Case Study No. 2: Nappies: Examining the impact of our spending

Personal finance education involves exploring the wider implications of our spending decisions: the implications for individuals, families, the wider local, national and global community and the environment. The teachers involved in the development of this work made full use of the professional development support available through pfeg’s Excellence and Access project in order to build their confidence in delivering this aspect of personal finance education. The end product, in the form of this case study, guides you through the thinking processes that the teachers engaged in to arrive at their chosen context. This is supported by a series of lessons (12 pages and a PowerPoint presentation available to download from the pfeg website) about the costs and benefits of disposable and reusable nappies. It also demonstrates how you can involve a range of adults other than teachers in your classroom. The materials are designed in such a way that others may try them out in their classrooms. The pupils who took part in these lessons found it to be a particularly stimulating and enjoyable way of looking at the broader issue of investigating what we consume, how we consume, and how we deal with the waste we generate.