Year 8 HASS – Term 4 (WA Curriculum): Economics, Business and Financial Literacy in Australia

What this unit covers

In Term 4, Year 8 HASS in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Economics, Business and Financial Literacy in Australia”.

Students explore how markets work, government involvement in the economy, personal financial decision-making, and consumer rights within Australia's economic system.

Lesson sequence (30 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Introduction to Economics: What is Demand?
2. Understanding Consumer Behaviour and the Law of Demand
3. Creating and Reading Demand Curves
4. What is Supply? Understanding Producer Behaviour
5. The Law of Supply and Supply Curves
6. Market Equilibrium: Where Supply Meets Demand
7. Investigating Price Changes in Real Markets
8. Introduction to Australia's Tax System
9. Income Tax: How Individuals Pay Tax
10. GST and Company Tax: Business Taxation
11. Where Does Tax Money Go? Government Spending
12. Analysing Tax Data and Government Budgets
13. Market Failures: When Markets Don't Work
14. Government Provision of Healthcare Services
15. Public Education: Government Investment in Learning
16. Transport Infrastructure: Government's Role
17. Why Do People Work? Exploring Motivations
18. Types of Employment: Full-time, Part-time and Casual Work
19. Income Sources: Wages, Salaries and Investments
20. Career Planning and Income Pathways
21. What Influences Our Spending Decisions?
22. The Cost of Borrowing: Understanding Interest and Credit
23. Creating a Personal Budget
24. Setting and Achieving Financial Goals
25. Saving Strategies for Teenagers
26. Long-term Financial Planning
27. Consumer Rights in Australia
28. Business Responsibilities and Warranties
29. Product Safety and Consumer Guarantees
30. Being a Smart Consumer: Making Informed Choices

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Skills codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 4

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 4 runs from Monday 12 October to Thursday 17 December — 10 weeks for WA public schools. With 30 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.