MSE News: Financial education to be compulsory in schools

Former_MSE_Helen

"Financial education will form a part of the compulsory national curriculum in England from September 2014..."

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Financial education to be compulsory in schools




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McKneff

That is absolutely great news.

I hope it involves basic knowledge in the tax system, it amazes me that so many people have so little knowledge of this....

Perelandra

Aargh! There goes my comparative advantage!

Good news. Wonder if there will there be exams on it too?

Totality

Fantastic news, and well done Martin!

Pincher

"It means financial education will form part of citizenship for 11-16-year-olds and maths for 5-14-year-olds, and will be taught in all 'maintained' schools in England which must follow the curriculum."

So those who can never pass the exams will be executed or deported? Re-introduce slavery so they belong to a master who will take care of them since they cannot be trusted with their own bank accounts?

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Great news and well done to everyone that made the change happen.

One interesting paragraph:

In secondary school, finance will be taught in maths through problem-solving, ratios, proportions and rates of change, but not in probability.

We're awaiting precise details on how financial education in maths differs from the current curriculum. We will update this news story as soon as we hear anything.

Well one way might be by including probability, and by a massive focus on the teaching of the effect of multiplication of powers as in plotting compound interest scenarios like Student Loans e.g. the use of spreadsheets to calculate sundry "What If" outcomes.

And I agree with McKneff, it might help if schoolchildren understood the tax system and the difference between an outstanding debt with their name on it and a randomly variable tax on their future expectations of wealth. That is only if they dare think about getting higher education of course, thereby becoming knowledgeable enough to really understand their plight into the unknown! Or are we only saying that higher education is for those who can stand the sight of suffering and seeing it right through to the end of the line ... why am I thinking 'abattoir'? The chop comes much sooner than most expect in such places ... do excuse my cynicism this once please ...

But anyway, well done to everyone who has worked so hard to get this onto the curriculum.

Pincher

TurnUpForTheBooks wrote: »

Well one way might be by including probability, and by a massive focus on the teaching of the effect of multiplication of powers as in plotting compound interest scenarios like Student Loans e.g. the use of spreadsheets to calculate sundry "What If" outcomes.

Set up a Casino, and get them to lose £50 of their own pocket money.

dondayesta

I don't honestly think there is that much to celebrate. The National Curriculum already includes a certain amount of financial education in both maths and citizenship. It seems to me that the government has merely restated existing provisions in an attempt to keep everybody happy. There is no sign that they are going to offer "approved qualification" status to any of the free-standing finance qualifications that have recently fallen into disfavour.

mattytun

Well done great news....:T

Dunroamin

Well, if it's as effective as compulsory sex education it'll be a waste of everybody's time, given that we have the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe.

Caddyman

Welcome news, but 30 years too late in my opinion. I say 30 years because when I was 14, I along with at least 10 of my peers were removed from mainstream maths at the school I attended because we were unable to cope with the then maths syllabus. We were effectively 'guinea pigs' for a two year pilot course in financial management. Instead of learning about tangents, cosines, logarithms and anything else beyond my mathematical understanding which I haven't knowingly used in my adult lifetime, we learned how to operate a bank account, how to manage our money, plan for a retirement etc. It was the best two years of my educational life. I ended up in a job with a final salary pension scheme, I'm now semi-retired at 45, have my own property and I have zero debt. Something obviously worked!