Years 11 to 12

Helping young people to be smart consumers

The Buy Smart Program can help you teach the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) senior syllabus, including in general and applied subjects, such as:

  • Business (general)
  • Legal Studies (general)
  • Business Studies (applied)
  • Media Arts in Practice (applied).

Teachers can use the Buy Smart Competition to engage students with a topic and/or set a project to fit a learning outcome.

The competition requirements are designed to be broad so they can be adapted for a range of learning outcomes across multiple subject areas.

Buy Smart Online

The Buy Smart Program also provides ready-made resources to support online learning and remote delivery. These include video presentations suitable for secondary students based on existing incursion topics.

Business (general)

Unit 2, Topic 2 of the Business syllabus includes the requirement for students to be able to describe the legislative factors affecting the market entry of a business, such as the Australian Consumer Law and advertising standards.

Legal Studies (general)

Unit 2, Topic 2 of the Legal Studies syllabus requires students to explain:

  • 'the need for contract law, and why consumer protection provisions are needed in addition to the general law of contracts'
  • 'the role of the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) in protecting consumers'
  • 'legal defences available to the defendant (and consumers), and remedies available to the plaintiff, including statutory protection'.

It further requires students to 'analyse and evaluate the mechanisms and avenues of dispute resolution using case studies'.

Business Studies (applied)

The Business Studies applied syllabus allows students to learn about business practices and functions in a practical way.

As an applied syllabus, students are encouraged to learn through real-world or lifelike contexts. The Buy Smart Program gives multiple opportunities for students to engage with these contexts.

Media Arts in Practice (applied)

The Media Arts in Practice applied syllabus teaches students about composing, transmitting and understanding media artworks including film, audio, graphic design and interactive media.

The Buy Smart Competition provides a framework for students to design a media artwork of their choice to answer inquiry questions.

The core topic of 'Media Communication' allows for students to explore the use of media artwork in advertising with inquiry questions regarding:

  • contexts and audiences for media artwork (e.g. commercial context)
  • purposes of media art-making (e.g. to promote or advocate).

Other learning programs

The Buy Smart Program can be used to support students in:

  • a Vocational Education and Training (VET) program
  • alternative or non-mainstream schooling.