Improving economic writing at A-level, part 2: more cohesive essays
This is the second part of my write-up from the session I ran at the Bank of England Teacher Conference. The first part was all about sentence-level work, and you can find that here. This part is about moving beyond sophisticated sentences to more sophisticated overall pieces of work. It's worth remembering here that essay writing isn't one skill. It's probably dozens of skills bundled together, and there are loads of ways to make writing better. A lot of them sit around our
Which policy wins?
I made a little tool called Which policy wins? It essentially gives a problem and then throws up 3 policy options (plus the option to do nothing) and asks students to pick a winner and say why. A few ways you could use it: • As a starter. It’s pretty easy to put up at the start of a lesson, and students can respond however suits the day: a sentence on a mini whiteboard, a quick paragraph, or a hand up with a reason. No prep needed. • As a four corners activity. Ta
Summer Reading Recommendations 2026
Here is an updated leaflet with some suggestions for your year 12s going into year 13 or even your year 11s going into year 12. I reocmmend printing this half size, double sided, in booklet formation (ie in page order 4,1,2,3 if your photocopier doesn't have that setting) for a 1-page leaflet. Handing it out at parents' evening works particularly well. Lots of teachers mentioned that they found the 'Pairings' section useful so I've added a couple more in there. If you want to