Money Worlds

Suitable for gifted and talented

The resource is very clever in the way in which it provides achievement by outcome.  Just as in the hands of a skilful teacher, it can serve the needs of those with learning difficulties, so does it provide challenges for gifted and talented students to learn and progress. The resource contains extension activities, and the use of KS4 version with gifted and talented KS3 could be helpful.

Suitable for special educational needs

The activities are teacher-led and involve the use of video, images and music.  Therefore, careful use of the materials will make them superb for use with pupils with severe learning difficulties.

Assessor's comments

This is a very rich resource made up of a number of components which as the introduction points out, does not comprise a ‘structured course’ but rather, a bank of resources from which the teacher can select lesson plans, student activities and a range of video clips of students talking about various aspects of money.  This mix and match style is what will make the resource popular with teachers.  The video clips are very modern and full of enthusiasm.  Many of the lesson plans and activities relate to them and all of them can lead to students picking up the issues and discussing them in class.

‘Money Worlds’ is a unique resource.  The video clips of young people expressing their opinions about money matters will provide a superb incentive to discussion.  The lesson plans and activities also provide good links to the films. The use of poetry, literature and music in Money Worlds gives a new slant to personal financial education and will give the delivery of PFE a real cross-curricular dimension. Looking through this resource, I keep coming across ideas that I can’t wait to implement in the classroom.

I really like this resource; it provides resources to give any school the opportunity to develop a ‘whole school’ approach to teaching personal finance, as well as specific lessons for particular areas of the curriculum.  The teaching ideas section is a great way to include ideas for consolidating and developing pupils knowledge and opinions which do not necessarily fit into the PSHE curriculum statements on personal finance, but are too good to leave out (I especially like the focus on literature in ‘Hard Times’ and ‘Kiss Miss Carol’).

More unusual topics include the linking of emotions in music to money, the spending of money at Christmas and other religious festivals, gambling, charities, buying a house under shariah law, the Education Maintenance Allowance, issues associated with challenging economic issues such as the great depression, budgeting for the arrival of a new baby, moral and ethical dilemmas (excellent lesson ideas here particularly), issues surrounding immigrant workers, etc. 

The combination of videos, interactive resources, worksheets and lesson plans all present real life situations and make Money Worlds unique and appealing.