Economics & Business · Year 10

Active learning ideas

Business Ethics and Governance

Students retain ethical reasoning better when they confront dilemmas in real contexts, not abstract theory. Active learning builds empathy and sharpens analytical skills, preparing students to critique governance structures they will encounter as future consumers, employees, and citizens.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9HE10K05
• AC9HE10S04

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Case Study Analysis
• 50 min · Small Groups

Case Study Carousel: Ethical Scandals

Prepare stations with Australian cases like banking royal commission findings. Small groups spend 10 minutes at each station reading summaries, identifying dilemmas, and noting governance failures. Groups then share one key insight in a whole-class debrief.

Analyze common ethical dilemmas faced by businesses in the modern economy.

Facilitation Tip

For the Case Study Carousel, assign each station a different scandal and provide a focus question on ethical principles and governance gaps.

What to look for

Present students with a scenario: A company discovers a flaw in its product that could cause minor harm but fixing it would be very costly and delay market entry. Ask: 'What are the ethical considerations here? Who are the stakeholders involved? How should the company's board of directors approach this decision, and what governance principles should guide them?'

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Case Study Analysis
• 45 min · Pairs

Role-Play Debate: Dilemma Resolution

Assign roles like CEO, employee, shareholder, and regulator to pairs facing a dilemma such as cost-cutting via unsafe practices. Pairs prepare arguments for 10 minutes, then debate in a class tournament. Vote on the most ethical solution.

Evaluate the role of corporate governance in preventing misconduct.

Facilitation Tip

During the Role-Play Debate, give each group a role card outlining their stakeholder’s priorities and constraints before they argue the dilemma.

What to look for

Provide students with a list of business actions (e.g., hiding environmental data, offering fair wages, having an independent board audit). Ask them to classify each action as either promoting or undermining ethical business practices and corporate governance, and to briefly explain their reasoning for two of the actions.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Case Study Analysis
• 35 min · Individual

Governance Audit Checklist

Individually, students review a fictional company profile and create a checklist for good governance, including transparency measures. In small groups, they peer-review and refine lists, then present top items to the class.

Justify the importance of transparency and accountability in business operations.

Facilitation Tip

Use the Governance Audit Checklist to guide students through a scaffolded review of a company’s annual report and compliance statements.

What to look for

On an exit ticket, ask students to define 'transparency' in their own words and provide one example of how a publicly listed Australian company could demonstrate it. Then, ask them to explain why accountability is crucial for that company's reputation.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Jigsaw
• 40 min · Small Groups

Stakeholder Mapping Jigsaw

Divide class into expert groups on stakeholders like customers or communities. Each group maps impacts of an ethical decision, then reforms into mixed groups to jigsaw insights and recommend governance improvements.

Analyze common ethical dilemmas faced by businesses in the modern economy.

Facilitation Tip

In the Stakeholder Mapping Jigsaw, have students first map one stakeholder group, then rotate to add connections and conflicts before presenting a full network diagram.

What to look for

Present students with a scenario: A company discovers a flaw in its product that could cause minor harm but fixing it would be very costly and delay market entry. Ask: 'What are the ethical considerations here? Who are the stakeholders involved? How should the company's board of directors approach this decision, and what governance principles should guide them?'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should balance empathy with rigor: start with relatable small-business cases to counter the myth that ethics only matter for large corporations. Use structured debates to move students from opinion to evidence-based justification. Research shows that when students personally embody stakeholder roles, they grasp accountability more deeply than through lecture alone.

By lesson end, students should articulate why ethics and governance matter across business sizes, compare stakeholder impacts, and justify transparent policies using evidence from cases and audits. Success shows in their ability to debate trade-offs and recommend governance improvements.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Case Study Carousel, watch for students assuming ethics only matter for large corporations.

  Highlight the small-business angle in local cases like café wage disputes or family-run factory safety lapses to show ethical impacts at all scales.

• During Governance Audit Checklist, watch for students dismissing governance as unnecessary red tape.

  Have them calculate the cost of a past fraud scandal versus the cost of preventive governance measures in their audit results.

• During Stakeholder Mapping Jigsaw, watch for students believing companies self-regulate effectively.

  Use the jigsaw’s conflict points to reveal gaps in self-regulation, then contrast with regulatory cases in the carousel.

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Methods used in this brief

• Case Study Analysis
• Jigsaw