pfeg Press Release: On budget day Ed Balls and Martin Lewis stress the importance of personal finance education in schools
Source: pfeg
24 Mar 10
As the Government sets the nation’s budget, Schools Secretary Ed Balls and money saving expert Martin Lewis highlighted the importance of young people developing the skills to manage their own budgets and be savvy consumers.
On a day when the entire nation is focused on finance, the conference for educational specialists and local authority representatives follows the commitment that all pupils from the age of 5 to 16 will be taught about handling money, savings and financial skills, as part of the new compulsory PSHE curriculum.
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls, money saving expert Martin Lewis and pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) are hosting the conference, Pocket Money to Pensions: Helping young people become financially capable, in central London on budget day. Ed Balls also launched My Money Week 2010. The week of activities, part of the Government’s My Money programme, will run from the Monday 28 June to Sunday 4 July and is aimed at all primary and secondary state schools in England. The week offers schools fun and innovative ways of incorporating personal finance education into their curriculum. Examples of activities include schools organising fetes, school banks, and workshops to prepare students for independent living.
As well as young people sharing their views on money at the conference, new tools for teachers are also being launched to help them implement the change to the curriculum. Both Ed Balls and Martin Lewis will take questions from the audience and share their vision for the future of the personal finance education.
The Schools Secretary will also take the opportunity to recognise three Local Authorities, Gloucestershire, St Helens and Lancashire, as Centres of Excellence for their implementation of personal finance education in schools. There will be presentations from The Office of Fair Trading, Financial Services Authority and pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) addressing best practice and resources available to support educational professionals.
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, said:
"On a day when we are all thinking about the economic future of our country, it is vital that we also think about how we can best equip the next generation so they leave school with a basic understanding of how to manage their money sensibly.
“These young people are our future and will be making important financial decisions in years to come. We need to make sure they have the right information and are prepared for the complexities of today's modern world so that they can give security to their families and are equipped for their future careers.
“It's really important that we teach our children to become savvy consumers and that they learn about money matters like pensions, responsible saving and effective money management. That's why I've announced Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, which includes economic wellbeing and financial capability, will be compulsory for all children from September 2011.
“Also, more than five million Child Trust Funds vouchers have now been issued and I believe these will also help children learn about savings and bank accounts.”
Money saving expert Martin Lewis, said:
“For twenty years we’ve educated our youth into debt when they go to university but never about debt. From next year, thankfully that changes, when personal finance education becomes a compulsory part of the curriculum.
“I first realised how important this was when a TV programme challenged me to take a class of ordinary teenagers for a day to try and turn them into junior money saving experts – the end result was the 12 pupils went home and saved their families £5,050.
“As well as giving me a new admiration for teachers, two things jumped out. First that financial education in schools is vital and second maybe some adults could do with it too. After all, if their children can save them so much money, not everything’s right.
“My teen cash class guide uses the plans from that day; three money smart lessons that parents can use to help educate their children.”
Wendy van den Hende, Chief Executive pfeg said:
“pfeg is delighted to be hosting the conference with the DCSF and Martin Lewis. It presents a perfect opportunity to highlight good practice and raise the profile of personal finance education. It is wonderful to have partners so committed to the quality implementation of personal finance education into the national curriculum.”
Ends
For further information please contact Marina Mello on the details below.
Note to Editors
This press notice relates to 'England'
• The conference will be held at The Northumberland, 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5BY from 10:00am – 2:00pm on Wednesday 24th March.
• The chair of the conference will be Jan Campbell, Chair of the PSHE Association.
• The programme will include inputs from pfeg, the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading to showcase what these partners are doing to increase consumer awareness and financial understanding. • Martin Lewis will deliver a master class with the My Money Young Advisors’ Group and there be a question and answer session between delegates, Ed Balls MP and Martin Lewis.
• The FinCAP is an innovative online tool produced by My Money for assessing pupils’ personal finance knowledge, skills and attitudes at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Each key stage assessment is presented as an engaging interactive photo story set over five chapters that will assess financial knowledge, skills and attitudes. It provides detailed reporting to teachers to inform and assess teaching. The FinaCAP will be available to all teachers online on Friday 26 March 2010.
PSHE curriculum Starting at primary school through to secondary school, pupils will learn age appropriate information:
• 5 -7 year olds could be taught how to identify different notes and coins, and how to save money for example in a piggybank
• 7-11 year olds could learn about managing a bank account and savings account, and about budgeting
• 11-14 year olds might have lessons on how credit cards, mortgages and loans work
