Business

MRS KATRINA MAHER, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT – BUSINESS

Business is very important in our everyday life and also in every walk of life. People study business for many reasons. Some are preparing to pursue careers in one of the major fields of business. Others want to become better-informed consumers by understanding their rights, and to avoid pre- and post-purchase problems. The Business course at Fairholme aims to equip students to enter the real world of consumerism.

The Year 9 Business course focuses on two key concepts: Financial Literacy and Business Enterprises. Financial Literacy is explored through real-life concepts such as Budgeting, Income, Credit and Loans, Banking, Investing, Mobile Phones and Insurances. The Business Enterprise Unit provided opportunities for students to develop their entrepreneurial skills. Students, in pairs, ideated an innovative good or service, and created a comprehensive business plan as a part of the Plan Your Own Enterprise Competition. The Business Plan consisted of an operational analysis, conducted market research, created a marketing plan, devised advertising and pricing strategies and discussed future business goals.

The Year 9 Launch students introduced a design-thinking methodology for solving problems. Students were given opportunities to create design solutions for real-world issues, spaces and created and enhanced products. The focus was on human-centred design, which required students to empathise with the needs and wants of end-users and ensured their proposed design solutions met specific design requirements. Students learned skills and knowledge that included sketching, visual communication, low-fidelity prototyping through creative and lateral thinking and visual, written and oral communication. Launch allowed the girls to be experimental and collaborative throughout the process, whilst working together to bolster each other’s creativity. To assist with the selection of Senior subjects, Markets and Opportunities is designed for Year 10 students as an introduction to the three Business Senior subjects: Accounting, Economics and Legal Studies. The purpose of this course is to provide a taster for students to make an informed decision regarding subject selection for Years 11 and 12.

The Year 11 Accounting students completed Units 1 and 2, learning processes and practices for both service industries and trading industries. Students sat their first Summative piece of assessment under the ATAR system, focusing on the topic of managing resources, in particular non-current assets, for a trading business.

Unit 3 of Year 12 Accounting focused on managing the resources of a business, including accounts receivable, non-current assets and technology. The students produced fully classified statements to report comprehensively on the performance of a sole trader and explored how administrative and

accounting controls can be used effectively to protect and maintain the resources of a business. The focus of the final unit for external assessment was to analyse, interpret and evaluate the performance of a public company, primarily through the use of financial ratios.

This year the Year 11 Economics students began their studies with the fundamentals of economics, including understanding the basic economic problem and market forces using the supply and demand model. The next topic of Unit 1 was based around an investigative research report on economic flows using the five-sector circular flow of income model. Unit 2 delved into the study of markets and efficiency and what happens when markets fail, as when markets fail to account for environmental costs. This led to a study of inequality, on which a response to stimulus exam was based. Students then transitioned to Unit 3 for Term 4 where they studied international economics and the global economy. The first internal assessment was a combination exam.

The Year 12 group successfully completed their studies of the new QCE Syllabus for Economics in 2020. Term 1 began with the second topic of Unit 3, International Economic Issues. The assessment was an investigative research report on issues surrounding Australia’s balance of payments which has undergone important changes in recent years. Term 2 marked the beginning of their final Unit, Contemporary Macroeconomics. With most countries around the world experiencing very serious and dramatic economic consequences due to COVID-19, studying the theory and objectives of economic management could not have been more relevant for the girls. Their study culminated in the external exam.

LEGAL STUDIES

Legal Studies enables students to have confidence in approaching and accessing the legal system and provides them with a better appreciation of the relationship between legal and social issues. There is immediate relevance of Legal Studies to students’ lives.

In 2020, Year 11 students considered how criminal law attempts to balance the rights of individuals with the needs of society and then how the resultant consequence is determined. The second unit covered the topic of Civil Obligations, focusing on Contract Law and the Tort of Negligence. Law, governance and change was the focus of their first summative piece of assessment.

Year 12 students studied law reform in different jurisdictions; looking at pivotal events and the criteria of making laws more equitable, modern, fair and efficient. Students chose a specific area in need of legal change within the state or federal jurisdiction, and proposed recommendations for law reform. Students also explored the global and domestic context for human rights and how international laws and institutions affect Australia. Students looked at the role of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Bill of Human Rights, numerous International Conventions and Treaties and the Australian Constitution, and analysed their effectiveness. The students were given the opportunity to hear from the University of Queensland’s Law Faculty on the following topics: Domestic and Family Violence, Refugees and Asylum Seekers and International Humanitarian Law.