Unisim
Peter Walker MP once suggested that pupils in the last year at school should be taught about National Savings, unit trusts, shareholding, mortgages and how to start up a business - all through a 150 page book. Mr Walker subsequently accepted the Institute for Social Invention's rider that computer games, like an extended version of Monopoly, could play an important part in the process of introducing pupils to all aspects of money, and would be more likely to hold pupils' attention than books. It could also be a useful educational tool for Eastern Europeans wanting to learn the basics of the free market system.
'Pupils in the last year at school should be taught about National Savings, unit trusts, shareholding, mortgages and how to start up a business'
No such computer game exists at present. The nearest thing to it seems to be Unisim, produced by Unilever for schools at a subsidised price of L20. In this game, four companies set up factories to produce chocolate bars, and compete to see over the course of the term which can gain the dominant position, judged by percentage share of the market and accumulated profit.
Each period, the pupils have to decide how many crates to produce, the price in each market region, the number of sales staff and wages; how much advertising and market research to pay for; whether to set up new production lines; whether to borrow more money from the bank; and whether to pay dividends. The tutor can vary a number of elements, bringing on a Christmas rush, or altering the raw material price, warehousing costs and interest rates, or issuing union claims.
It sounds sophisticated, and is aimed at students aged 16 and over. The Institute tried out the basic game on a group of children aged 11 to 15, who took to it like mosquitoes to blood, absorbing profit and loss accounts and balance sheets. They went through six periods of trading, supposed to take half a term, in one evening. It has to be said, however, that none was less than L150,000 in debt by the end. As one teacher commented: 'They realise it's not as easy to make a profit as some people think.'
Unisim, Freepost, P.O. Box 10, Wetherby, West Yorks LS23 6YY (tel Alan George, Unilever Educational Liaison, 071 822 5804).
Comments by Valerie Yule
In Australia this has gone even further. One schools competition involved investing a small sum on the Stock Exchange, and the winning class made thousands of dollars' profit. (I do not know if I really like this training in greedy speculation.)
Valerie Yule, 57 Waimarie Drive, Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia 3149 (tel 807 4315).
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