Professional Focus Paper
Course: Business
1.
Level: National 3
Who is this paper for and what is its purpose?
This paper is for teachers and other staff who provide learning, teaching and support as learners work towards
Business National 3.
Curriculum for Excellence is a unique opportunity to raise achievement and to ensure that all learners are better
prepared than they have been in the past for learning, life and work. This is because the new curriculum gives real
scope to build learning 3–18 in a joined-up, seamless way. As a result, progression in learning can be much
stronger with a clear focus on attributes and capabilities, skills (including higher-order thinking skills), and
knowledge and understanding. These are delivered through the experiences and outcomes of the 3–15 Broad
General Education (BGE) and, at the senior phase, through programmes that build directly on the BGE leading to
qualifications. Because of a strengthened focus on the nature and quality of learning experiences, self-motivation is
likely to be increased and learners consequently more engaged and enthused. To ensure continuity and
progression, qualifications at the senior phase have been designed to embrace this unambiguous focus on highquality learning.
Curriculum for Excellence has the flexibility to meet the needs of all learners in their local circumstances, enabling
each to achieve their very best. For example, some centres may take the opportunity to offer qualifications over two
years which might involve learners bypassing qualifications at a given level, whereas others may enable learners to
work towards qualifications within one year. In both cases, the advice in this paper is relevant to the learning and
teaching approaches that learners will encounter. This paper, then, is intended to stimulate professional reflection
and dialogue about learning. It highlights important features of learning which are enhanced or different from
previous arrangements at this SCQF level.
How will you plan for progression in learning and teaching, building on the Broad General Education?
2.
What’s new and what are the implications for learning and teaching?
Business National 3 consists of 2 Units.
 Business in Action
 Influences on Business
To achieve Business National 3, learners must pass both Units on a Unit-by-Unit basis or by combined
assessment. Combined assessment can be achieved by tasks that will cover outcomes from more than one Unit,
e.g. a case study that combines assessment on factors influencing business with finance and marketing or centres
could use naturally occurring evidence to build up a portfolio of learner’s work which meets the requirements of the
Outcomes of the Units in the Course.
BUSINESS
What are the key aspects of Business National 3?
The Course is practical and experiential in nature, and develops a wide range of skills for learning, skills for life,
and skills for work. These include: employability skills and attributes, including flexibility, reliability, and working with
others; numeracy, by being able to interpret basic data and by understanding money and effective use of ICT in a
business context. This Course has been designed to ensure that there are no unnecessary barriers to learning or
assessment. The individual needs of learners should be taken into account when planning learning experiences,
selecting assessment methods or considering alternative evidence. As with the National 4 course, it is flexible,
giving more time to meet learners’ needs, has an increased focus on skills and applying learning with greater
opportunities for personalisation and choice.
Hierarchy of Units
A hierarchy exists between this Course and the National 4 Business Course. It is important that any content in a
Course and/or Unit at one particular SCQF level is not repeated if a learner progresses to the next level of the
hierarchy. The skills and knowledge should be able to be applied to new content and contexts to enrich the learning
experience. This is for centres to manage.
Learners will be expected to demonstrate a greater degree of autonomy with less support offered by the
teacher/lecturer the higher they progress through the hierarchy. This should increase the sense of ownership the
learners have over their work and ensure that, even if they have previously completed the Course at a lower level,
their interest in the subject is kept alive.
To the learners who might exceed the SCQF level they are working at, a hierarchical arrangement gives the
opportunity to have their best achievements recognised. On the other hand, for those who might fall short in some
areas, it provides fall-back. A hierarchical arrangement also enables learners to work at different levels in one
class, and it is indeed envisaged that this will happen in some centres.
What are the key features of learning in Business National 4?
Active learning
Learners are expected to continue to experience active learning in the senior phase. It is essential that learners
have regular opportunities to engage and challenge their own thinking and to develop the higher-order thinking
skills required to do so. Learners should take an active role in the learning process. Learning and teaching
approaches should encourage active, participative and experiential opportunities to allow learners to develop skills
such as problem solving, by testing out their ideas, and logical and creating thinking skills through doing, exploring
and taking initiatives. For example, by running their own small business, learners can be given the opportunity to
apply their knowledge to a range of real life business contexts. The approaches to teaching and learning chosen
should encourage personalisation and choice. The National 3 Course benefits from having no external assessment
so this is a great opportunity to make the teaching and learning as active as possible.
How will you ensure active learning encourages self-motivation and resilience in your group of learners?
Learning independently
The greater focus on skills and applying learning gives much greater scope for learners to exercise personalisation
and choice. A Course in Business naturally lends itself to developing enterprising skills, by exploring how business
operates. The flexibility offered in the delivery of the Course allows centres to cover the requirements through an
enterprise project — learners could establish their own business or social enterprise. Learners, therefore, have the
opportunity to experience a wider range of learning and teaching approaches in different contexts that can better
BUSINESS
meet their needs and build on their experience and achievements in the BGE. For example, learners could take
part in real life activities like interview practice where they take a role as the interviewee or the interviewer. To
enable independent thinking skills and learning, teachers will want to reduce the focus on teacher-led activities and
place a greater emphasis on learners’ experiences within which choices are made, by the learner, based on their
expertise and skill level.
To further promote personalisation and choice, teachers will want to explore learning and teaching approaches
which encourage learners to investigate and research a range of business aspects relating to real life contexts,
thus giving learners the opportunity to apply their learning to familiar and unfamiliar situations. The focus on
customer service in this course allows opportunities for external visits or field trip research of local businesses to
report on and compare different approaches and methods.
How will you promote independent learning to ensure full impact?
Responsibility for learning
Learners should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and to develop an awareness of
themselves as learners. Learning activities should be planned in consultation with learners. Practical activities
should encourage learners to take personal control of their own learning, and opportunities for learners to reflect on
and discuss their own progress are likely to be built routinely into all planned learning experiences. Learners should
be encouraged to monitor their own progress, set targets and make effective use of feedback to improve. A
learning blog would be a useful way to encourage the use of ICT but could also be used as evidence of learning.
To ensure that learners are able to take full responsibility for their own learning, learning intentions and success
criteria will need to be explicit. Learning and teaching approaches will also be developed which promote the
development of learners’ skills in self- and peer-assessment. For example, learners may be asked to comment
upon the work of others in their class against set criteria such as presentation, skills, accuracy of information,
clarity, and if working in a group, how well they performed in their specific role within that group. As before, it is
expected at this level for learners to achieve at their own pace, therefore, a concise ongoing learning record must
be kept.
How will you ensure that all learners are making informed decisions based on where they are in their learning and
what they need to do to progress?
Collaborative learning
Learning and teaching approaches should encourage collaborative working, which develops essential social and
interpersonal skills. Group activities, such as supporting or organising a meeting/event or working together to
create a presentation, may offer suitable opportunities for learners to work in partnership, take on responsibility and
to learn from each other. In order to be successful, a group of learners would want to demonstrate how each
member’s particular area of skills and expertise could be best utilised to meet the needs of the group and the task.
A collaborative learning approach will enrich the learning experience for the learners and make the learning more
meaningful. For example, this can be achieved by working together to run a small business enterprise. Again this is
an excellent opportunity to encourage the use of ICT by recording or taking pictures of collaborative learning
situations which could then be used as evidence of learning.
How can you ensure that all learners take on roles and responsibilities in group tasks, appropriate to their level of
skill and ability?
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Applying learning and skills development
Learning experiences should ensure plentiful opportunities for all learners to develop higher-order thinking skills
including, for example, through applying their knowledge in unfamiliar situations. A main feature of learning will be
the development of enterprise and employability skills, through which learners will gain an understanding of the
value of these skills to their future careers by relating the knowledge, understanding and skills to real life business
related contexts. Learners should have opportunities to tap into their natural inventiveness and their desire to
create and work in practical ways. For example, this can be achieved by role play of customer service situations.
How are you developing skills for learning, life and work?
3.
Qualification information
The SQA website provides you with the following documents:
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Course Specification
Unit Specification
Course and Unit Support Notes
Unit Assessment Support Packages
Full information on arrangements for this qualification is available at the SQA website:
Business National 3: http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/48582.html
4.
What other materials are available on the Education Scotland website which staff
could use?
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/nationalqualifications/subjects/businessmanagement.asp
T +44 (0)141 282 5000 E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk W www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA
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