SubjectsTravel and Tourism
Our Curriculum Intent
The Travel and Tourism curriculum allows students to realise their God-given potential. The curriculum is designed to engage students by developing their understanding of the Travel and Tourism industry and the importance of future employment opportunities. There are many opportunities within the Travel and Tourism curriculum to develop students’ cultural capital with investigations into a variety of cultures, the significance of a shrinking world as well as understand the importance of looking after the natural world. This sits alongside partnerships with local travel and tourism businesses to provide opportunities through workshops, trips and talks to develop a deeper understanding of the curriculum within the real-world context.
The Travel and Tourism course has been carefully designed to fulfil our vision. The planning of the courses highlights the core Christian values throughout the topics taught, the case studies used and the discussions within lessons. Students consider ethical and moral decisions made by organisations as well considering the ethical implications of dark tourism and the impact of tourism on locals. The Key Stage 5 qualification considers the sustainability and environmental impacts of how all different organisations run and the short, medium and long impacts looking after the natural environment all around us.
The Key stage 5 BTEC Extended Certificate in Travel and Tourism offers all students the opportunity to develop a holistic approach to the industry by investigating strategic and tactical decisions and how they affects the industry as well as considering how the industry responds to external factors.
Implementation
At Key stage 5, all students can choose travel and tourism as a vocational pathway. This provides the students with the opportunity to develop their understanding of travel and tourism industry. This allows students to develop their understanding through an applied course, relating it to local, national and international businesses. The vocational pathway develops students’ interpersonal skills as well as independence and communication skills through completing coursework as well as sitting external examinations.
Students are offered enrichment activities through visits to visitor attractions, as well as local businesses and talks with professionals. These activities provide students the opportunity to develop their soft skills and relate them to the theory developed in the classroom to set up new businesses. It also allows students to gain a valuable insight into the opportunity for employment in the industry.
Literacy is embedded within travel and tourism. The Academy’s literacy policy is used to include reading and reading aloud, writing and speaking. Students are routinely expected to discuss and communicate their ideas of current affairs regarding the industry as well as develop their extended writing skills. Travel and Tourism also develops numeracy that includes teaching students’ specific mathematical concepts and providing them with the opportunities to select, use, evaluate and communicate mathematical ideas.
Students are expected to complete independent study on a weekly basis, which can include qualitative and qualitative exam questions. Students are required to conduct independent investigations into travel and tourism sectors, which will develop their cultural capital, their wider knowledge and understanding of the changing business environment.
Remote education is well integrated within the course and is something that all colleagues in the department are comfortable delivering. The sessions are well implemented and in line with what is happening in the classroom to avoid any students being disadvantaged by it.
The Academy’s Principles of Teaching is followed to plan and deliver engaging lessons, by considering the students’ needs including SEND. The curriculum ensures lessons are sequenced so students can use prior knowledge from previous teaching and learning cycles. The use of different questioning techniques on key knowledge is applied and students are routinely asked to recall previous knowledge as well as apply their knowledge to case studies. Scaffolding exam questions and modelling answers supports the development of writing and exam skills.
Using the teaching principles allows effective medium- and long-term planning for cycles 1-4, this allows sustained progress to be made. Each cycle is based upon a key focus which concludes with the assessment completed in assessment week. Each cycle also has a planned mid-cycle assessment to check progress intermittently during the cycle. The final week of each cycle is used to consolidate learning from earlier in the year to help students remember the longer term content ready for the external examinations in January. In the final term of each year, students will complete these examinations which will combine aspects of all the learning completed over the year.
Impact
Students’ knowledge of key concepts and business ideas is generally strong. This is due to the use of knowledge organisers in supporting students understanding of key terms for each cycle. The lessons are planned to include engaging activities based on assessment learning objectives and real-world situations. This alongside the revision for end of cycle assessments provides students with confidence in completing formative and summative assessment which results in students being are broadly in line with their target grades.
The travel and tourism curriculum naturally provides students with an opportunity to understand different employment and higher education opportunities, which is highlighted in the Wider World of Travel and Tourism unit of the course that allows students to understand the different pathways available to them.