The Lifeskills' Microsociety Program

Overview | School Only Currency | How is the currency earned? | Creating Income | How is the currency spent? | Savings

Critical Feature - School Only Currency

Central to the function of the society is the use of a "school only currency".
The school currency enables students to create an income stream for themselves which they can then dispose of at a time of their own choosing.
The currency can be created and issued at the home school or class, or generated through a third party such as a sponsor.
Many NSW schools have created their own school currency, usually designed with local themes and icons in mind by students and then photocopied on site.

The benefits of generating your own school currency are that there are minimal costs in designing and printing the currency. Should currency volumes run low or the society be subjected to rampant inflation, in either situation, the problems can be simplistically remedied by printing more currency. This however does not solve the underlying problems as to why inflation is becoming a problem.

The Universal Currency:

In 2005, schools in the Maitland area, in conjunction with the Maitland Mutual Building Society and the Maitland Business Chamber introduced the "Mutual", a school currency that is now available to all schools.
The currency is purchased from the Maitland Mutual Building Society at the cost of 1 cent per Mutual, ie:1 Australian Dollar will purchase 100 Mutuals.

Using this currency enables schools to make an easy start to their Lifeskills’ Society, facilitate a readily available unit of exchange for schools to trade between themselves and is readily exchanged for the Australian Dollar through the Maitland Mutual Building Society.