JA Malta continues its yearly summer programme devoted to helping SkolaSajf students develop business skills, for the fourth year in a row.
JA Malta has focussed and prepared two programmes to target different age groups. With the aim of educating students at different levels of understanding about money management as well as homing in on an entrepreneurial mindset. Through the programmes Our Community and Europe My Business, JA Malta helped students expand their knowledge and come to grips with new concepts and ideas that will enrich their experience going forward, ensuring that the students will know more about the business world moving forward, in addition to the economy and their own communities.
The two programmes are tailored to different age groups, and while there are some common topics, they differ in content and activities.
Our Community, which is tailored to students between the ages 7-9, focusses on teaching values and concepts related to the community around them, such as financial mobility and security. For these students to grasp these concepts, the activities within the programme are designed to be entertaining and cohesive. The programme is also done over two days for students to take in the concepts at a moderate pace. By means of a pre and post survey, the reporting team can generate statistics on how much the children know about the community, and the level of their business mindset, before and after the session.
On the first day, the students learn about what a community is, the jobs within a community, and why each person within a community is interdependent. After discovering the community map, they are given “jobs” in teams, and during this activity, they distinguish the difference between a public and private job, as well as how tax works.
On the second day, the students are split back into teams and take a shot at unlocking their entrepreneurial mindset by creating their own shop. This activity is important for students to think outside the box and promote a shop whose services are better than existing shops.
In Europe My Business, a course tailored to students aged 10-14, pupils are taught about the European Union and the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset. Activities include an in-depth look at the European Union and its functions. Students get the opportunity to set up their own small business. The importance of the European Union’s single market is emphasized, to help youths understand the importance of geographical location in a business. On the second and final day of the course, students will make decisions based on the concepts of scarcity and marketability in terms of their own small business. After setting up a plan they are then allowed to create their own T-shirt which they will have to try to “sell” to their fellow classmates and to the facilitator. By the end of the two days, students will have a better understanding of the single market, trade and the process of setting up a business.
Following the deliveries at various Skola-sajf centres, the most promising teams from across the centres were chosen to take part in a special final event, where they got to pitch their ideas, and show off their entrepreneurship and business acumen to a host of judges, in a fun competition hosted by JA Malta at the Malta Chamber of Commerce building in Valletta.
Overall, the fourth year of JA Malta’s venture into teaching SkolaSajf programmes has proven to be a very fruitful one, with students and facilitators both gaining some newfound insight. We here at JA Malta hope we will be able to continue this spectacular programme for many years to come.
This article was written by a SkolaSajf facilitator, and reflects their experience delivering our set of summer school programmes this summer.
SkolaSajf is supported by HSBC Malta Foundation, EY Malta, The European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta, The Ministry for the Economy, Lands and European Funds, Nestle Malta and Faraxa Publishers.