School children not being taught vital life skills, warns Cambridgeshire union rep
The Education Committee is today calling on the Government to make financial education more comprehensive
A report from the Education Committee is calling on the Government to make financial education more comprehensive, ten years since the subject was added to the national curriculum.
It's telling the Government to bolster the subject in primary and secondary schools and at post-16 level - to teach children a range of skills including how to read a payslip, understanding the impact of money on relationships as well as awareness of online scams.
Mark Burns, Peterborough's executive member for the teacher's union NASUWT, says children are learning "very little" about real-life money skills, amid calls for financial education reform.
"Payslips used to be an integral part of GCSE studies... that's not on the spec any more." he told us.
"Sometimes they deal with interest in maths, sometimes they deal with interest in PDE, however there's very, very little of how to actually budget.
"What rent prices are like, what salary you might look to be getting if you did that type of job and how that would equate to what you can afford in terms of house, car and a lifestyle. So there's very very little and it has actually decreased over the years."
He added: "Going back to all the years I was at school, we were taught the difference between an endowment and a repayment mortgage.
"Now that's really, really important as a life skill for you to know what you should do with that and there's a lot of people in financial difficulties because they didn't have that background of that knowledge."
The cross-party Committee’s report makes recommendations to the Department for Education on: expanding financial education at primary school level; encouraging schools to appoint financial education coordinators; improving access to quality learning materials; and how the subject could become a key component of the Government’s proposal for all 16-18-year-olds to study maths.
Education Committee Chair Robin Walker MP said:
“Evidence we received was unanimous on two central points. Providing children with a financial education that is comprehensive and age appropriate is essential. Secondly, a decade since it was introduced with broad support, financial education in England needs an urgent update that takes account of how the schools sector, financial pressures on children and consumer habits have changed. There is cross-party support for delivering financial education in schools but it hasn't yet reached its full potential.
“Since the Prime Minister set out his ambitions for ‘maths to 18’, there is an opportunity to bolster financial education and embed it in the maths curriculum, both as a core part of the proposals for the Advanced British Standard, and as a more accessible, practical alternative for those who wouldn’t choose the equivalent of a maths A level. The period just before students enter the world of work and face key decisions around student debt and accommodation is a vital one for financial education but currently a space where there is no requirement for it.
“We also heard a strong backing case for starting financial education at primary school when pupils start to understand the concepts of managing money, and because young children need educating about the financial risks and pressures they are being exposed to online from an early age.
“There is a compelling case for including different elements of financial education across citizenship, PSHE and maths in secondary school, owing to its relevance in so many facets of our lives. But schools also need support to deliver it effectively. That’s why we recommend that schools appoint a financial education coordinator to ensure coherence across the three subjects. DfE should provide guidance to help schools navigate the patchwork of educational materials to choose from, and there needs to be enhanced training for new teachers and their senior colleagues, including career development opportunities.
“The Government should take pride in having introduced financial education into the national curriculum, and with that in mind, we recommend that England and each of the devolved administrations should take part in the PISA surveys on financial education going forward so we can benchmark our performance in such an important area against our peers.”