The Commerce Commission is offering free teaching resources off the back of its animated series It’s All Good to teach teenagers their consumer rights.

The teaching resources were developed with the help of an experienced practising teacher and are aimed at Year 9 and 10 business and social science students. They are also applicable to the teaching of the Social Science Level 4 Achievement Objective – Understand how producers and consumers exercise their rights and meet their responsibilities. The resources include a student workbook, teaching PowerPoint, interactive quizzes, and a board game.

“We’re targeting teenagers at the age many will get their first job and start making their own borrowing and purchasing decisions. We want to empower them to be confident consumers, knowing their basic rights and how to exercise them,” Ms Rawlings said.

“The resources focus on common consumer situations, including buying a car, getting a loan, being visited by a door-to-door salesman, and making a decision about whether to buy an extended warranty.”

The resources will be sent to all New Zealand Commerce and Economics Teacher Association (NZCETA) members and also available free of charge to other teachers interested in teaching consumer rights.

If you would like more information or a USB with all of the resources please email communications@comcom.govt.nz.

View It’s All Good episodes and additional resources at tv.comcom.govt.nz.

Background

The It's All Good animated series debuted in 2016 to provide consumers with information on borrowers’ rights following the introduction of new credit laws. A second series was released in June 2017 focusing on fair trading laws and aspects of the Consumer Guarantees Act. They have been well received by the community budgeting advisory sector and have had more than 800,000 views online.

It’s All Good was developed with support from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s consumer protection team. It features New Zealand’s sharpest legal advisor Aunty and her well-meaning nephew Herman Faleafa. Herman means well but he often has his head in the clouds and doesn’t think things through when it comes to money. So he needs Aunty and others to keep his feet on the ground and money in his wallet while he learns what his rights are.