Kimerlee Ami Soo Ting

#03769747

11th August, 2015

Challenges to teaching Economics

I am very passionate about Economics and I often refer to it as my first true love,
however not everyone shares my passion. Studying Economics was natural and easy for me
because of my passion for the discipline but teaching it, did not come so easily. I look back at
2007, the first year I taught Economics and I saw the struggle in getting students to share my
passion for such a dynamic subject. Overtime I have been able to improve and put small but
effective measures in place that have helped me overcome these challenges.
Economics in my opinion creates the perfect balance between qualitative and quantitative
content, however it poses the problem that students who are highly qualitative struggle with the
quantitative aspect and the converse is also true. Many students who pursue advanced level
Economics do not have a good grade in ordinary level math. This poses a serious challenge to me
because while trying to execute my syllabus on time, I am required to teach basic math before
teaching my actual course content. Additionally, every single student comes with different preknowledge, some have had exposure to POB, POA and or olevel Economics and others have
never done business subjects. The biggest challenge therefore for me is meeting every student
where they are and then bringing everyone to the same place. My strategy for overcoming this
challenge is to use peer teaching, where students who are strong in certain areas assist a weaker
student throughout the course. I would like the school however to make a bigger intervention
because many of the science teachers also complain about the weak math skills of the students. I
think that the school can host a plenary session with students where basic math and proper essay

Kimerlee Ami Soo Ting

#03769747

11th August, 2015

writing techniques can be taught. Getting administration to agree to such an intervention may
prove to be the real challenge.
An inescapable challenge of teaching and learning economics is the fact that the
economic landscape is constantly changing. When I believe that I am on top of current economic
events, within hours or a day things can make a complete turn. The challenge with this is that
economic events are constantly occurring but it is challenging to remain up to date with the latest
developments so that my real world examples remains relevant and not dated. Along the same
lines is the challenge posed by students who do not look at news or read print media and this
means they remain disjoint from current events and are unable to relate their experiences to the
course content. My strategy for overcoming this is simple, I bring newspaper articles on the topic
to class and ask questions on the article, similar to a data response. I think that another good way
to overcome this challenge is to have internet access in the classroom so students can research
the latest developments in any particular event in real time.
Another challenge I face in teaching Economics is a personal struggle in trying to keep
the course content contained. While I have a syllabus to adequately guide me, Economics is
linked to so many other issues that it is hard not to get carried away especially on a topic for
which I am passionate. I am not proud of the fact that my political bias is evident in my lessons
and I can easily spend an entire period talking about the government and their policy decisions.
My strategy for this challenge is simply to stick to the syllabus, but that has proven to be an
ineffective strategy. My more realistic strategy is to allocate 15 minutes in each class to discuss
any current economic issues locally or internationally and then continue with the specified
course material. This will ensure that there is balance between theory and practice and not a
predominance of one.

Kimerlee Ami Soo Ting

#03769747

11th August, 2015

My discipline contains several abstract concepts that are unfamiliar to the average person
and does not exist in reality. These abstract concepts are sometimes difficult for the students to
grasp as they do not have real life experiences to relate it to. For example, the idea of being able
to measure satisfaction in utils is one that students often have difficulty in understanding. When I
inform them that a util is something that economists constructed to measure satisfaction they
tend to conclude that it is something that they would never use in real life. The problem with
these purely abstract concepts is that students do not see the usefulness of learning it and this
reduces their receptiveness to learning the topic. I really have not developed a clear cut strategy
to make learning of these concepts more appealing to students but I am hoping that after the
Dip.Ed. Programme I would at least learn some innovative teaching strategies that can be
employed in teaching Economics.
Despite the challenges faced in teaching and learning economics I think that my passion
for my discipline helps me overcome most of the challenges faced.