Tell me more
Imagine the scene … avidly engaged
groups of young people working in small
teams on the kind of real-life situations
that they face every day. They’ll interact,
by e-mail with Trading Standards
professionals who have the knowledge and
skill to provide instant feedback to queries.
They’ll also be able to observe how other
participating schools and teams are
interacting with the professionals, making
for a real joined-up experience.
As for subject matter, the range of
consumer issues facing young people gets
wider every day. Consider the plight of the
youngster who wants a mobile phone, but
doesn’t understand the complexities of the
small print or the teenager who buys a
computer game over the internet, changes
their mind and is not aware that they have
a cooling-off period.
Credit and debt; cooling-off periods; refund,
exchange and repair; counterfeit goods, age
restricted products … it’s all covered in
"talkingshop".
Participating authorities will be the link to
their local schools and will work in
conjunction with neighbouring authorities
or regional Trading Standards partners to
bring "talkingshop" to life in their areas.
The key to its success lies in partnership
working between schools and like-minded
authorities.
Learning sessions, facilitated by the "talkingshop" website, will
be delivered by centrally located Trading Standards
professionals to pupils in teams grouped
around PCs in schools. These live, realtime
sessions are supported by ‘before and
after’ materials to help develop skills and
strengthen understanding. Teachers in-school
will benefit from easy start-up
materials and notes to get things going.
The "talkingshop" initiative is set up to
deliver a programme of events to any
number of schools simultaneously.