The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People commissioned a report entitled ‘Financial Education in Schools: 2 Years On – Job Done?’
Two years ago a ‘Financial Education’ element was made compulsory within the secondary school national curriculum in England, this report’s aim was to measure its impact. Amongst its 8 key findings, there is a strong recommendation that the subject becomes a compulsory element of the primary school curriculum. It might be worth considering getting the help of local accountants to give valuable input and real life experience of the tax system.
According to the report’s findings, all schools should adopt a ‘whole school’ approach to financial education and secondary schools should use more ‘real life’ situations in their teaching. They should also increase teacher training, as their research uncovered the statistic that a fifth of teachers do not feel they have adequate knowledge to teach the subject. Only a sixth of secondary school teachers had actually received specific training.
Considering primary schools, the report states, “We also need to start younger and recognise the role that primary schools can, and should, play in familiarising children with money concepts in an age-appropriate manner. Financial education should not be a ‘postcode lottery’, with some students left out simply due to the school they attend, which is why we recommend that statutory financial education is introduced at primary level.”
The report concludes that some children are being left behind, in terms of financial management, because essential skills are being left out of their school experience. It suggests that all primary school children should learn about bank statements, judging the best mobile deal and filing tax returns.
An interesting conclusion as “money concepts” are already part of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (statutory) and National curriculum for Maths (statutory) and Personal Social Health and Citizenship Education (non-statutory). Also, every year there’s the Nativity Play practice that involves the crucial comprehension lesson about Mary and Joseph paying their taxes (and the age-appropriate definition), not their taxis!
The report does acknowledge that, “Academies, free schools and independent schools have no obligation to teach it, though many use provision in the national curriculum as a benchmark for their teaching.”
Other interesting recommendations include that “significant” funding for the development of financial education should come from financial services organisations. Schools will be required to prove they are using government Pupil Premium funding to develop financial education and the assessment of such provision will become part of Ofsted Inspections.
“Understanding how to manage money well remains a key life skill that is required for all aspects of adult life…” – now that’s something from the report that everyone can agree on. The specifics, particularly for primary school children, remain up for debate. What do you think?
