The Business, Economics & Law department at Canons strives to create a curriculum which supports students to become confident individuals who are prepared to engage in life within and beyond Canons as active citizens. Our curriculum offer is intended to be one of excellence where we promote the development of powerful knowledge for all our students while allowing all of our students to access that powerful knowledge irrespective of ability, in an inclusive fashion.

The subjects explore theories and current practices to help us to understand how individuals and businesses operate in a complex system; regionally, nationally and internationally. The aim is to go beyond our own immediate experience and understand the world around us and how we can contribute to that world, and bring about change as key stakeholders, through our involvement in society and the economy.

Through these subjects students learn how to use skills of application, analysis and evaluation in order to make judgments about how our world operates. We will also learn how to analyse data in order to reach informed conclusions. The subjects are subjective, where there is no such thing as definite facts. This means that students will be expected to explain a point of view in a logical and coherent manner, using supportive evidence and contradict and critic this view before making judgements and considering alternatives.

Studying these subjects develops a strong foundation of knowledge and skills respected by universities and employers. Many of our students have gone onto studying degrees and apprenticeships in related fields – from management and consultancy, to law and to qualifying as financial, economic and legal professionals. We are excited by students who have an inquisitive mind about how current affairs and legal systems contribute to society evolution. Join us and explore what you can contribute.

 Economics is about resources and the decisions we make about how to use them to meet the needs of the people in a society.  Resources are scarce relative to wants so decisions have to be made:

• What to produce
• How much to produce
• How to produce
• How to allocate

The fundamental concept in economics is opportunity cost.  Once a decision is made about resource allocation there will be an opportunity cost i.e. the next best alternative foregone once a decision has been made.  Economists see the world with an ‘opportunity cost’ perspective.  They respond to issues and events by considering what next best alternative has been foregone. 

 An Economics student will develop a keen interest in learning about:

• Types of markets and their nature
• Scarcity & resource allocation
• External influences
• Strategic planning & decision-making
• Economic growth & competitiveness
• Globalisation and Global economies
• Government influence & intervention
• Labour markets & unemployment
• Poverty & inequality
• Supply & demand
• Elasticity & price determination
• Financial services & the role of central banks