What is money?
Role-playing fun for younger years
Students get to dress up and act out a simple play that guides them through the development of money as a means of exchange. Starting with basic barter, the scenes transition to the concept of IOUs and reach the point of using coins and notes as tokens of value.
Needless to say, there is great excitement at the idea of wearing silly hats and acting out a light-hearted play. Fun for all, but with some important messages around safety with money as well as some interesting history and food for thought.
We often hear that students have gone home to explain to parents all about how money began and where it is going in the future.
THe uk budget
Taking on the role of Chancellor!
One of our most popular modules, we use a proprietary model of the UK economy. A group of students take on the roles of the cabinet, led by a chancellor who ultimately has to make decisions. The 'ministers' in the cabinet get to make pitches as to why their department - defence, health, education for example - deserves a bigger share of the budget.
The chancellor can raise and lower taxes - with resultant impacts on the economic outputs such as inflation and interest rates - and the rest of the student body gets to offer thoughts on what should be done and their opinions on how well the government has run the economy.
Fun, interactive, and with many interesting hooks into other topics such as civics, politics and the ethics of benefits and taxation that PSHE and form tutors can take away and develop into further debate.
THe uk student loan program
Vital information for sixth formers heading to further education
With the end of their school years fast approaching and the propsect of becoming financially independent on the near horizon, sixth-form students who are thinking of going on to further education are rightly starting to think about how they will fund that step.
The UK's student loan program is about as simple as any loan system can be - which means that it is complex and confusing to the majority of us. Our course demystifies everything, from the application process to the repayment plan.
Students award the course strong thumbs up for giving them both the basic knowledge they need and the trigger to initiate a conversation with their parents as to what they need to be considering.
We frequently combine this with our course on budgeting for colllege and run as a longer seminar.
earning and taxes
Looking forward to earning
Whether students are already earning via part time jobs during their school years, going straight into employment after school, or thinking ahead to getting a job after further education, one of the confusions on the horizon is understanding that first payslip.
We take a close look at a typical payslip, tying each of the various deductions to their end uses: pensions, sutdent loan repayments, and the tax system. We quantify the money that the UK government takes in and how it uses it.
A very well-received course that covers a vital skill that every entrant into the workplace needs to have. We regularly get asked to come back and delve further into additional related topics such as workplace pensions.
