A crucial living skill is knowing how to manage your finances. However, as a nation, we have all too frequently expected people to fight for themselves or depend on what they might have learned from their parents. Even though a foundation in all of these is required to assist adolescents in transitioning to independent, content adults, financial education is an exception when we consider society’s approach to tackling equally worthy subjects like careers, online skills, or sex and relationships.
Inadequate Financial Education in Schools
Economic education has apparently been part of the national curriculum through citizenship since 2014, with a small number of articles taught in math, following extensive campaigning by backbench MPs like me. However, the majority of extra schools—free schools and academies—have the option to withdraw from the national curriculum. Additionally, there are common worries that some students choose to teach financial content in the national curriculum because only a small percentage of students qualify for GCSE citizenship. It can be found in private, cultural, health, and financial education, but when schools are under pressure to provide exams, this is also a theme that is squeezed. As a result, economic information’s standing in schools’ listings of priorities is ambiguous, and its adoption is at best uneven, creating an unfair picture across the nation.
Lack of Financial Literacy for Students
Despite this, we use student loans, preservation grants, and overdrafts to deliver 18-year-olds off to college. Teens are encouraged to enter into lengthy contracts to pay for their phones and to obtain part-time employment without having to explain what is on a payslip. The shopping pages of online clothing retailers now feature a new era of businesses offering credit deals with soft branding. Who is their intended market? young individuals whose comprehension of how to manage attention on a loan will be at best limited. Children whose parents or guardians don’t have the time or the knowledge to teach them about these intimidating concepts are clearly at a disadvantage in schools without financial education. Women’s decision-making may be impacted for years to come if they miss out on this info.
Importance of Investigating Financial Education
Because of this, my cross-party colleagues on the Education Committee concurred that an investigation into this matter is warranted, not only to highlight its significance but also to look for workable solutions to issues that prevent institutions from feeling empowered to provide financial education. The education sector’s apparent weariness at meeting yet another demand will be high on the list, and we’ll be careful to avoid it by using our creativity and collaborating with the industry to consider how strengthening provision can be done effectively. According to a Teacher Tapp study conducted by the Bank of England in 2022, two-thirds of teachers said they lacked the time or resources to fit financial knowledge into the academic year.
Gender Disparities and the Need for Financial Education
However, according to studies done by the education nonprofit MyBnk in the past, boys and young men had a lower level of financial security than girls and women aged 11 to 25. According to a recent study by the Centre for Social Justice, two-thirds of young parents who struggled financially thought they could have benefited from better economic knowledge.
Incorporating Financial Education in Math Curriculum
How effectively financial education may be incorporated into math education, both at the primary and secondary levels, is another area that my commission wants to investigate. There is reason to believe that it might offer a way to teach kids about the practical applications of mathematics, which many people struggle with or don’t feel are important to their lives. We will also look into whether specific financial education articles could be included in the offer made to this age group, in keeping with the prime minister’s goal of ensuring that all 16 to 18-year-olds review “a form” of math.
Ensuring High-Quality Financial Education
The proper materials, the proper teacher support, and the appropriate amount of time and space in a crowded curriculum are all necessary for high-quality financial education in schools. Getting it right may significantly improve one’s chances in life. Previous minister for school requirements and seat of the Commons Education Select Committee Robin Walker