Small Change

Suitable for gifted and talented

The resource is an excellent source material for gifted and talented students.

Suitable for special educational needs

The main stimulus of the resource is video drama, students with severe learning difficulties will appreciate this and the outcomes will be through follow-up discussion and activities. 

Assessor's comments

This is a personal finance resource that could be used by English and Drama departments.  Indeed, the situations acted out by the students in the DVD may well stimulate drama departments to explore personal finance in their own way using similar techniques.  Links to drama and literature are suggested in the teacher notes and a series of financial workshops are suggested in the guide which will save teachers planning time.  An unusual resource for personal finance in many ways, ‘Small Change’ will have an immediate appeal for students.
The scenarios in the videos are (a) one friend trying to borrow money from another when in the past, she has not paid it back.  There are two alternative ends – one in which the friend says yes and the other in which she says no, (b) a couple with bills they can’t pay being faced with a request from a son for a new electric guitar (c) a family faced with debt problems because dad has lost his job and refused to face up to the fact that he can’t pay the bills.  The issues of CAB and debt counsellors are raised here (d) Mum has a large windfall sum of money.  Should they use it for luxuries or pay off some of the pressing bills they owe.  This also has two alternative endings.

The DVD and the use of drama to explore personal finance issues is very refreshing.   It is an excellent stimulus for pupils as it allows for the discussion and role play of real situations that pupils will encounter.  I was very impressed by the members of TAG as they acted the scenarios convincingly – key for pupils becoming involved in the situations that the characters encounter.