Almost 300 secondary students from a range of schools in the metropolitan area will be attending an Economics Conference on Friday 12th February from 9.30 to midday in the Kim E. Beazley Lecture Theatre.

The 2016 Student Economics Conference, initiated and coordinated by economics lecturer Loretta Dumas, is the result of an ongoing, collaborative partnership between the School of Management and Governance (Economics Discipline), Melville Senior High School (MSHS Centre of Excellence in Economics) and the Economics Teachers Association of WA (ETAWA). The interest and response to the conference has been extraordinary and largely reflects the fact that Dr Ken Wyatt MP, Dr Anne Garnett, Professor Malcolm Tull, Professor David Butler and Dr Ameer Ali have developed presentations that scaffold the knowledge and objectives associated with the new Economics ATAR courses for Year 11 and 12 students, providing scope for critical and creative analysis on economic thinking and applying economic theory and analysis to real life contexts such as terrorism.

The conference represents one component of the 2016 School of Management and Governance’s Secondary School Initiative. After the conference in February, the Secondary School Initiative will augment student engagement by offering an economics forecasting competition and the development of bespoke online modules in economics for Year 11 and Year 12 secondary students.

For further information on this conference and the Secondary School Initiative please contact Loretta Dumas (l.dumas@murdoch.edu.au).