Education strategy and policy

Financial capability - the external context for pfeg's work

Financial Capability: the Government’s Long-Term Approach was a consultation document published in January 2007. It states that “all children and young people have access to a planned and coherent programme of personal finance education, so that they leave school with the skills and confidence to manage their money well”.

Helping you make the most of your money was a joint action plan from HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) which followed up the consultation on the long-term approach. The government provided an extra £11.5 million for a three-year personal finance programme in schools, with a particular emphasis placed on primary schools. The programme, My Money, was succesfully delivered by pfeg and completed in 2011 having met or exceeded its targets.  

Economics, business and enterprise education 2011 is an Ofsted survey report following visits by inspectors to primary and secondary schools and colleges and outlines the case for ensuring provision of financial capability for all pupils.  

There have been several recent reviews of financial education provision in schools and elsewhere across Europe by the European Commission and across the wider Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area, covering many countries. Financial capability will be included in the 2012 round of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests administered to over 65 countries.

The National Curriculum for 5-16 year olds is being reviewed. In December 2011 a report by the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum has published initial findings. The Secretary of State has announced that the planned timetable for the introduction of the new curriculum has been changed. Instead of new curricula for English, mathematics, science and PE being introduced separately, the new curriculum for all subjects will be introduced in September 2014.  

The report gives a set of educational and philosophical principles, a clear steer on which subjects will be in the statutory curriculum, ages and stages and issues in relation to assessment.

The Expert Panel recommended that schools should be expected to contribute, in a balanced way, to development in four domains.

The first of these is:

• ‘Economic – the education of pupils is expected to contribute to their own future economic wellbeing and that of the nation or region…’

The Government’s ambition is to reduce unnecessary prescription, bureaucracy and central control throughout the education system pfeg will offer tailored advice and guidance when the National Curriculum is published.
 

There is also a parallel review of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education undertaken by the Department for Education (DfE) which is expected to make recommendations about the teaching of financial capability. In November 2011 pfeg has made a submission to this review stating that personal finance education should be firmly embedded in any PSHE education programmes of study from 5 to 16.

The current position is as follows.

Primary curriculum

For children up to and including the age of five, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework is under review by Dame Clare Tickell. While parents and other carers at home are the main source of support, it is also imperative that the support and education provided in pre-school settings is of a high quality. In 2008 the EYFS was introduced with the intention of providing a framework to deliver consistent and high quality environments for all children in pre-school settings, recognising the importance of this period in a child’s life. Personal finance education should begin early and when children are learning about the world around them there is plenty of scope to learn about money.

Until the new National Curriculum orders become statutory, schools can seek advice and help from pfeg on how to plan personal finance education within their current curriculum. Please contact the pfeg Advisory Service directly.

Secondary curriculum

The curriculum for young people aged 11-19 was extensively reviewed from 2005 and a new curriculum for this age group has been in place in schools since September 2008. While the National Curriculum is under review this curriculum should still be used for planning.

Financial capability guidance from the Department for Education (formerly DCSF) on 'Financial Capability in the Secondary Curriculum: Key Stages 3 and 4 ' is now in circulation.  The guidance is for secondary school senior leaders, subject coordinators, local authority staff and other adults who work with secondary schools who need to understand what financial capability is and how it can be built into planned and coherent programmes of personal finance education across the curriculum.  It is also for secondary teachers who need to plan units of work, events and activities that contribute to the school’s overall planned programme and to deliver these both within and outside the classroom.

In October 2008 Ministers announced their intention to make PSHE education statutory and set up the Macdonald Review to investigate the most effective way of achieving this. The review's report, published in April 2009, recommended that PSHE education should become a compulsory foundation subject in secondary schools and a compulsory area of learning in primary schools.  pfeg supports these recommendations and agrees that the issues raised by Macdonald about successfully embedding PSHE education in schools are the same as those for embedding financial capability.  Whilst the legislation failed in the period immediately before the last General Election it remains pfeg’s view that financial capability should have statutory force and be included in the National Curriculum.

While personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is under review by the DfE, the two programmes of study for KS3 & KS4, one for personal wellbeing and one for economic wellbeing and financial capability are still the best starting point for planning and delivery of personal finance education. Further guidance on the subject can be found from the PSHE Education page. 

General policy on children’s wellbeing

Every Child Matters (ECM) was introduced by The Children’s Act in 2004 and states that every child, whatever their background or circumstances, should have the support they need to:

• be healthy
• stay safe
• enjoy and achieve
• make a positive contribution
• achieve economic wellbeing.

Financial capability can contribute to each of these outcomes, particularly the last one.

There is no longer a statutory requirement that schools show how they are making provision for Every Child Matters. In addition, ECM will no longer form the basis of Ofsted inspections, but it remains an important plank of The Children’s Act (2004).