Collaborative Departments - Economics

Michaela Community School have recently established  their new Sixth Form and we supported them in setting up their Economics department. This took the form of discussions around new ideas and experience of best practice. As the partnership is maturing, it is moving into the mutual sharing of exam technique resources and past paper material. We envisage the partnership developing further to provide numerous collaborative professional development opportunities for both departments.

Aims

The initial aim for this partnership was to ensure the smooth introduction of the new Economics course at the beginning of Michaela Community School’s Sixth Form. As the partnership matures, the aims will evolve to look at opportunities for the continued exchange and discussion of teaching and learning best practice in A level Economics, including the development of Economics enrichment and progression to Economics based degrees.

Background

This partnership developed from the already established and continuing partnership between Michaela Community School and South Hampstead High School. The project between the Economics departments was established last academic year as Michaela Community School worked to set up their new Sixth Form.

Resources

In terms of the resources needed to make this collaboration successful it has mainly required teacher time plus course materials.

Impact

The impact of the project will be measureable by the number of students continuing into the second year of the course, their results in 2021, plus the number of new students signing up to Economics in the cohort of 2020. It has also allowed the development of a department without the need for expensive external CPD courses.

Pupil Involvement

Initially, students are not directly involved, but they are the main beneficiaries. As the partnership develops, students from both schools could be involved in the development of new resources.

Frequency

This is an on-going initiative, with the frequency of meetings and discussions being dependent on the current demands of the academic year. The initial set-up plus the revision period and exam preparation will be times of more frequent collaboration. We envisage this being a long-term partnership.