Financial education: ‘we have a fractured system’

interactive investor welcomes All-Party Parliamentary Group on financial education for young people report, published today.

interactive investor, the UK’s second-largest investment platform for private investors, was proud to contribute to the enquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on financial education for young people.

Their report, with a forward from Jerome Mayhew MP and Sharon Davies, chief executive of Young Enterprise and APPG Secretariat, is published today, and ii was delighted to attend the Westminster launch and be listed as a contributor.

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interactive investor fully supports all the recommendations in today’s report, and today comments on some of the findings that most strike a chord, given its many years of working with some of the UK’s most imaginative money teachers through the interactive investor Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Award.

Richard Wilson, CEO, interactive investor, says: “With alarming clarity, today’s report shows that we have a fractured system. Confusion prevails around what is required of schools, and after finally getting financial education on the curriculum in England in 2014, progress has been squandered. 

“We have always said that financial education is being led by a small number of trailblazers who inherently ‘get’ its importance. Often these teachers are from some of the UK’s most deprived areas. They don’t need an All-Party report to tell them what they already know. But the government does, and today’s report is a wake-up call. Let’s give financial education the focus it deserves – it could be key to the levelling up agenda.

“From teaching kids about money lessons through the medium of hair extensions, through to running drop-in sessions for parents, we see incredible examples of teachers making a difference every year. We not only want to see excellence recognised, but we also want it to be the standard, not the exception.”

Summary of the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)

Structural 

1. Raise awareness of existing curriculum requirements and the importance of financial education through a national communications campaign targeted at teachers and led by the Department for Education. 

2. Enhance the ambitions of the current national strategy for financial wellbeing by aiming for all school-aged children to receive financial education by 2030 beyond the current target of two million more children. 

3. Introduce financial education on to the national curriculum for all primary-aged children across the UK and ensure that provision at both secondary and primary is funded and delivered in real-world contexts to make it engaging. 

4. Commission Ofsted to undertake a series of deep dives into financial education provision.

 5. Conduct further research into how financial capability outside formal education could be better supported and how this could further equip parents and carers to support children’s financial education. 

Practical 

6. Commission Ofsted to map where financial literacy goals align with existing points in the curriculum. 

7. Improve the availability and accessibility of financial education training to all teachers and ensure this is appropriately resourced by the Department for Education. 

8. Enhance the awareness and accessibility of existing resources and support through improved signposting, to be led by the Youth Financial Capability Group (YFCG) in collaboration with the Money and Pensions Service. 

9. Produce more contextualised resources to ensure all children receive a high-quality financial education and consider how the Quality Mark can further incentivise the creation of more tailored resources. 

10. Develop and disseminate further guidance to better support teachers to navigate challenging and sensitive conversations around financial education.

Consumer views

interactive investor has received representations from UK adults about the importance of financial education at school, and these have been unsolicited, supplementary verbatims  as part of its 2022 Great British Retirement Survey. Comments included:

“I strongly feel that we should all leave school with a thorough grounding in pensions, investment, and finance. I didn’t and have taught myself, which in turn means that I have made errors as part of the necessary process of education.” 

“Our grandchildren in the UK are leaving school having received no education on taxation, finances, the financial system or basic personal savings and investment. How can we as a nation expect people to be financially savvy when the basic structures are not in place from an early age?” 

“I worked in investment/financial planning for 30+ years so I’m confident about my future. I think we need to invest more in educating the wider population starting in education. Perhaps a finance module as part of GCSE Maths.”

“Financial education should start in schools to demystify the jargon and have everyone understanding investing, compound interest. The difference between investing and saving. The importance of having your money working for you so you have more choices in life.” 

“Too many people simply aren’t aware of the benefits of different investments and savings vehicles; the state of financial education is dire and needs to be addressed, to give more people the chance of a reasonable life in retirement.”

More information on ii's Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Award can be found here.

Source on financial resilience: https://www.fincap.org.uk/en/articles/resilience-task-force