How well do you think financial education is taught in schools?

AndyBSG

securityguy wrote: »

The same argument applies, a fortiori, to benefits. They change. All the time. Teaching people about them is pointless, because by the time they (say) have children, it will be completely different.

The same argument could be used on almost any subject.

Teach kids Windows 10? Pointless, by the time they leave school Windows 11 will be out.

I remember learning about stocks and shares at schools in economics and it was all about share certificates but nowadays you have ADR's, warrrants, unit trusts OEIC's and millions of other investments and share certificates themselves have all been replaced by things like CRESt and SWIFT. So, was my time spent learning about stocks and shares wasted?

I would hazard a guess that 99% of school leavers who are only 2 years away from being able to apply for credit don't know a thing about front loaded or compound interest, probably don't really understand what APR is or the effects defaults, CCJ's and Bankruptcy could have on their financial future.

I'd also say things like that are more likely to apply the majority of school leavers and prepare them more for life in the real world than trigonometry ever would.

If my kids aren't learning about these sort of things at school then i'm lucky enough to work in finance and also have personal debt experience so will be making sure I educate them on the pitfalls but not all parents will be able to do that.

duchy

This post begs the obvious question - Why didn't you educate your own children in financial management ?

Whilst parents who have poor financial knowledge don't have the wherewithall to teach their kids- If you have the knowledge -and think you have the teaching and communication skills to teach it to other people's children......Why wouldn't you have taught your own ? Especially if you believe "think all kids should be taught this "

Is this the root of the problem that so many parents simply t think educating their own children is not "their job" ?

Careyfairy3 wrote: »

I'm so glad I'm reading this as since I sold my business 2 years ago I've been thinking what I could do with my time and love the idea of going into schools to teach basic financial terms to kids.

I think these are such important life skills and would probably help the economy in years to come!


I also have 2 teenage sons, one of which left school last year and hasn't got a clue about any kind of financial basic information.


I'm very much on the ball when it comes to my income and outgoings and think all kids should be taught this ready for when they have to stand on their own two feet and possibly have a family of their own.


Looking forward to hear how this progresses.

girlsmum

why is everything left to the schools to teach about life skills? with all the extra bits that schools are expected to cover what with internet safety, sex education, knife crime, Radicalisation etc etc there is no time in the curriculum to do anything regularly. I work in a school and they do have 1 day every half term off curriculum which covers most of these areas, different sessions cover different subjects, i am sure financial Education will come up at some point.

carlamarie_2

my children are still at primary school, last year my son who was 8 at the time, had a money week in his year.


all the children were given a £5 budget per day and they had a catalogue of things they could spend the 'money' on, this ranged from basic things such as pens, calculator, chair, paper to more luxorious items such as playtime,balls and skipping ropes, reading books, orange juice (rather than water), buns etc. all with different prices. they were given a 'bank book' where they could save any remaining budget to spend at the end of the week.


on the Monday all the children stood up or sat on the floor to do their work, which was done in pencil (at the school, they have to earn a license to use a pen, s going back to pencil was 'for babies' in their eyes) they drank water, their reading time was spent sitting still and not being allowed to talk. but they had playtime outside with balls etc buns and orange juice.


on the second day the majority had all the school supplies, including paint, calculators and pe equipment, yet they had no playtime or reading books. on that particular day there was no need for pe equipment, calculators etc and they sat unused.


as the week went on they learnt to check their schedule to see what school supplies they needed for the day and budget accordingly to ensure the day went smoothly and they had every thing they needed. buns were given up for chairs etc.


at the end of the week any money banked could be exchanged for rubbers, pencils etc to bring home.


us parents were sent home a report of our own childs 'spending' and the class as an whole. it was quite interesting. and I do believe it has helped my son in his spending of his pocket money at home. he is more cautious of spending it all on a something little and stupid which would be quickly forgotten about and often will save his money for something more worthwhile.

thriftylass

Why would schools have to do that, same with home economics. My parents gave me pocket money and I had to keep a book. Learnt about ingoings/outgoings/saving. My mum taught me to cook etc. More complex things like interest are covered in school - percentages. Going into debt is covered too - negative numbers. I think it's just common sense that is missing and self control (guilty myself). If you earn £1300 and try to get a loan that cost you £200 a month on top of all your other spending (simply adding rent, food, bill) simple maths should be all you need.

thriftylass

duchy wrote: »

This post begs the obvious question - Why didn't you educate your own children in financial management ?

Whilst parents who have poor financial knowledge don't have the wherewithall to teach their kids- If you have the knowledge -and think you have the teaching and communication skills to teach it to other people's children......Why wouldn't you have taught your own ? Especially if you believe "think all kids should be taught this "

Is this the root of the problem that so many parents simply t think educating their own children is not "their job" ?

Totally agree. If a parent is aware of their kids problems budgeting etc they obviously know a thing or two so teach them.

TBagpuss

Its a while since I left school but I don't recall we were ever taught anything at all about finances.

I do think that it should be part of the curriculum, as while ideally it should be taught by parents, many have no idea themselves. I don't think it needs necessaruily to include detailed information about tax and NI rates or benefits entitlements, but basics such as how to budget, how simple and compound interest work, the fact that loans have to be paid back and that yes, you still have to pay your car loan even if you write off the car would all be useful.

I do think aLso that parents SHOULD think about how and whatthey are teaching their children - both by example and by talking to them.

When my siblings and I were growing up, we used to get pocket money, (later a clothing allowance). We learned that you can't have things you can't afford, as (other than ocassional treats) we got fixed amounts of pocket money and that was it. We learned that you can save up if you want something more expensive.
As we each reached the age of 11, we stopped getting weekly pocket money and started getting a clothing allowance instead, which had to cover eveything (clothes, books, treats) except for school clothes and shoes. We recieved the money once every 3 months, so we then learned how to budget it.

We were allowed to make our own mistakes, so for instance, my sister decided she wanted a particualrly pair of shoes, so thats what she spent her allowance on. Which meant she couldn't buy anything else that season, becuase she'd blown the lot on those shoes.
i think it helped, as we all got into the habit of planning, or budgetting what we wanted and what we needed, and we did it as teens, with small amounts of money, rather than as adults.

In a similar vein, when I wanted to go on my school ski trip, my parents agreed to lend me my half of the cost (the other half theygave me as a combined birthday and christmas present) I had to get a job to cover my share of the cost, and I was paying for it long after the trip took place. It was a very useful lesson, I would never now go into debt for anything which was 'fun' rather than essential, and I am very glad that I learned that lesson at 17, and with a couple of hundred pounds, not with a much bigger debt (with interest and other charges!) at a later age.

but I don't think that lessons in school have much effect if paretns don't also teach by example.

I remember at a very young age wanting a specifc toy or game which a friend had, and my parnts saying no, we can't afford it, and explaining that friend was an only child and both paretns went out to work, and the I was one of 3 siblings and only one parent went out to work, so there was not as much money spare for toys. I think that kind of age-appropriate explanatin can help cheildren to start to learn about and understand fiancial realities

Rev

Schools seem completely uninterested in teaching children skills than will benefit them in life. Budgeting. Cooking and cleaning. How to manage money etc etc.

As far as I can tell they only seem interested in their statistics. The school I went to hasn't changed in 20 years (all my younger family go there now). If you're particularly smart and will get great exam results thus help with the schools statistics then you're given all the help you could want.

If you actually need help but you're exam results probably won't be that great, IE you won't help make the school look any better then you're left to rot and given 0 help.

A lot of children need practical life advice not a C in geography.

Let's be honest the vast majority of school leaving kids will get a menial job that pays minimum wage or there about. I don't mean that in a negative way (a job is a job) but being realistic for every student that heads off, gets a degree and a great job, there are 10 that end up in the local super market on minimum wage.


Which would be of more help to those that don't get well paid jobs? Practical skills on how to manage finances and not end up in a complete mess. Or knowing how to tell one type of triangle from another?

As far as I can tell school does very little to actually prepare kids for life.

Ideally it would be up to the parents. But quite a lot of those don't have a single clue either.

audigex

There's absolutely no financial-focused education I'm aware of, or at least there wasn't when I left school 10 years ago

There absolutely needs to be a focus on mortgages, debt, how tax/NI work, budgeting etc

Pythagoras and trigonometry are all well and good - and I'm one of those who use algebra daily, but the fact is that 90% of our school maths lessons are aimed at the relatively small percentage of kids who will enter maths/science careers... and let's be honest, those kids are the ones able to learn both financial and advanced mathematics.

Teach financials first, then teach the brighter kids and the ones with an interest/ability in science about the more advanced concepts... because at the end of the day, everyone needs to know about tax/rent/mortgages/debt, not everyone needs to know how to reverse the equations of motion.

I don't subscribe to the "I spent 5 years learning algebra and have never used it, so we should stop teaching it" crap, I think it's important to teach the basics of most things - I've never played the guitar since school either, but it was interesting to have an idea how it works... but clearly there needs to be better focus and prioritisation

mgdavid wrote: »

Walk before run.
Let's have them all able to read, write and count first.

Absurd argument...

80+% of school leavers are fully literate and numerate... are you seriously suggesting we ignore everything other than increasing that to the (entirely unrealistic) level of 100%?

We can do both at the same time... clearly we shouldn't be trying to teach compound interest to kids struggling with addition, but most children are more than capable of understanding financial maths.

Rev

missbiggles1 wrote: »

There's plenty of sex education in school but we still have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe!

If students don't understand a basic concept like percentages (which definitely is taught) then personal finance will go over their heads as well as thinking it to be irrelevant to them.

I respectfully disagree.

Maths has always been my worst subject. I see numbers and my brain just freezes. Even simple maths will confuse me. Percentages are far beyond my ability.

Yet I manage to run a house without amassing debt of any kind, all my bills are paid on time etc.

I have a basic bank account and if I can't afford it I don't buy it. Simple. Maths didn't teach me that.

I still can't do simple maths and numbers still baffle me.