Bu$ine$$ Cla$$

Exploring the world of work and business.
A Program for Middle School Students by Ross Lamb

BU$INE$$ CLASS is a creative game-based role-playing program that allows students to experience something of the business world by applying for “jobs” and providing services in the classroom. It has been successfully used used in year 9 classes at Hamilton Secondary College in South Australia.

Jobs

A set of job descriptions at the core of Bu$ine$$ Class represent jobs for which students are invited to apply.

Facilities Manager

The Facilities Manager “owns” all classroom space.

Students may rent desk space from the Facilities Manager.
Students can “pay” different rates of rent depending on location

The Facilities Manager maintains the state of the whiteboard in perfect condition and ensures that it is clean at the beginning of every lesson.
Audio visual equipment (when needed) is to be obtained, cared for, operated and returned by the Facilities Manager.
The Facilities Manager arranges all photocopying and distribution of handouts etc., to all students in the class including absentees.
The Facilities Manager’s responsibility for the classroom includes

Arranging desks and chairs.
Removing waste.
Organising storage.

Art Director

The Art Director is responsible for the art direction of the learning space.

Deciding/negotiating the overall theme,
Location and type of displays/posters and other artworks.
Installation art – possibly themed to other lessons or pastoral care for the week.
Displaying student work.
Commissioning special artwork from other students.
Reporting on "Art" events.

Morale Booster

The Morale Booster is responsible for the maintenance of the morale of the teacher(s) and of the whole class.

Fresh flowers in the classroom.
Remembering everyone's birthday and sending a card.
Celebrating successes with certificates / prizes
Marking milestones, bereavements and events.
Writing letters of appreciation, condolence and encouragement.

Sheriff

The Sheriff achieves success when there are no infringements by any class member for:

Uniform
Hats off indoors
Late for class
Disruption of lessons
Absence without valid reason

Small fixed infringement expiation fees are imposed on students by the Sheriff. Disputed infringements can be appealed to the class court with the teacher presiding. Expiation fees are retained by the Sheriff, but infringements which are overturned on appeal result in the fee being paid by the Sheriff to the defendant. The following table of fees reflects the relative weighting of offences:

Offence	Fee (BCD$)
Out of uniform (per item)	10
Hat on indoors	5
Late for class	10
Lesson disruption	20
Unauthorised absence	20

Journalist

The Journalist operates an information service for the class. Responsibilities include:

Oral report (TV Newsdesk style) on

School sporting results
Assignment performance
Coming school events
School event happenings and outcomes

Student Notices

Collect from teacher
Read to class
Edit and publish (with teacher's approval) new notices on behalf of class.

General News

Youth affairs
Employment market
State, national and world events.

Banker

The Banker operates all financial services for all students in the class. Money exists, not as coins and notes but as bank credit (or debt) held in student accounts by the Banker.

Money changes hands by means of: bank transfer transactions (just like internet banking or "B-Pay").
The Banker pays student’s salaries and assignment fees and collects expiation fees.

The Banker maintains a master set of accounts using the “Banker” copy of the Bu$ine$$ Class Bank Statement for each student. Students can keep their own financial records by using the student copy of the statement issued or emailed by the banker.

Financial transactions (for example, paying an expiation fee to the Sheriff) are carried out by passing a written instruction to the Banker. For an expiation fee, this can be simply a signed instruction to the Banker on the reverse of the infringement notice such as, “Please pay Sheriff BCD$10 expiation fee.”

Payments to students are made by the Banker by making an entry in the “income” column of the student’s Bu$ine$$ Class Bank Statement and by issuing a payment advice note to the student. Payment advice notes can be hand written and must include the following details:

Date of transaction
Name of student
Nature of payment (e.g. Salary)
Amount in BCD$.
Signature of Banker.

In addition to other duties, the Banker can operate in the money market by making loans to students.

Bank interest rates are charged at 10% per week.

Job Applications

All six jobs should be advertised on day one of Bu$ine$$ Class (e.g. Thursday week1) and students invited to submit an application for one or more of the jobs. The closing date for applications is 6 days later (e.g. Wednesday week 2). Applications should be treated as confidential. That is, they should be collected but not discussed.
Job applications may be hand written or typed and should contain the following:

Date*
Class (room number etc.)*
Name of student*
Title of position(s)*
A comment about the student’s abilities/interests/experience against each one of the selection criteria for the position(s)*
Relevance of the position sought to the student’s long term career ambitions (if any)
Name and details of referee(s) who can verify the student’s claims of ability, interest or experience.

(* essential)

Selection Panels

Appointments should be made on the basis of interviews conducted by selection panels consisting of:

Teacher (chair)
All class members who have not applied for the position under consideration.

Interviews should begin with the position for which there is the least number of applicants. The first panel may be large but not every panel member will want to ask questions.

The time for each interview should be limited to 5 minutes to ensure that the selections are completed by the end of week 4.

Applicants should be interviewed in alphabetical order in open interviews in front of the whole class. This may give some applicants with names down the alphabet an opportunity to refine their answers to questions that they have heard asked of other applicants. Any slight disadvantage should be out weighed by the incentive to pay attention to the proceedings of the selection panel.

Questions should be based on the selection criteria and be “open”. I.e.,not requiring a “yes” or “no” answer. For example, applicants for the position of Sheriff could be asked, “What factors do you think help make a successful learning environment?” Applicants for Morale Booster could be asked, “What things have you had to negotiate or argue for? How successful were you?”

Scoring of answers should be kept simple without any weighting system. Each panel member should score applicants and pass their score sheet to the Chair who should immediately announce the name of the successful applicant(s).

The number of successful applicants for each position must be managed to ensure that all class members obtain at least one job. Where class numbers are below six or a unreliable, it may be necessary to appoint some students to more than one position.

Successful applicants should start in their jobs immediately the panel’s decision is announced.

Bu$ine$$ Class Assignments

During the term, “Head Office” (General Manager and/or Teacher)) will communicate with classes to assign tasks or projects. The assignments will be directed to an appropriate employee in the class. Appropriate fees will be set for all assignments and will be paid by the Banker in the normal Bu$ine$$ Cla$$ manner.

Assignments may include the following:

Communicate special news or information contained in a press release (Journalist)
Report and recommend on student behaviour issues (Sheriff)
Arrange celebration of a special event (Morale Booster)
Levy a special tax or pay a special bonus (Banker)
Curate an art display (Art Director)
Organise students’ completion of a career guidance test in a computer room and distribute confidential results to students (Facilities Manager)

Bu$ine$$ Class Outcomes

Learning

The methodology used in “Bu$ine$$ Class” is based on learning by participation . The learning objectives of Bu$ine$$ Class are that students gain knowledge and experience of:

Applying for and holding a position in an organization.
Meeting service delivery obligations.
Holding responsibility in a job.
Identifying and using their own skills and special interests.
Acting responsibly in a team or community.
Managing finances.

Rewards

Students earn and accumulate “money” in the form of Bu$ine$$ Class Dollars (BCD$). During the course of the term there may be opportunities given to students to bid for items offered for sale for BCD$.

At the and of term, the school may issue a certificate of achievement to the most successful (richest?) student in each class, year level, learning community and/or middle school.

Class teachers may also wish to observe high levels of co-operation, initiative, organization etc., and acknowledge/reward successful/improved students in an appropriate manner. Rewards can be part of the BCD$ economy in the form of bonuses.

You can dowoad a full set of Bu$ine$$ Cla$$ documents including job descriptions and assignments for just $9.95 by clicking here: