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Labour Market Flexibility - Lesson Plan: 3-4 x 1 hour lessons

A series of 'off the shelf' lesson plans and resources for use in the classroom. These lessons deal with Labour Market Flexibility and are relevant to the following specifications:

• AQA: Module 5, 14.4
• Edexcel: Unit 5A
• OCR: Unit 2884, 5.4.4

Aim:

These lessons aim to give students the opportunity to work in groups and conduct some investigation into aspects of labour market flexibility. The task is fairly open ended and is intended to recognise the increasing independence expected of students at A2 in taking responsibility for their own learning as well as building skills in searching out and using relevant data and articles.

The Activity provides some brief background and a chart identifying key factors influencing labour market flexibility. The class should be divided into three groups, each of which takes responsibility for producing a presentation on their particular section. The presentation can take the form of a PowerPoint Presentation or any other appropriate form of presentation method. (If facilities and links are available, this could be developed into an inter-school/college discussion via a video-link).

On completion of the presentation by each group, the whole class should be encouraged to discuss the outcome of the three areas in relation to the extent to which the UK has a flexible labour market.

A written piece of assessment work is suggested to attempt to pull together the ideas generated in the discussion and to help students review and reflect on work covered.

An extension piece of work is also provided, which may be suitable for those following Advanced Extension Awards. The extension work seeks to encourage some critical review of a point of view expressed in an article by Solow.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of these lessons, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the term 'flexible labour market'
• Identify the key factors influencing the degree of flexibility of labour markets
• Understand the reasons why a flexible labour market is seen as being desirable
• Research and use data to present a coherent argument
• Put together an appropriate presentation format
• Demonstrate some confidence in presenting arguments to an audience

Resources:

• PowerPoint Presentation - Labour Market Flexibility [307 KB]
• Mind Map - Labour Market Flexibility
• Activity - Labour Market Flexibility
• PC and digital projector
• PCs for student research

Lesson Structure:

Lesson 1

1. Ask the students to write down a definition of labour market flexibility. Get feedback by asking some to read out their definition and note contrasting points on the board. (The aim here is to clarify any misunderstanding between flexible labour markets and flexible working). (10 minutes)
2. Ask an invited student to come to the board and, using supply and demand analysis, to explain what they would expect to happen to the market if the demand for labour were to fall. Use some relevant examples, e.g. workers in the British car manufacturing industry (Jaguar at Coventry) or the Shorts' workers in Belfast. (10 minutes)
3. Ask students to identify what assumptions are made in the model as described by the 'lead' student. Discuss how realistic those assumptions might be. (10 minutes)
4. Identify a clear definition of the term 'labour market flexibility' from the discussions so far. Use the Presentation to develop the concept. (20 minutes)
5. Refer students to the Activity, divide the students into three groups and outline the task and the timing. (5 minutes)
6. Review the main points of the lesson. (5 minutes)

Lesson 2

Remind students of the task and set them to work on the research. The presentation should be aimed to be completed in time for the next lesson but this is a flexible option.

Lessons 3 and 4

Complete the research and begin the presentations. Use the time following the presentations for the discussion session - aim to steer the discussion so that the purpose of the Activity is clarified, i.e. is the UK witnessing a more flexible labour market?