Discovering Economics
Discovering Economics at Bow School - Ali Norrish, Head of Research and Schools, Economy - www.ecnmy.org
This Spring Term, my charity Economy had the privilege of working with committed Year 9 students at Bow School who completed the first pilot of Economy’s course to Discover Economics, becoming our very first Economy Ambassadors!
Economy is a charity on a mission to make conversation on economics accessible to everyone. Our vision is a world in which everyone feels able to take part in confident conversations about their future. We offer the Discovering Economics course to Year 9 students to give every young person the chance to leave school understanding what the economy is and how it will affect them.
Bow School students completed a six session course in understanding and shaping the economy around them, learning how to understand economic jargon in the news and thinking about the economy they would like to see in their future. On the way, students were able to demonstrate their impressive speaking and listening skills, taking part in a debate about an economic issue and sharing presentations with parents at our evening celebration event where they received their certificate of completion as Economy Ambassadors.
We loved hearing from Bow School students about why learning Economics has been important to them.
Fatima, Year 9, said: “Before the course, I thought Economics was just about money and how it just affected the government. Now I realise that it affects me overall, and the world as well. The economy is important to life. The course helped me choose economics as my GCSE option as well. It made me more confident about it.”
Yusuf, Year 9, said: “Debating has been really fun, trying to challenge other people's opinions and views. And also creating a future economic headline has been really interesting and tested my knowledge about the economy. Money plays a very important role in everyone's lives. So having good knowledge about economy is essential.”
We were also especially humbled by the response of parents to the course being offered and the students’ fantastic achievements, with one parent sharing that they felt we should offer the course in every school.
“I think it's brilliant. After Iffat did a couple of sessions, she's been teaching me a few things. Telling me, do I understand FTSE? Do I understand this or this? I'm glad that Iffat's had this opportunity to really understand it, and how it's so relevant to her, and affects everyday life. I wish I'd done it myself. I think you should do this course in every school! I think economics should be taught: maybe even start as early as Year 6, Year 5.”
Economics Teacher, Mr Murray praised the students’ achievements, saying “The presentations have been outstanding. The topics covered were so vast and had such a clear economic insight into the future. Economics is an essential subject for life; the skills you learn will help you make more informed and better decisions in the future. To sacrifice this amount of time and present to the level and quality they have this evening – I think our Year 9 students have got big futures.”
As a reward for their work and to celebrate students’ achievements, Economy will be inviting several of our Bow School graduates to attend our autumn event called ‘Economic Education for Everyone’ as Economy Ambassadors.
Students will have the chance to meet people working in the world of Economics who are supporting our work to ensure that every student has the chance to learn some economics to support their future through the school curriculum.
Economy would like to especially thank our students and Extra-curricular Co-ordinator Ms Mohamud, who welcomed us and supported our students throughout the course.
To find out more about Economy’s work and to sign up to our easy everyday economics newsletter, visit https://www.ecnmy.org/
Ms Mohamud & Mr Murray
Rising to the Challenge – The Bow Way
