The CISI is delighted to announce that from September 2014 schools will be able to offer the Certificate in Fundamentals of Business and Finance to young people in full time education at key stage 4 , which is for 14-16 year olds.
The education regulator Ofqual has approved the qualification, a first for 14-16 year olds to be offered by the investment sector’s leading professional body the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment
The CISI is well known for its uncompromising stance on the importance of ethics across the sector and the new qualification includes an introduction to business ethics and also provides an important link to personal financial management through its topic on planning for the future.
Ruth Martin, CISI Managing Director, said: “We are delighted that the CISI has achieved Ofqual recognition for a qualification aimed at 14-16 year olds . We believe that professional bodies, skilled in understanding the needs of those who may one day wish to work in the sector, are ideally placed to offer relevant, high quality qualifications tailored especially to secondary school age pupils.
“As with all of our other qualifications, the detailed content reflects the expertise of practitioners in the business and finance sector. In an increasingly challenging economic environment there are pupils who want to be able to study a qualification that will help prepare them for further studies, whether at ‘A’ level or in apprenticeships and this is for them ”
Nick Seaward Chartered FCSI and teacher of Business Studies, Economics and Finance at Kemnal Technology College, Sidcup said: “Secondary schools will at last be able to offer a Level Two course which covers the key elements of Business Studies, Economics and Personal Financial Capability. It will be an excellent stepping stone to the CISI’s Level Three Diploma in Finance, Risk and Investment, which we have just started teaching here at Kemnal.”
In addition the CISI has, thanks to its Education Trust, been able to recruit a qualified teacher to help support schools, teachers and pupils by sponsoring the development of teacher materials providing mentoring support at no additional cost to schools.