Secondary School · Grade 8 · Ages 13–14
Income, Taxes and Enterprise
Earning at scale
Grade 8 is the earning year. Where primary taught that money comes from work, this unit asks the bigger questions: what kinds of work, what kinds of income — and why does the amount on the payslip shrink before it arrives? Taxes enter the program honestly: what they take, and what they build.
The year in depth
The centrepiece is enterprise. Students design a first business idea and defend its numbers: what it costs to start, what it earns, and the difference between income you work for and income your assets earn while you sleep. Budgets grow real complexity to match — multiple income streams, fixed and variable costs, and a plan for when the plan fails.
What your students learn
- Plan a budget with real complexity — income streams, taxes, fixed and variable costs
- Explain where taxes go, and argue about it with evidence
- Distinguish active from passive income, with examples they can name
- Propose a small business idea and defend its arithmetic
For the teacher
Teacher-led classroom unit: session plans, budgeting and business-pitch activities, written assessments — fits economics, civics or advisory periods.