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St Andrew’s Anglican College has adopted a new approach to financial literacy by integrating Banqer High into its Year 9 Economics classes. Initially used in a pastoral context, Banqer is now a key component of classroom learning, supporting the Australian Curriculum’s Economics and Business achievement standards and providing students with hands-on, practical scenarios. Head of Commerce and Entrepreneurship Ella Evans explains how this integration equips her students with a deeper understanding of financial concepts, bridging the gap between classroom theory and real-world experience.
Previously, Banqer was used in our pastoral program as a general introduction to financial literacy. But we saw an opportunity to bring it into the curriculum because it aligns well with our Year 9 content and adds depth to our lessons.
Building Financial Capability Through Hands-On Scenarios
Through Banqer, students now experience financial management in real-time, gaining a 'lived' understanding of key financial scenarios, deepening their comprehension and making abstract concepts tangible. When covering these topics, Ella can draw directly from students’ Banqer experiences to illustrate complex ideas, like why higher-interest accounts encourage saving versus borrowing. “Some financial topics can feel distant for Year 9 students who may not have daily experience with money. Banqer gives them that experience in a safe, controlled environment.”
This approach levels the playing field, providing a common base of understanding for all students, regardless of their prior exposure to financial concepts.
The interactive nature of Banqer engages students, especially when exploring topics like investing. The Banqer stock market simulation is a class favourite, allowing students to experience the rewards and risks of investing without real-world consequences.
Several students invested heavily in a single stock and experienced losses. This gave us a teachable moment to discuss diversification and risk management in a way that is memorable and practical.
Engaging Students with Investment and Risk Simulations
Banqer’s flexibility allows Ella to select expansions that best support her teaching goals. “We primarily work with the banking and stock market simulations, as well as the renting expansion,” she says. “Renting activities are great for fostering teamwork, and the share market simulation is highly engaging—they really look forward to it and are genuinely interested in how the share market operates.”
Banqer also created opportunities to discuss hard financial lessons, like the cost of having multiple bank accounts with unnecessary fees. “A few weeks into the term, many students realised they had multiple accounts charging fees but hadn’t transferred money to the ones earning interest. This led to conversations about choosing the right bank accounts and understanding financial terms and conditions,” Ella says. “That’s a valuable life lesson that I hope they’ll carry beyond the classroom.”
Transforming Classroom Learning into Everyday Financial Choices
Ella describes a typical day in her classroom, where Banqer is integrated with financial concepts like borrowing, saving, and interest rates. Across the course of the unit, students explore topics including consumer behavior, business goals, how consumers and businesses respond to economic trends such as changes in interest rates, and how they manage financial risks and rewards. “When we look at businesses and how they deal with risks and rewards—like floating on the stock exchange—Banqer’s expansions give them a practical way to interact with these concepts,” Ella explains.
We use the stock exchange expansion to simulate how businesses grow and how people invest, in a way that feels real to the students.
With Banqer as a consistent reference point, students engage more deeply with financial concepts throughout the term. “Having Banqer as a touchpoint gives the students a shared experience, which I can refer to throughout the term as we cover new topics. It’s a powerful way to make lessons more relevant.” She notes that Banqer could be valuable to any school considering financial literacy as part of their curriculum, whether through pastoral programs or integrated into an academic course, due to its versatility and practical application.
