Our Families

Purpose and process

In this programme pupils learn what a family is and how its members work together to achieve their collective goals.Gradually the students begin to tell the difference between a need and a want and realise the difficult decisions that families have to make to get by and prosper. The activities include:

• Understanding families.

• What jobs do we have?

• The difference between needs and wants.

• Where do we go to get what we need or want?

• Setting priorities and making decisions about money

Learning outcomes

Following participation in the program, students will be able to describe similarities and differences in families; categorize needs and wants; describe jobs people do; analyze their skills to find ways to help their families; identify goods and services provided by local businesses; and explain one of the entrepreneurial characteristics, Satisfy a Need or a Want.

Volunteers who take part help pupils identify family members from picture cards and the children have to find them on a poster. Once they have identified the members they pay a ‘guess who’ game.

Once they have an understanding of the difference between a need and a want they have to work out how to spend a family’s limited weekly budget wisely.

Curricular or thematic relevance

Economic Wellbeing and Making a Positive Contribution

Enterprise and Financial Capability

Citizenship

Literacy and Numeracy

Geography and History

Design Technology and Art

ICT

How to organise:

The average time for each of its five sessions is 30-45 minutes. Materials are packaged in a self-contained kit.

Session 1: The students discover how families are alike and different and how they can work together to make where they live a better place.
Session 2: Students become aware that all families need food, clothing, and shelter to live. They begin to understand and distinguish needs from wants.

Session 3:The students examine the jobs family members have, including operating their own businesses, and the ways people earn money to provide for a family's needs and wants.

Session 4: The students use the Floor Map to locate businesses throughout the neighborhood. They also identify locations for new entrepreneurial businesses, along with the goods or services these businesses will provide.
Session 5: Students become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses.

Assessment and evaluation approaches

Pre- and post tests

Volunteer involvement

Our Families is delivered in the classroom by a business volunteer. The programme can be run in groups of different sizes. The whole thing is backed up by a comprehensive range of support materials.

Additional comments

Our Families works in all the countries below. in 2013/14 80 000 pupils participated. 

Albania
Belgium Fl
Bulgaria
Estonia
Hungary
Ireland
Isle of Man
Latvia
Moldova
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
United Kingdom

Provider country

The program is available through JA-YE organisations in several countries

Provider Institution: