Nationwide Education Logo
Nationwide Logo

Extension activities and discussion ideas

These activities are linked to the DfE's Guidance on financial capability in the secondary curriculum: key stage 3 and 4 and the PSHE: Economic wellbeing and financial capability curriculum.

Here are some suggestions for extension activities and ideas for class discussion:

  Extension activities and discussion ideas for 12 to 14 and 14 to 16 year olds  

Careers

  • Ask students to discuss and then make a list of things they like doing (e.g. talking to people, building things, research and investigation, being creative, public speaking, etc). Then divide into pairs and research which kinds of jobs their partner might be good at/enjoy. (Often people find it helpful to have an objective eye to challenge their preconceptions about what particular jobs and sectors are like).
  • Role-play mock job interviews with students talking about the qualities that would make them a good employee. For added interest, you can do a 'speed-networking' activity, where students have a limited amount of time to 'sell' themselves to their partner - great for building confidence and practising assertive, clear communication.
  • After discussing and making a list of the different personal qualities an employer might look for when employing a new member of staff, create brief role-play scenes that demonstrate each of those qualities.
  • Invite representatives from local business to come into the school and speak about how they started in business and about how company finances are organised. Teachers' note: You could get in touch with
    your local Education and Business Partnership hub to find out which local employers are keen to link
    up with schools.
  • Investigate how careers and trends in employment have changed and how salaries in the past compare with those today. They could interview relatives or people in your local community.
  • Make up their own financial quiz questions or maths challenges to test classmates.
  • With permission, bring in different financial documents (e.g. bills, bank statements) to examine the types of information that they contain.

Capability

  • Investigate the cost of travel in the local area (especially to and from school) and how money could be saved. For example, they could consider the cost of daily bus or train tickets compared with weekly, monthly or yearly travel passes. They could calculate how often someone would need to travel in order to save money with the various passes.
  • List situations where money and/or resources are wasted as a result of poor financial decisions (e.g. someone buying more food than they can use and ending up throwing some away).
  • Choose a particular product (e.g. breakfast cereals, trainers) and investigate it as a critical consumer (e.g. look at different brands, how they use advertising, their price and their quality).

Risks

  • Discuss the fact that financial decisions are more about circumstances and personal choices than right answers and come up with role-play scenarios that demonstrate this.
  • Discuss situations where students have taken risks (financial or otherwise), the reasons behind their decisions and the outcomes.

Economic understanding

  • Select a local charity and organise a fundraising event. Plan the event, work out costings and seek sponsorship. Make sure you let the charity know you're holding the event!
  • Do a research project on ethical investments - interesting organisations to look at are: charities, universities, pension funds.
  • Look into the issue of the UK's 'ageing population' and the impact this will have on pensions and public services like health care, transport, etc.
  • Monitor news reports about the Credit Crunch, the economy and other financial stories and discuss these in class. Make a file of the articles.
  • Discuss and investigate the different places that people can get advice about money. Come up with some different financial scenarios and select students to respond as advice-givers, offering different advice.
| Back to top |