By Róisín Ní Dhonnagáin - 9 minute readRóisín Ní Dhonnagáin is an experienced business studies teacher and in this guide, she shares her tips for succeeding in your Junior Cycle Business Studies CBA 1.
The Junior Cycle Business Studies course gives students an opportunity to showcase what they have learned in 2nd and 3rd years in the form of two Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs).
This may be your first CBA or you might have already completed CBAs in other subjects. Either way, this guide will break down CBA 1 to ensure you get the highest descriptor possible.
Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs) are best described as the occasions when the teacher assesses the students using the specific tasks set out in the curriculum specification for each subject. They are completed within the teaching time allocated for each subject (NCCA guidelines).
In Junior Cycle Business Studies, both CBAs are assessed at common level. CBA 1 is completed in 2nd year and CBA 2 is completed in 3rd year and your class teacher will decide what descriptor your CBA falls into (more on this below). These descriptors will be added to your Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement alongside the grade you get in your exam at the end of 3rd year.
Although this is a group project, each student must complete areas of the activity as well as conduct and evaluate their own research.
There are four level descriptors of achievement for each CBA. Your teachers use the Features of Quality, set out in the assessment guidelines for each subject, to decide the level of achievement in each CBA.
The Features of Quality are the benchmark used to assess your work as best fitting one of the following descriptors:
This describes a piece of work that is of a very high standard. The work meets the guidelines across the board set out in the Features of Quality for the Classroom-Based Assessment. While not necessarily flawless, the strengths of the work overrule any weaknesses which may be present. Suggestions for improvement are easily addressable by the student.
This describes a piece of work that reflects all of the Features of Quality for the Classroom-Based Assessment very well. The student shows a clear understanding of how to complete each area of activity of the investigation. Feedback from the teacher might address some aspects of the work in need of further attention or polishing but overall the work is of a high standard.
This describes a piece of work that reflects most of the Features of Quality for the Classroom-Based Assessment well. It shows a good understanding of the task at hand and is free from significant errors. Feedback might point to areas needing further attention or correction but the work is generally competent and accurate.
This describes a piece of work that falls somewhat short of the criteria outlined in the Features of Quality. Perhaps the student has made a good attempt but the task has not been grasped clearly or is missing key points. Feedback will draw attention to fundamental errors that need to be addressed.
The wording of the descriptors might seem a little confusing so be sure to ask your teacher to explain them to you if you are unsure. Exceptional is the highest descriptor you can get so aim to be exceptional.
CBA 1 will take place over four weeks before the end of 2nd year. This is a group project where you will conduct a research project on a topic of your group’s choice. You will be asked to create an action plan based on the topic you have chosen and there are 3 topics to choose from:
You and your group will choose an enterprise activity and students have a choice of 2 options. Option 1 is to develop a product or a service (you can design a new product/service or improve/change an existing product/service). Option 2 is to organise an enterprise activity (for-profit or not-for-profit).
Choose an economic trend or development, change or policy that is having a positive or negative impact on the Irish economy or Irish society.
Identify and research a financial challenge that a consumer or organisation might face.
Most students choose Enterprise in Action as their overall topic as it is the easiest topic to brainstorm and gives the group lots of ideas to choose from.
The project should be presented as a written report and it should contain the following elements:
An introduction where you give a brief outline of what your project is.
An explanation or rationale for the project (why did your group choose this project?).
An explanation for your group's research methods (how did you and your group collect data and do your market research?).
An evaluation of your group's research findings (what did your data tell you about your target market and what did you and your group learn from your market research?).
An outline of the action plan for implementing the findings of the project (what is your marketing mix?).
A conclusion and recommendations (what changes did you make after evaluating your market research? What did you learn from your market research? What did you learn about the course content you covered during your CBA?).
A student reflection from each group member.
From carrying out your research, finding good sources and presenting your findings, there is lots of useful information you need to know so let's get started.
You must conduct your own research and so must everyone in your group. As you are carrying out your research, use the Template for Student Research (Appendix 1 below) to keep track of your work. This will make delivering your findings to the rest of your group much easier for you (your teacher will also provide you with a hard copy of this template for you to fill out).
Before you begin your research, think about everything you already know about your chosen topic. Doing this will help you set out your research goals.
Decide with your group the methods of research you are going to use for your project. You should try to use both primary research and secondary research. Here's a bit more about what they mean:
This is also called field research and it involves doing research by asking the public questions in order to find the information you need. This can be done through interviews, surveys or focus groups. When conducting primary research, make sure that you have made a list of the questions you and your group wish to ask in interviews and surveys and use a mixture of closed questions and open questions.
This is also known as desk research and is information that is already collected about a market. It can be found in online reports, newspaper articles and other documents.
Record all of your sources in one place as you need to be able to say where you found all of your research.
When conducting your research, you should always ask yourself the following questions when trying to determine the reliability of your sources:
How reliable is the source of information?
Could the source be biased?
Can I verify the findings with a different source?
How up-to-date is the information?
Keep in mind that government websites will end in '.gov' and these websites are reliable sources which usually have the most up-to-date information. Another thing to remember is that online newspapers tend to be biased as they follow the beliefs of the owners and writers.
When you are evaluating your research, it is important that your evidence backs up what your key findings were. Ask yourself and your group the following questions to keep your research and evaluation on track:
What are the key findings of my research?
What are the most important things that I found out while conducting the research?
Do your findings answer your research questions? If they do not, how does this impact your project?
Have you referenced your sources? Keep note of where you found evidence and make sure you have the website where you found your information.
What evidence can you include in your project?
When you and your group have evaluated your research, together you will use your findings to develop your action plan. Your action plan should:
Provide judgement based on your evidence.
Outline challenges your project will face based on your research findings.
Be justified by your research findings.
Based on the topic your group chose, your action plan needs the following information:
You and your group must develop a business plan which will outline the marketing mix which will be applied to your enterprise project. You and your group will aim to provide the chosen product/service or enterprise event/activity to your target market where possible. Remember, this is theoretical and you do not have to create a physical product or service.
You and your group must develop an action plan outlining an economic policy change that might improve the resulting economic outcomes of the issue you have chosen.
You and your group must develop an action plan to address the financial challenge to improve the financial position of the individual or organization you and your group have chosen to evaluate. You and your group must support your plan with tables and graphs.
To complete your CBA, you and your group must submit evidence of your work (one copy of the project is submitted per group). Your group will decide which information is most relevant and reliable to be included in your completed project. You should include:
An introduction to the project.
Your research questions.
Each student’s template for student research.
Your survey and interview questions and answers.
Your action plan.
A conclusion and recommendations.
Remember, each student must submit their own student reflection (see Appendix 2 below). You are encouraged to be creative and innovative in the presentation of your project so long as your project is set out in a clear way.
You will be asked to reflect on the following aspects of your CBA project:
Your key roles and main responsibilities.
How you contributed to researching the project.
How you contributed to analysing the research.
How you contributed to developing the action plan.
How you contributed to compiling the project.
Any difficulties you and your team overcame or the advantages and challenges of working on this group project from your perspective.
Be as honest and as thoughtful as possible when filling out your student reflection. It is important to state the challenges you and your group overcame.
Find Appendix 1 here: Template for Student Research
Find Appendix 2 here: Template for Student Reflection
Best of luck with your CBA! You'll be great.
Róisín Ní Dhonnagáin is an experienced teacher of Business Studies.