across a whole section on a topic which we were discussing with students at our revision workshops recently - the need for entrepreneurs to take “calculated risks”. The term calculated risk actually appears in the excellent Edexcel GCSE Business (Unit 1), but students don’t all find it easy to understand what it means.
read more...»TBBLE (The Best Business Lesson Ever) 2011/12 - New CPD Dates Added!
We’re delighted to add Belfast and Glasgow as two extra venues for TBBLE 2011/12. TBBLE stands for “(probably) The Best Business Lesson Ever” and we’re really excited about the speakers and teaching resources that have already been lined up for the 2011/12 series! Our very own Lord Sutch and Michelle Stephenson are just two of the providing delegates with a fabulous selection of new business teacher resources and activities…
read more...»Revision game - Edexcel GCSE Business Unit 1 Section 1
Many thanks to Ian Pryer for providing these fun revision questions which cover section 1 of Edexcel GCSE Business Unit 1…
read more...»GCSE Zondle Games
I have been meaning to play about with Zondle for a while now. A little bit of spare time today and a chat with my Head of Department prompted me to create a couple of quiz sets ready for our Business and Communication Systems classes next year.
read more...»20-20 Revision for GCSE Edexcel Year 10
When I attended The Best Business Lesson Ever (TBBLE) last September, one of my favourite resources of the many I came away with was Michelle Stephenson’s 20 20 Cricket based quiz.
Here is a version I have put together for Year 10 students approaching their Edexcel Unit 1 Introduction to Small Business exam in May. You will need to create a folder (which you can name as you wish) to which you can save the files. However, you must not change the names of the individual files at all or the links in the powerpoint will not work.
Download the Edexcel Unit 1 2020 cricket game here:
More 20-20 Revision - GCSE Edexcel Unit 3/Year11
I previously shared a version of Michelle Stephenson’s excellent 20-20 cricket game, relevant to Unit 1 GCSE Edexcel Business Studies.
read more...»Business Cafe - Easter 2011 Now Available
The Easter 2011 edition of Business Cafe - our digital case study magazine for all Business Studies courses - is now available to subscribing schools and colleges. Details of the Easter 2011 case studies and a sample download below…
read more...»Stakeholders - Every Little Helps
Coming to the end of ‘Understanding the Economic Context’ with Year 10 classes this week, we covered the concept of stakeholders. I found a couple of useful resources related to the issue of proposals for new supermarkets to be built.
read more...»Is the role of inflation over inflated?
Credit here to Ben Phipps and Sam Udeshi at Chauncy School, Ware, for highlighting this great graphic and short article about how the actual prices of a range of goods and services compare with what their price should be when adjusted in line with the RPI since 1981. It shows how some products are cheaper than inflation trends suggest they should be, whereas leisure based items are noticeably higher. Can students explain possible reasons for this?




