Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Information Technology
The course is designed for learners who are interested in an introduction to the study of creating IT systems to manage and share information alongside other fields of study, with a view to progressing to a wide range of higher education courses, not necessarily in IT. It is ideal for pupils coming from level 2 IT equivalent courses and a computer science GCSE.
This allows pupils to put what they have learnt about computer fundamentals into project-based assignments and real-life scenarios.
Learners will develop a common core of IT/computer science knowledge and study areas such as the relationship between hardware and software that form an IT system, managing and processing data to support business and using IT to communicate and share information.
This qualification carries UCAS points and is recognised by higher education providers as meeting admission requirements to many relevant courses. As the content is equivalent in size to one A Level. The expectation is all pupils would have studied and passed a level 2 equivalent qualification. If pupil wishes to join the course without this qualification they will need to see the head of IT, Mrs Turner to complete an assessment.
In year 12 pupils will be expected to undertake 2 exams:
Exam component – Information Technology Systems. This is a two-hour exam and is worth 90 marks. The exam will assess students’ understanding of computer systems and the implications of their use in personal and professional situations.
Creating Systems to Manage Information: students are set a supervised task, where they are required to design, create, test and evaluate a relational database system. (5 hour externally assessed task)
In year 13 pupils will be expected to undertake 1 exam and one coursework unit:
Web Design (Coursework) pupils will learn:
- Understand the principles of website development
- Design a website to meet client requirements
- Develop a website to meet client requirements.
Using Social Media in Business. In this unit pupils will:
- Explore the impact of social media on the ways in which businesses promote their products and services
- Develop a plan to use social media in a business to meet requirements
- Implement the use of social media in a business.