Economics - Introduction | The English School - A Second Century of Excellence

Welcome to the Economics and Business Department

Economics Department Blog: https://www.englishschool.ac.cy/blogs/economics/

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Our Vision

As a department, we endorse the school’s culture of ‘Learning through Diversity’ in helping us to reach the goal of preparing our students to be tomorrow’s citizens, equipped and able to be successful at any time and to become independent life-long learners.
In Economics and Business, we aim to enable every pupil to maximize their potential by making effective use of data to inform teaching and learning and by constantly developing our skills as a teaching team. All staff have up-to-date knowledge and understanding of our subject. We play a key part in developing life-long skills which will contribute to their economic wellbeing. Our curriculum contextualises learning through the use of real-life situations and problem-solving scenarios. Our students develop personal qualities such as the ability to work effectively in teams.

Departmental Aims and Ethos

A. Student-Focused Aims

Prepare them as effectively as possible for public examinations
Provide as stimulating an environment as possible for the teaching of Economics and Business.
Develop pupil’s awareness of current and relevant issues in Economics and /or Business
Foster a sense of responsibility towards the environment
Advise and direct pupils who are considering Tertiary education in an Economics or Business-related field.

Specific Departmental Aims

Expectations of ALL Students are high – all pupils should maximize their potential.
Students should become at ease with using the appropriate economics/business terminology. They should be able to understand the relevant concepts and methods to address current relevant issues and be aware of the limitations of these methods.
Students should be able to distinguish fact from opinion and evaluate/ analyse data in order to make informed judgements.
Students should have a detailed knowledge of the workings of the UK Economy and the Business world.
Respect for Diversity and Tolerance

Apart from academic excellence, the Department also aims at promoting a multicultural learning environment both within the Department and the school in general. It is the firm belief of the Department that such an environment enhances learning, builds up students’ self-esteem and encourages all to develop respectful behaviour towards others. In this, the Department encourages dialogue and open, frank discussions on issues which might challenge discriminatory attitudes and/or established norms. At the same time, the Department has a zero-tolerance policy towards graffiti and expects all students to show respect to the physical environment in which they work.

B. Staff-Focused Aims

Provide ample opportunity for professional development, both within and outside the Department. Regular Inset will be provided as well as other training courses whenever possible.

To foster an environment of collegiality and team-work. There should be a culture of resource-sharing and cooperation to maximize both teachers’ and pupils’ potential.
To develop a culture of constructive debate, consensus and discussion to facilitate decision-making.
Provide an intellectually stimulating environment for teachers to develop their skills as classroom practitioners.
Provide ample opportunity for management experience by the delegation of management tasks and responsibilities.

C. Resource-Focused Aims

The Economics Department is a well-resourced department. As well as an extensive collection of economics books and journals in the School Library we also have a variety of journals and periodicals available in the Department. Students are asked to subscribe to Economics Today, a journal for Economics AL students that is very useful for the course.
The Department itself subscribes regularly to the Business Review, the Economic Review, Economics Today, The Economist and other leading periodicals.
In addition, we have computers both in the office, for teacher use, and in the Departmental teaching rooms which are used for classroom teaching. Our classrooms are equipped with computers and projectors to facilitate the use of ICT in our lessons.
Also, the Department undertakes further to provide its students with an Articles & Notes Booklet which will be used extensively throughout the Economics course followed.
Use is also made of ICT in facilitating our work and improving learning, for example, TEAMS is used to give and receive homework, upload relevant articles as well as access past papers.

D. Student Motivation Initiatives

The Department encourages student creativity; it organizes every year a poster & project competition held amongst Year 4 students in order to motivate them and encourage creative and original work. Students so far have responded with great enthusiasm.
Also, for years now, an essay competition is organised for year 7 students, known as the D. Demetriou essay competition held in memory of an old student of the Department
The Department encourages students to attend and/ or organize, via the Economics Society, lectures and other economic events, this way providing ample opportunity to the students to learn beyond the classroom
Finally, the Department offers every week ‘surgeries’ to those students who feel they can benefit from additional coaching and guidance. Our aim is, as always, to improve student performance and equip our students so that they excel in the external exam.