AS and A Level Business: what’s new in our redeveloped qualifications?

Debbie Malpas, Subject Advisor for Business and Economics

In this blog, I’ll answer key questions about the redevelopment of our AS and A Level specifications, explain how and why our content and assessment models are changing, and give an overview of some of the improvements we’re planning.

We submitted drafts of our new AS and A Level Business specifications to the regulator, Ofqual, over the summer. We are aiming for them to be accredited ready for first teaching in September 2025.

To discover more about our redeveloped AS and A Level in Business and the support available, and to view our draft specifications and sample assessment materials, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Why are we making changes?

Business is a dynamic and ever-changing subject, and we want to reflect modern business practices in our specifications. Our current AS and A Level Business were redeveloped several years ago for first teaching in 2015. Following a comprehensive review of these, we identified a need to create new, contemporary qualifications that empower students to develop as commercially minded, enterprising individuals, who are prepared to make informed decisions about their future and succeed in today’s world.

How did we do it?

We began the redevelopment in summer 2022, starting with a detailed external review of our specifications and analysis of previous teacher feedback. We wanted to ensure that our process was rigorous and thoughtful, so we worked closely with a range of key stakeholders. 

This included consulting with teachers, heads of department and subject leads, principal examiners, HE lecturers, and representatives from business and education.
We researched all content and terminology used in the specifications to ensure it was valid and relevant to business now and is likely to remain relevant in the coming years. We also listened closely to feedback on how users want to engage with specifications, so we could produce content which is logically organised and sufficiently detailed for use by both students and teachers. 

As well as this, we investigated a range of different assessment models and gained stakeholder feedback on their suitability. We have carefully considered what content should be assessed on which paper and reviewed command words, question styles and mark tariffs to ensure our assessment materials are inclusive and accessible to all. You can read more about accessibility in our assessments in our recent blog. 

We recognise and are committed to aligning our qualifications with OCR’s people and planet principles, especially in terms of climate change and Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB). With this as a focus, we have scrutinised our content based on our commitment to improving EDIB and increasing environmental awareness in our business qualifications. 

Throughout our journey to date, we have analysed all the feedback from teachers and other stakeholders. Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to get involved.

What will be changing?

We plan to update our AS and A Level Business content. 60% of the content in our new draft specifications focuses on meeting the mandatory Department for Education’s core knowledge, understanding and skills, while the 40% additional content includes topics that are engaging and relevant to young people such as recruitment, training and development and sustainability.

Subject to accreditation by Ofqual, some of the improvements you can expect include:

• Simplified specifications – our new specifications are shorter and structured into topics. They are easier to navigate and useful for planning.
• Greater focus on modern business – we’re keeping our most popular topics while introducing new, contemporary content around sustainability, work-life balance and the customer experience.
• More accessible assessment:
  • clearer exam language with refined command words
  • shorter case studies embedded within the exam papers
  • changes to question tariffs with a highest tariff of 14 marks
  • more multiple choice questions
  • formulae booklet available for use during the exams
  • repeated paper structure across exams to reduce cognitive load
  • each paper focuses on different content with synoptic assessment only in the final paper

We believe that these changes will help create a positive business experience for all students.

What support will there be for planning and delivering AS and A Level Business?

You told us you needed resources to get started with us, and more teaching materials to aid your delivery. Together with our publisher partners and online providers, we’re confident you’ll have all the support you need.

To help you navigate the new specifications, we will also create and share:

• detailed assessment guides and annotated sample assessment material
• a curriculum planner and schemes of work to support with planning and delivery
• free teacher guides and teaching resources to support delivery
• a new textbook and teaching and learning resources from third parties and publishers
• Active Results: our free results analysis service to help you review the performance of individual students or whole school.
• ExamBuilder: our free question-building platform that helps you to build your own tests as our bank of past live-series questions grow.

As these resources become available, they will be added to our dedicated secure teacher website, Teach Cambridge. Please ask your exams officer if you need access. 

Plus, our business subject advisors are ready to help you along your journey, offering a range of preparation and delivery support services. We’ll share updates, resources and blogs with hints and tips. We’ll also invite you to training opportunities and a range of professional development courses throughout the year, from getting started with us to exploring our exams and assessment materials. Make sure you sign up to receive subject updates to stay in the loop!

You can also register for one of our Introducing OCR’s new AS and A Level Business showcases taking place in November. Each free, online session will introduce our qualifications, provide an overview of our plans and give you a chance to ask questions.

In summary

I hope this blog has helped inform you about the latest development stages of the draft AS and A Level Business. We hope the proposed changes to the specifications and assessment materials, which have come about as a direct result of the valuable feedback we receive from teachers and stakeholders, will increase the enjoyment and love of learning that your business students deserve. 

We are aiming for the redeveloped qualifications to be ready for first teaching in September 2025 (subject to accreditation). If you sign up for our email updates we’ll be in touch when we know the outcome of the regulatory process, and we’ll be here to help you every step of the way with the transition.

Stay connected

Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you have any questions, you can email us at support@org.uk or call us on 01223 553998. You can also sign up to subject updates to keep up to date with the latest news, updates and resources.

If you are considering teaching any of our qualifications, use our online form to let us know, so that we can help you with more information.

About the author

Debbie joined OCR in August 2014. She worked on the redevelopment of our GCSE Business (J204) and the Cambridge National in Enterprise and Marketing. She also supports teachers through the development of a variety of resources, the CPD programme and subject communications.

Before joining OCR, Debbie spent over 20 years in teaching and leadership roles. She worked in secondary schools, a sixth form college and international school in Shropshire and Cambridge. Debbie holds a degree in Business Operations and a PGCE in Secondary Economics and Business from the University of Warwick. In her spare time, Debbie likes to visit family in the Midlands and also writes for Cambridge University Press.