What Money Mmeans Showcase
These highlights from projects in different local authorities showcase how What Money Means works with primary schools
Financial education for the financially excluded
Red Lane School in Bolton has been meeting the challenge of teaching personal finance education head on by looking at the specific needs of children from a range of backgrounds. With the help of Bolton Literacy Trust, teachers and children explored family finance through themes of food shopping
Children learnt about essentials versus luxuries, where money comes from and goes to, and what banks and credit unions do. The work has continued with families by looking at healthy diets which don't break the bank.
What people said:
- "Teaching personal finance to such diverse children means that you can't take anything for granted" (Ross Peacock, assistant head teacher)
- "Parents' confidence about how to manage their money has really increased and demonstrated to their children how important it is to learn about money in school" (Sue Hoey, Bolton Literacy Trust)
Mapping money into the curriculum
In Cambridgeshire 21 teachers from 18 primary schools have put together an innovative framework for including financial teaching in mathematics and PSHE education. The framework centres around a series of questions that work across year groups under the headings of financial understanding, competence and responsibility. Questions range from "What is money?" at the foundation stage to "What is debit and credit?" In years 5 and 6. The framework encourages a lively dialogue with pupils and helps teachers plan their lessons.
What people said:
- "This is real education, asking real questions that relate to real life. The framework is like the dough that holds the currants - the learning activities - together." (Jackie Harvey, project adviser)
Involving volunteers in financial education
In Coventry the local authority and schools have teamed with local volunteers from HSBC to help teachers plan and teach personal finance, drawing on financial sector expertise. Volunteers taking part in the training were relieved to learn that they are not expected to stand in front of a class and teach but rather to support teachers in teaching personal finance and enhance their lessons with practical examples from the world of finance. The training model and accompanying resources are now available for other local authorities to use.
What people said:
- "A lot of teachers don't feel confident about teaching money matters. By bringing them together with volunteers from the financial sector we help them put the pieces of the jigsaw together" (Sandra Shipton, Coventry Local Authority)
- "A large part of the training is about what's going on in primary schools today. They are completely different places than they were 20 years ago and volunteers really need to know about the educational context" (Marie Dallas, Coventry Local Authority)
Establishing children's understanding of money
Essex Local Authority has developed a 'draw and write' project where young children express their attitudes and ideas about money through pictures and stories. This gives a very clear picture of their financial knowledge and helps teachers develop lessons to move their ideas on.
Around 400 children took part, up to year 6. They were asked questions such as "How can adults pay for shopping if they don't have cash or change?" - many knew what credit cards were but were very unclear as to how they worked. Everyone learnt a great deal from the project, which has been developed for use in every classroom.
What people said:
- "Understanding children's understanding of money is key to teaching them more about it. Everyone undertaking this research needs to respect what children tell us" (Jenny McWhirter, adviser to Essex Local Authority)
Turning money into poetry
On the outskirts of Hartlepool, Fens primary school is the largest primary in the area. It had already held a money awareness week, but staff wanted to look at the subject creatively and without it automatically being about mathematics. As a result they engaged poet Andy Croft to explore the vocabulary around money with pupils and get whole classes writing as a group.
The six-day poetry project explored the difference between needs and wants, and the concept of value, which is not always about cost. Engaging young children in such a fun and exciting project meant learning about money took root far more effectively than a more conventional approach to financial capability teaching.
What people said:
- "I would love to do this again in other schools as it really captivated the children's imaginations. Do I think literacy is a way to bring personal finance education into primary schools? Absolutely" (Andy Croft, writer)
- "All of us learnt new things about money that we can use later on" (pupil at Fens school)
Family learning in finance
"Is a pair of designer trainers a want or a need?" asks Hertfordshire Local Authority mathematics adviser Fran Bradshaw as part of a family learning session in Hertfordshire. The four-week course - designed to help children and parents learn about money management together - also looked at savings and interest, security versus risk, and making informed choices about how money is spent or saved. The teaching materials developed for the project are now available through the What Money Means resources at this website.
What they said:
- "Some parents have been reluctant to engage in the sessions as the whole issue of finance is still so emotive. But where they have attended, the benefits for parents and children have been excellent in increasing confidence about how to manage money more effectively" (Fran Bradshaw, adviser to Hertfordshire Local Authority)
Financial capability and mathematics
Schools in the Medway area were encouraged to take up team challenges where children had to explore the financial issues involved in different scenarios and present their findings to a 'panel of experts'. One team posed as travel agents and researched and presented the costs of different holidays - including insurance, flights, accommodation options and even the cost of parking at the airport.
Meanwhile pupils at Stoke Community School on the Hoo Peninsula decided to become entrepreneurs as their team challenge, developing products to sell at their summer fair. The head teacher became the Dragon's Den of the primary sector, listening to their business plans and deciding whether or not to allocate teams money from school funds to develop and sell their products.
What people said:
- "the varied methodology teachers came up with showed that you really can be creative in teaching personal finance" (Bradley Wray, pfeg consultant)
- "When I told the teams they had been successful in securing their funds - all based on the financial skills they had demonstrated - you could hear the cheers on the other side of the Medway" (Carolyn Cassettari, head teacher, Stoke Community School)
Managing a class budget
Halley Primary School in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets is in a high crime area and learning about money and the impact financial decisions have on our lives is a crucial part of the pupils' education. As part of a programme of finance teaching around the theme of 'me, school, my classroom and the wider world', children in year 3 were allocated a classroom budget of £60 to buy the stationary and supplies they needed to use in their lessons.
Children researched the items they wanted based on real prices and developed budgets. With £1.11 in credit at the end they were confident, until being told that they had to finance the school picnic with the balance. As a result they learned about debit and credit, and decided to have a toy sale to help pay back £20 they borrowed from the school.
What they said:
- "It was a good exercise in defining what is an essential and what is a 'nice to have' as children started off with the fanciest pens possible and then realised that they had a budget to meet" (Mich Maflin, teacher)
- "It's the best thing we've ever done in school" (year 3 pupil, Halley primary school)
