BTEC Nationals in Business: delivery support | Pearson qualifications

BTEC Nationals in Business: delivery support

8 September 2025

This page will help you to plan your delivery of our Level 3 (RQF) BTEC Nationals in Business.

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You may also be interested in a sister page which tries to support your understanding of the assessment of the qualification.

Qualifications

There are five qualifications in this sector:

  • BTEC Level 3 National Certificate in Business (180 GLH) 601/7155/8
  • BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Business (360 GLH) 601/7159/5
  • BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Business (510 GLH) 601/7161/3
  • BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Business (720 GLH) 601/7157/1
  • BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Business (1080 GLH) 601/7160/1.

Delivery support

Your first step will depend on whether or not your school or college already has, or needs to apply for, centre approval.  If your centre is already approved, or once you have centre approval, the next step is to obtain programme approval.

Once these preliminary steps have been taken you are ready to embark on the twelve steps of the delivery cycle.  The whole process has been summarised on the page below (Getting started with BTEC).

The BTEC Works website includes stories you can share with learners and help with the planning of options evenings.

The order in which you teach the units will depend very much on your approach to the qualification.  If you plan the course over two years you have a degree of freedom which you don't have if you adopt a staged certification approach.

The staged registration/certification approach involves registration for a smaller sized qualification in Year 1 and topping up to the larger qualification in Year 2, for example delivering the Extended Certificate in the first year and then topping up to the Diploma in the second year.

The units are not all the same size:

  • the mandatory units are either 90glh or 120glh
  • the optional units are all 60glh
The optional units are smaller they carry a smaller weight than the mandatory units in the final grade calculation.  Optional units need to be completed, not necessarily passed and might be a way of easing your learners into internal assessment more gently than tackling the more 'high stakes' mandatory units right at the start.
 
The externally assessed mandatory units are available in both the January and the May exam series.  We would advise against entering learners for the externally assessed units in the January series of their first year as they may not have had time to develop the skills required.

We have a number of activity sheets available suitable for your induction programme.You can find thse in the Zip file blow called 'Skills for Learning and Work'

These activity sheets aim to foster awareness-raising, discussion, and learning with opportunities for the teacher to confirm and consolidate points out of discussion.The sheets focus on:

  • personal student organisational skills (learning and thinkin, understanding assessment, planning for study and work, time management)
  • writing based skills (researching, analysing and noting information, citing and referencing to avoid plagiarism, the writing process, essy-styl assignments, report-writing, revision skills)
  • personal self-development skills (team work, presentations skills, employability and personal skills, self development)

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The BTEC Delivery Guide provides delivery guidance for all units and we also have schemes of work for the first seven units (the mandatory units).  

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The “Teach accounting with confidence” course uses the BaSIS Framework to help learners understand the accounting equation and the relationship between assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses. The Colour Accounting Learning System is an educational approach that makes accounting education accessible, engaging and fun for learners and teachers alike.

The course is hosted on the Accounting Cafe website.

The introdcutory session outlines the pedagogy.

Listen to the introductory session

There are then further sessions on:

  • introduction to the fundamentals of accounting
  • non-current assets
  • statement of financial position
  • sources of finance
  • gross profit and expenses
  • statement of comprehensive income
  • cash flows
  • break-even
  • personal finance


Each session includes a recording and access to free teaching resources, presentations, class activities and assessment practice examples.

The materials are all free. The first step is to create an account on the Accounting Cafe website.

We have a BTEC Facebook group where you can share ideas and post questions. The group has over 3700 members.

As well as the Facebook group there is a new, public, subject community where you will be able to see all posts without logging in, although you will need to log in with your Edexcel Online details to post a comment.

Free resources

The ERA Licence provides seamless access to television and radio recordings, offering a single point of clearance for the rights needed to create and use authentic media resources in your classroom. With ERA’s free video streaming platform, licensed institutions can explore a rich library of curriculum-mapped TV and radio clips tailored to GCSE, AS, and A-level teaching.

Engage your learners with curated clips, full-length documentaries, and programmes that bring business contexts to life. 

To access this free resource registration is required - but is quick and simple. State schools in England are licensed under a central agreement with the DfE and the vast majority of independent schools also hold a current ERA Licence.

Secondary schools around the world can get free online access to the Financial Times, with articles, games and multi-media content on many topics to enrich studies and improve exam performance in business, economics, politics, geography, psychology and other topics.

The FT can help strengthen global and media literacy, and offer insights into preparation for further study and the world of work. It also has competitions, an online work experience programme and teacher selected articles with suggested questions, alongside resources developed by Pearson/Edexcel.

Details at www.ft.com/schools . A staff member can check if their school is already registered and to create student or staff accounts at www.ft.com/schoolsarefree

EBEA logo

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The EBEA student conference and the FT

One of the speakers at the conference outlined how useful and important the FT offer can be for students.  You can watch a recording of the session here:

Olivia Hylton: An Introduction to FT resources

 

The Chartered Institute of Marketing has some interesting resources on its content hub. Some of these might be of interest for teachers delivering Unit 2 on the BTEC Nationals.

Two Teachers have created a number of short video clips which cover content from the BTEC Nationals including:

  • Unit 2 (Marketing Mix 7Ps)
  • Unit 3 (Functions of Money, current accounts, ratios, depreciation)
  • Unit 6 (Management and Leadership)

Paid-for resources

Pearson publishers have student books (paper and digital), teaching packs and revision books:

  • Student book 1 covers units 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 14, 16, 22 and 23.
  • Student book 2 covers units 5, 6, 7, 19 and 21.
  • There are revision resources for units 2, 3, 6 and 7

Pearson publishers have teaching packs for units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 19, 21, 22 and 23.

Bundle 1: Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 14

Bundle 2: Units 5, 6, 7, 14, 19, 22

Teaching packs can be bought individually.

Subject advisor

Sarah Mark

BTEC Business, Enterprise, Esports and Marketing

Phone :
+44 (0) 161 528 7357 (Teaching Services team | Mon-Fri, 9am - 5pm GMT)
Colin Leith, Business Subject Advisor
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