Subject Overview

The travel and tourism sector is the UK’s third-largest employer, accounting for 9.5 per cent of total employment. Tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the UK in employment terms, employing nearly 3 million people, and the value of tourism to the UK economy is approximately £121 billion (7.1 per cent) of UK GDP. In 2016, travel and tourism contributed 10.2 per cent of the world GDP, and the sector now supports 292 million people in employment – that’s one in ten jobs worldwide. The World Travel and Tourism Council’s latest annual research shows travel and tourism’s contribution to world GDP outpaced the global economy for the sixth consecutive year in 2016, rising to a total of 10.2 per cent of world GDP (US $7.6 trillion). The outlook for the travel and tourism sector in 2017 remains robust and it will continue to be at the forefront of wealth and employment creation in the global economy.

Tech Awards

Tech Awards have been developed by Pearson to give learners at Key Stage 4 the opportunity to study more vocational areas as part of their curriculum. The BTEC Tech Award has been designed to allow learners to draw on the knowledge and skills acquired from different subjects where relevant. When studying for a ‘BTEC’, learners can use the knowledge and skills from GCSEs, giving them the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge to everyday and work contexts. The BTEC Tech Award is an introduction to vocational learning. The qualification gives learners the opportunity to build skills that show an aptitude for further learning, both in the sector and more widely. The approach is based on well-established BTEC assessment approaches that are proven to be successful in building skills and motivating learners to engage fully with challenging study. There is no limit to progression options as the skills acquired are applicable to a range of post-16 study options. The BTEC Tech Award differs from other BTECs designed to be taken post-16 as the qualifications offer a basis for further study, rather than meeting all the vocational requirements that learners need to progress directly to a job role in a defined occupational area. The focus is on building skills to show aptitude and improving understanding of progression options so that learners who achieve qualifications are equipped to go on to become work ready for an occupation post-16.

The BTEC Tech Award has been designed to meet the Department for Education (DfE) requirements for qualifications to be offered as technical awards for 14–16-year-olds. The DfE has set out characteristics for technical awards through which vocational qualifications can be recognised as part of performance measures in the open category of Progress 8. To be recognised as technical awards, it is expected that the qualification will focus on developing sector-specific knowledge and technical skills in a practical learning environment.