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Financial Education Compulsory For Schools?

UK Government to consider making financial education a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

Earlier this week, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Financial Education for Young People, which has the support of 226 MPs and Peers, issued a report calling for compulsory money lessons.

Pictured is Daniel Britton from The Financial Fairy Tales with Martin Lewis and Carol Vorderman at the House of Commons Launch. Daniel contributed evidence to the enquiry based upon his extensive experience with financial education from primary schools to young adults.

One of the main recommendations is teaching split between maths and Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) studies.

Government pledge

Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools, said: “I think we’re all in agreement about the importance of good quality financial education. It is true that young people are growing up in a materialistic world that they are not prepared for.”

Gibb added the Government said the APPG report’s proposals will be included in a review of the national curriculum.

He also confirmed PSHE won’t be compulsory in the curriculum but it is possible for elements of it to be compulsory, of which financial education could be one part.

Earlier today, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, writing for MoneySavingExpert.com, said young people must be taught about money matters.

There was also much consensus in the debate that including financial education as part of maths could make maths a more attractive subject a move championed by TV’s Carol Vorderman

Conservative MP Justin Tomlinson, chairman of the APPG, led the calls for financial education to be made compulsory, and to be taught at both primary and secondary schools.

Tomlinson said the next generation needs to be equipped with the key skills to understand issues such as how to compare energy tariffs and how to calculate APR and interest rates.

He said: “We have a duty to equip people to make informed decisions, so they can understand the implications of what they are doing based on their own circumstances.”

Widespread support

Conservative MP Andrew Percy, chairman of the APPG inquiry, said at the debate: “This is about real maths skills, about using real life experiences to support the drive for ensuring our young people enter this complex financial world in a position to make better decisions.”

Labour MP Jenny Chapman said: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com creator, says: “In many ways, this was Parliamentary discussion at its best. Of the members who were there, many noted the importance of the e-petition and the number of constituents who contacted them who said it was important.

“This is by no means the end of the battle but it is a firm foundation that slaps the campaign into ministers’ faces and leaves them in no uncertain terms that unless this is taken seriously, not just the signatories of the petition, but many MPs, will be on their backs.”

Download the full report from the pfeg website here

Compulsory Maths Study Post 16 – Just Doesn’t Add Up

Carol Vorderman, the government’s new weapon against poor arithmetic, has said children should be made to study maths until they leave school at 18.

The Government asked the TV presenter to review maths teaching standards in England, and her findings – published today – call for ‘major alterations’ to how the subject is taught.

Carol says 22 per cent of pupils aged 16-19 are ‘functionally innumerate’, with no basic grasp of maths and arithmetic, and that it is ‘unacceptable’ that just 15 per cent of pupils take maths after their GCSEs at 16.

She says that when the full-time education age raises to 18 by 2015, all pupils should have compulsory maths lesson until they leave school.

She writes: ‘Employers complain at the low level of new employees’ mathematical competence and now many hold numeracy courses,’ claiming that the ‘failed system’ that lets students give up all maths at 16 ‘is against common practice in most industrialised nations and there is an urgent need for change’.

She also claims that children should be taught personal finance to stop them falling into debt when they are older, stating: ‘Without major alterations in maths education quickly, we risk our future prosperity.’
Carol insists her plans will not make maths harder or lessons more gruelling, but will instead make the teaching ‘better’ and the ‘subject matter more suitable.’

Education Secretary Michael Gove said Carol’s report ‘will help.’

At the Financial Fairy Tales we applaud the support for personal finance to be taught in schools, but compulsory maths – just doesn’t add up.

How many times as an adult have you used calculus or trigonometry? Those are topics in the pre-16 GCSE curriculum, so goodness knows what theoretical content would be taught post 16. Of course higher studies of Maths are essential for some careers such as engineers or computer programmers, but making it compulsory for all is a mistake.

Better to make the teaching and learning of maths more relevant and more fun. That way both results and take up rates will improve.