The end of cash might be a step closer after the Reserve Bank announced it will soon roll out a new way of transferring money to people. They say it will help consumers buy things quickly and easily.

Reflect on these questions and gather your findings by watching the BTN clip.

1. What was the BTN story about?
2. Experts predict that Australia will be cash free by what year_____?
3. How are charities affected by a cash free society?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cashless society?
5. What is your opinion about a cash free society, is it a good idea? Give reasons for your answer.

This term the students are involved in a financial awareness program called Earn and Learn developed by Rob Vingerhoets. Through this program students operate in a way similar to a small town or community. They develop vocabulary (related to money), letter writing skills, prepare for an interview, write a resume, create advertisements (posters) work in a team and learn to negotiate.

The students receive a base weekly payment for the work they complete. Students who undertake Positions of Responsibility (P.O.R) within the classroom receive additional payments. Responsibilities might include taking the lunch orders to the canteen, cleaning the class library, turning on and off the lights when we enter and leave our room, distributing newsletters and delivering messages, attending the phone and so on. 

Students have the opportunity to sit where they want and this would determine the rent they pay. They have to document their income and expenditure through a spreadsheet and work in teams to operate their business. Just like in the real world, students encounter fines for not doing homework. Students also pay tax through the money they earn, make payment towards their utility bills (water, gas and electricity), take out insurance policies against H.W (forgetting their homework), contribute to superannuation and make weekly purchases.

Students operate their businesses within the classroom on Market Day and have the opportunity to visit market day held in other classes. 

REFLECTION OF THE EARN AND LEARN PROGRAM

There has been a steady stream of customers on Market Day and the students have been very enthusiastic in setting up their stall. So far they have been involved in this project for the past 5 weeks.

We had a discussion at the end of the week to discuss about their learning and what they thought about Earn and Learn and Market Day. The following are their reflections.

We learnt:

 It is tough to start a business on your own and you can do more if you work together

 Everyone has different abilities

You have to think about what items are in demand and what should be the realistic price

You learnt to attract customers to our stall by using persuasive techniques like advertising tricks, attractive items, reasonable pricing and also by selling popular items  

To calculate the exact change and record our earnings after tax

Earn and Learn teaches us what it is like in the real world!

We learnt how to save and keep our money safely, some of us lost our wallets and understood how it feels when you lose your earnings

Reducing prices at the end of the market day helps you to get rid of the items which do not have a long shelf life.

That sometimes there can be less sales and due to this profit will be low

Market Day helped us to learn how to make changes to our business in order to improve sales.

There was competition and some stalls did better than others.

It also helped us to realise how in the real world when people are not successful they do not give up.

EARN AND LEARN- TEACHES US LIFE SKILLS

The students worked very hard to create items for their Friday market. They worked in pairs, each taking equal share of the workload. At the end of their sale they were impressed with the outcome and cannot wait for their next market sale.
Through the Earn and Learn Program the students have learnt the value of saving money and how fines can result in loss of money earned. Some have decided to modify their business to improve their earnings.

WASTE BAN

What do you do when you’re eating a meal and you’re so full you just can’t finish it? The easy option is to chuck what’s left straight in the bin. And in Australia lots of food is thrown out even before it reaches your plate. So why are we wasting so much food and what can we do to change it?

Watch this BTN clip to understand and reflect on this issue!

ISSUE OF FOOD WASTE IN AUSTRALIA

OUR MARKET STALL!

We received our income for the first two weeks and I must say many have realised that the money we got will not take us far. So many have chosen to start their own business to improve their income.

In 5/6 we are really excited about selling all sorts of stuff and improving our income. It is a great learning experience and everyone is having fun working in small groups to negotiate plans and put them in action in a fun environment.

We will set up our stalls in our classroom. Presently we are planning and organising our market stall items and it will be good to see if our hard work will eventually pay off. We are making items using our hidden talents.

Working with a partner is alot of fun and the workload gets shared.

How businesses make profit

In 5/6 C we are participating in the Earn and Learn Program this semester and together we will be setting up our own community!

We are learning about needs and wants and the importance of Budgeting! We will be learning about superannuation, taxes, insurance and weekly pay slips. Rent is determined on where students sit within the classroom and just like in the real world, there will be bills to pay and deductions taken out of the weekly salary.

We will learn about following the protocols of an interview, how to apply for jobs, write resumes and this learning process will be handy when applying for positions such as Deputy Prime Minister, Treasurer, Shopping Centre Manager.., to get the community up and running.

As the community starts to unfold and shops open up we will be able to see who is able to make a profit from their business, who needs to take a loan and how much we are able to save.  Hopefully, by the end of the term we will all have a good understanding of  the role money plays in our lives and how we need to prioritise our needs and wants.