Head's Newsletter 14 December 2018

A significant proportion of our Year 12 Economics cohort were able to attend the Royal Economic Society Public Lecture at the Royal Institution on 21 st November. This year’s lecture was given by Oriana Bandiera, Professor of Economics at the LSE who addressed the question, “What do Economists Really Do?” Professor Bandiera used the frequency of terms used in the titles of academic articles to show how the focus of academic economists has shifted in the last 50 years from “money” to “people”. Economists over time have shifted their approach from one based in economic theory to one based on empirical evidence, with increasing use of small-scale randomised control trials to identify the effectiveness of economic interventions. Using data, methodology and theory that was accessible to novice economists, Professor Bandiera showed how economics has been used in Zambia to recruit and retain nursing staff in rural areas, and that good economics leads to effective social policy. Royal Economic Society Young Economist 2018 Congratulations to Harjyot Anand on his submission to the Royal Economic Society Young Economist Essay Competition 2018. This year’s competition had an unprecedented number of entries from schools worldwide which meant that the judges had to delay their announcement of results. Harjyot’s essay, “What explains the UK productivity puzzle” was highly commended by the judges and it is a fitting tribute to all his efforts in Economics at Tiffin.

In the first week of December our Year 9 students visited the Imperial War Museum and this helped them to consolidate the work they have been doing on the First World War. The exhibition on WW1 covers the outbreak of war, the early misconceptions about this new mechanised and industrial war and the development of weaponry during the war. It has a comprehensive section on the Battle of the Somme (they recently debated whether Haig should be remembered as ‘the butcher and the bungler’ of this battle) and it explores how the home front was affected by the demands of ‘total war’. In addition, they were guided through the Holocaust exhibition with an audio guide and a teaching session by museum staff. We cover this challenging unit at the end of the Year 9 History course but students already displayed a high level of knowledge from their own research, from primary school and from poetry, novels, films and images studied in other lessons. It is always pleasing to see students drawing on prior knowledge to inform their understanding!