Growing
Growing - Money, you and community
In
the Growing (intermediate) stage, Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students learn more about the different
forms that money can take such as money in the hand (cash) or money
in the clouds (electronic).
Students further develop:
- an awareness of their rights and responsibilities as
consumers
- skills in making smart choices with money
- awareness of the impact of poor choices
- strengthening of their skills in planning, budgeting, comparing
and problem solving.
Overview (includes vocabulary)
In the Growing stage, students, students learn about the
following key concepts:
- Unit 1: Money and me - This unit broadens the
concepts covered in the first stage (Knowing) helping students to
gain a deeper understanding of different forms of money and payment
systems with the view to having the confidence to explain and
discuss their learning with others. Students explore how
transactions can be conducted without physical money; learn about
financial cards, debt, credit and Eftpos forms of payment. Students
will consider a community perspective on transactions.
- Unit 2: Consumer skills -Students are
encouraged to be aware and savvy consumers with their purchases and
expectations and get to know and understand their consumer rights
and responsibilities.
- Unit 3: Making choices -In the context of
planning for the future students, identify short and long term
goals and consider how having an understanding of needs and wants
can assist in attaining /reaching goals. They study the risks
associated with making poor money choices and the impact this has
on individuals, families and community.
- Unit 4: Money yarning - This culminating event
provides students with the opportunity to share what they have
learnt with their community in a creative way. Students become the
teachers of others.
Video: The 'Growing' stage
Video
about Knowing Growing Showing
In this video, teachers talk about the Growing Stage and
students apply financial skills to familiar context to make
learning more meaningful.
Vocabulary
In undertaking activities in the Growing stage, students may
need to develop an understanding of the following terminology and
concepts.
- Responsibilities, risk, rights, consumer terms and conditions,
protection, warranty
- Consequences, complaint
- Investment, interest
- Service provider
- Electronic transfer, credit, debit, transaction, expenses,
account, PIN
- Spreadsheet, gimmicks
Learning outcomes (includes long-term
understandings)
By the end of this stage students will:
- gain knowledge about the various forms money can take and how
money can be made to grow and work for individuals and
communities.
- develop skills in identifying scams and making judgements on
the value of financial transactions
- understand how sound consumer decisions will have long term
positive effects.
- gain an understanding of how financial resources can be used to
benefit individuals and communities.
Long-term understandings
- Understanding the various forms of money assist in making
effective and appropriate financial transactions.
- Consumer choices can have a long-term impact on the wellbeing
of individuals, groups and communities.
- Goal setting is important in planning for the future.
- As a consumer you have both rights and responsibilities.
Prior knowledge required
To undertake activities in the Growing stage students:
- should become increasingly familiar with the above
vocabulary
- will require experience with digital technologies and
- should understand fractions and percentages and be able to
calculate basic percentages
- should be familiar with and create basic spreadsheets
Students will use their literacy and numeracy skills to navigate
the activities in this unit and their knowledge of money, handling
money gained in the Knowing Stage.
Educator Guide (includes suggested activities &
assessment rubric)
The Educator Guide for the Growing
stage contains:
- Suggested activities - aligned to the
curriculum and link the learning outcomes and focus questions to
real-life scenarios. Teachers can select and adapt activities to
suit their cohort.
- invisible money
- understanding advertising, contracts and your rights as a
consumer
- needs and wants on a budget
- mobile phones.
- Assessment rubrics - aligned to the
Australian Curriculum content descriptions together with
suggestions for assessment are provided. Assessment material is
intended as a guide and available for download to be modified and
adapted to suit teachers' needs.
- Assessment task template - keep track of
the activities you work through with your students.
- Online resource content - print version of all
the content within this online resource.
Download the word or pdf version of the Educator Guide
below:
Community and cultural considerations (includes guiding
ideas)
The following seven guiding ideas provide
support to teach consumer and financial literacy through the
Growing stage in a way that is meaningful and empowering for
students. These ideas support the incorporation of community and
cultural considerations in a learning context.
Guiding ideas
|
COMMUNITY
|
Connect with community & cultural
identity
Elders have highly esteemed and important roles in Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander communities. Teachers can help
facilitate stronger bonds between the school and the community by
including Elders in the class activities. Working with community
organisations, such as health services, local councils, community
stores, and/or cultural centres assists teachers to organise
visiting speakers and excursions thereby exposing students to real
money in real life.
|
|
REAL-LIFE APPLICATION
|
Build on your students' real-life
experiences
Capitalise on the experiences of students as they arise.
Having student share their stories can help everyone develop deeper
understandings of money, its purpose and how it works in the
community.
|
|
PRIOR EXPERIENCES
|
Gather information about prior experiences with
money
Through questioning and observation teachers can find out more
about what the students are interested in spending their money on
(eg. mobile phones, online games).
|
|
STORY
|
Recognise the power of
story
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies are founded on
narrative-based cultures. The power of story has shaped lore,
identity, law and connection to country. In contemporary teaching,
story-telling can be used as a powerful learning tool to share
experiences, explore students' insights and differing perspectives,
find meaning, and shape ethics and morals.
|
|
SHARING
|
Reinforce cultural values of
sharing
In some communities, the connection between money and culture
may not be immediately apparent and may be seen as incongruent and
inconsistent with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values.
However, by working from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
values-system point of view, all teachers and learners consider
other perspectives about how money is used.
Reinforce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural message
that 'money can be used for sharing and caring.' This goes to the
heart of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethos of
reciprocity, sharing, and looking after each other. By working from
this perception, students begin to appreciate that money can be a
resource for community wellbeing and not just individual
wealth.
|
|
DIVERSITY
|
Embrace
diversity
Social and cultural diversity will exist among students and
stereotyping must be avoided. As with all students, Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students will enter school with differing
interests and varying degrees of prior knowledge and skill. Due to
historical factors (such as the Stolen Generations), they may also
enter the school with varying degrees of cultural understanding and
sense of identity.
More often than not, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students have shared cultural values and social experiences,
including a common world view. They are shaped by their identity, a
deep sense of obligation to family, and similar upbringings in
places of poverty and financial hardship.
|
|
ACHIEVEMENT
|
Celebrate
achievement
Quality teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
contexts means adopting a strengths-based approach to teaching and
learning. This means that you will be continually building upon
what students know, as opposed to highlighting what they do not
know.
Adopt a two way learning approach to your teaching, whereby you
share your knowledge and experiences of consumer and financial
literacy while students share their experiences and knowledge with
you and their peers.
|
Real-life scenario
Authentic context
This scenario has been developed to provide real life context
that could frame the unit and the learning opportunities as well as
generate discussion on developing an understanding of money and
specific cultural aspects of money relevant to this stage.
Teachers are encouraged to adapt the scenario to suit their
student's context and experience.
Deadlyphones is a new company that has come to the community. They
are promising customers no up-front fees with their mobile phone
plan.
Community members receive a brand new handset in their choice of
colour - pink, blue, black, red, or one with Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander flags on it.
If community members sign up to Deadlyphones they need to pay a
minimum $100 per month (excluding national calls and calls to other
mobiles). With the plan, they also get $20 of phone credit each
month for local calls.
Carly is interested because she loves the phone with the flags on
it. But, she is worried about the costs and she saw a TV show
recently warning people about mobile phone scams.
What should Carly do?
Note for teachers
Aspects students can consider:
- This scenario focuses on consumer awareness.
- Students can reflect on what they would do in this situation -
eg. students could do some online research about Deadlyphones and
its reputation.
- Students could also research plans from other providers and
make comparisons.
- Students could consider what action they would take to raise
community awareness in situations where community members are being
ripped off.
There isn't a right or wrong answer here, but students need to
be able to justify why they have reached their decision. They also
need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of their
decision.
Unit 1 - Money and me (includes focus
questions)
Key concepts
The key concepts covered in this unit are:
- Why is money sometimes invisible?
- How does a financial transaction work?
- Managing spending.
This unit encourages students to explore all aspects of being a
consumer and emphasises the importance of being informed and
confident in making financial transactions using various forms of
money. Students also learn about the pitfalls of being a consumer
including detecting scams and knowing their rights and
responsibilities. Financial transactions are also considered from a
community perspective.
Focus questions
Focus questions are provided as a guide to assist teachers to
engage students in the key concepts addressed in the unit with a
view to addressing the learning intentions of this stage. Teachers
can use guided questioning to gain an understanding of their
students' current knowledge and awareness of money.
| Building
understanding: |
- How do people get cash in their pockets and bank accounts?
- Do people always pay with cash? If not - what are some other
ways that people pay for things?
- If cash is not used, how does payment work (consider the
transaction lifecycle - where does the money come from and where
does it go)?
- How do people have enough money to pay for things?
- How did money get into the bank account?
|
| Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander experience with money: |
- How are financial transactions undertaken in Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander communities?
- How might this be impacted by location (Remote, Regional,
Urban)?
|
| Personal experience with
money: |
- How are financial transactions made in your family/community?
- How do people pay for food?
- How do people pay bills?
- How do people pay for doctor visits?
- Who pays for schools and roads?
- What are the pros and cons of using something other than cash
to pay for things?
- What are some ways that you can track financial
transactions/spending?
- What are the implications of spending more than you have?
|
Unit 2 - Consumer skills (includes focus
questions)
Key concepts
The key concepts covered in this unit are:
- Consumer awareness
- Consumer rights and responsibilities
- What is a scam?
- Understanding contracts.
This unit encourages students, as consumers, to be aware and
savvy with their purchases and expectations and know their consumer
rights.
Focus questions
Focus questions are provided as a guide to assist teachers to
engage students in the key concepts addressed throughout the unit.
Teachers can use guided questioning to gain an understanding of
their students' current knowledge and awareness of money.
| Building
understanding: |
- What are consumer rights and responsibilities?
- Do consumers have responsibilities (i.e. to read terms and
conditions, to pay in full upfront, etc.)?
- Do consumers have the right to complain when they are
dissatisfied with products or services?
|
| Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander experience with money: |
- Why is it important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities to be aware of their consumer rights and
responsibilities?
- How might this be impacted by location - (Remote, Regional,
Urban)
- Are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities targeted
by consumer scams?
|
| Personal experience with
money: |
- In your community, how do you know that you are getting what
you paid for?
- How do you know when an offer is genuine?
- What strategies can you use to determine if a promise is
legitimate and represents 'value for money'?
- What is a 'hidden charge'?
- What does it mean when something is 'too good to be true'?
- What is a consumer warranty? What products in your home would
have a warranty? What steps would you take if one of these products
stopped working?
- Where can you go for help if you or your community feel you
have scammed or if you have an issue with a product or
service?
|
Unit 3 - Making choices (includes focus
questions)
Key concepts
The key concepts covered in this unit are:
- Setting goals
- What influences choices
- Changing nature of needs of wants
- Impact of choices.
The capacity to set goals and critically examine needs and wants
assists students to plan for the future. They learn to consider
long and short term goals, as well as the risks associated with
making poor money choices.
Focus questions
Focus questions are provided as a guide to assist teachers to
engage students in the key concepts addressed throughout the unit.
Through guided questioning, teachers can gain an understanding of
their students' awareness of consumer choices.
| Building
understanding: |
- What should people consider when setting goals?
- What might get in the way of people achieving their goals?
- How might a person's needs and wants change over time?
|
| Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander experience with money: |
- What do you think about before choosing one product over
another?
- What cultural considerations might influence goal setting in
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?
- How might this be impacted by location (Remote, Regional,
Urban)
- What are the consequences of good and bad money choices?
- What kind of tensions can emerge when personal needs and wants
come up against family and community obligations?
|
| Personal experience with
money: |
- Do you have short-term goals that you are trying to reach?
- How will you raise and save the money to do achieve your
goals?
- Do you have long-term goals for your future? E.g. education,
work, lifestyle (e.g. living arrangements, car ownership)?
- Have you considered how you will raise and save the money to
support these goals?
- What influences establishing and achieving these goals?
- What can go wrong when people make poor choices about
money?
- How might the choices you make now shape your ability to
achieve your goals?
|
Unit 4 - Money yarning (includes organising an
event)
Key concepts
The key concepts covered in this unit are:
- Plan a money expo
- Present stories of money in the community
- Engage community.
This culminating event - an expo, provides a creative way for
students to share what they have learnt with their community.
Students become the teachers of their peers and community
members.
The expo is simply about creating an opportunity for students to
tell a story about the role of money in their community. Students
can convey financial messages that are relevant to the community
through art, stories, dance and drama. Many of the pieces of work
developed as part of this stage could be displayed at the expo or
used as tools to raise awareness of issues.
The expo is an opportunity for students to showcase their work
and could itself be used as a learning experience in that the
students could plan how they could involve the school and broader
community and may wish to issue tickets for the showcase or request
a donation.
The following ideas could be explored by students individually
or as a group to feature in the expo. They develop a piece of work
which illustrates an idea /concept that they have learnt about in
this stage that they feel will be of benefit to the community.
- The lifecycle of a financial transaction
- The message: 'only spend what you have'
- The message: 'If it is too good to be true, then it probably
is'
- How to avoid consumer scams
- Raising awareness about consumer rights and
responsibilities
- Consequences of good and bad money choices
- How culture influences money management
Students will have a project plan (e.g. who does what) that
includes a strategy to promote the expo to the community. Students
present at the expo and share their stories to the whole
school.
Note: Preparation for this would need to
begin at the commencement of the unit, and opportunities provided
for students to develop the confidence for this kind of personal
prominence. A scripted group presentation or a digital
demonstration could be considered instead.
Organising a money yarning event
This is the opportunity for the students to organise a Community
Consumer Expo. Here, they demonstrate what they have learnt in the
Growing Stage. They present their findings to community members,
other classes and parents. Students plan a number of performance
pieces and also develop take-home materials for the audience. The
event could be organised as a series of stalls or
shows/performances as individuals or in groups depending on their
comfort level.
Curriculum links
Knowing Growing Showing is a flexible resource which
provides a progression of learning across the three stages.
Although some activities align with year levels in the Australian
Curriculum, activities can be adapted to meet the learning needs of
students across all year levels.
The
Growing stage - Australian Curriculum mapping (PDF) contains
mapping to the:
- Australian Curriculum Learning Areas
- Australian Curriculum General Capabilities
- National consumer and Financial Literacy Framework
General capabilities
The Knowing Growing Showing resource is
strongly linked to several aspects of all general
capabilities and the mapping identifies which
elements of each capability the resource supports. Depending
on student learning and individual learning needs, teachers can
choose the level for each identified element and adapt activities
to support to develop in their students.
Teachers can use the general capabilities to:
- provide a useful avenue to personalise learning so that
teaching and learning programs take account of students' current
levels of learning, strengths, goals and interests, and individual
learning needs.
- target their teaching and learning programs so that they meet
the learning needs of their students using age-appropriate
content.
Additional resources
The ACCC aims to improve consumer welfare, protect competition
or stop conduct that is anti-competitive or harmful to consumers,
and promotes the proper functioning of Australian markets.
Scamwatch is a website run by the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC), and provides information to consumers
and small businesses on how to recognise, report and protect
against scams.
State and Territory Justice and Consumer Affairs
Departments
Search for your state/territory department which helps consumers
become aware of their rights and responsibilities as a consumer-
Search for state based organisations.
A publication that contains tips for consumers.
ASIC's MoneySmart contains a range of indigenous publications to
support consumers.
Last updated: 09 May 2019
