SMSC in Computing and Business

Spiritual education in Computing and Business provides opportunities for reflection of awe and wonder about the achievements in technology today and the possibilities for the future. Computing and Business allow students to have the opportunity to reflect on, for example, how computers can sometimes perform better in certain activities than people. It involves students being encouraged to explore sexism, racism and discrimination in the workplace through the discussion of employment laws. Students are encouraged to express their own opinion and explore different examples. Students also explore their own feelings and meaning and reflect upon topics such as ethics. Students are encouraged to explore these concepts and challenge the actions that businesses should take. This also helps to develop student’s empathy and compassion skills and allows them to take into consideration other people aims, values, principles and beliefs. 

Moral education in Computing and Business helps students to explore aspects of real and imaginary situations and enables them to reflect on the possible consequences of different actions. It can raise issues such as whether it is morally right to have computer games whose aim is killing and violence, and whether it is fair that some people in this country and in other countries cannot use the internet. Through e-safety topics, students explore the acceptable use of social media and the consequences of misuse. Students are given the opportunity to consider a variety of information relating to real life business scenarios in order to make valid judgements. Students spend a large proportion of the course investigating the impact of business and government decisions upon society and the local community in which they operate. 

Social education in Computing and Business involves collaborative work which encourages social development. It also helps all students to express themselves clearly and to communicate. It involves students being encouraged to develop their team working skills through collaborative work and research. The students also explore the concept of teams and the roles that individuals must play and how this can impact on a business. Throughout the curriculum, students are given the opportunity to exercise their leadership skills. Students often work collaboratively to understand new concepts and share information researched, thus giving the students responsibility over their work. 

Cultural education in Computing and Business involves the breaking through of linguistic and cultural barriers. It is possible to e-mail or chat across the world and to word process in different languages. ICT creates new opportunities to communicate such as social networks. Whilst studying various aspects of ICT, students are asked to reflect on how different cultures are portrayed on the internet and why or who is portraying them in this way. Students are also challenged to think about how differing cultures access and use the internet and what implications this has on the individual and the culture. 

Examples of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education in Computing and Business include: 

• Students exploring moral issues relating to access when considering the use of large information systems e.g. who should know about criminal records

• Understanding the use of and limitation of automatic foreign language translators in the understanding of other cultures

• Understanding the need for online safety and the range of criminal activities which take place over the internet 

• Students looking at the moral issues associated with advertising and consider how business promote themselves

• Students considering the impact that business decisions have upon their local area and communities

• Students investigating business ethics and considering the ethical boundaries in which businesses must operate within

• Students explore the cultural differences between customer groups which businesses may be targeting their products/services towards and how these differences impact upon sales

• Students learn about a range of economic policies and their impact on unemployment, considering how this impacts on society