Finance Education
What is Financial Education?
Financial education is a programme of study that aims to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their money well. High quality teaching ensures that learners grow to understand their attitude to risk, and become aware of their own behaviour and emotions when making financial decisions. It is also achieved through applied learning, for example as a context for teaching mathematics, where students grasp mathematical concepts through real-life scenarios.
Why do we need to teach Financial Education?
- The average seven year old already has a mobile phone.
- By the time they are ten, children are likely to be shopping online using their parents’ credit or debit cards.
- Just 5% of UK adults believe that young people are currently leaving school with the financial skills and knowledge they need to manage their finances.
- Despite the arrival of new technology such as online and mobile banking, 60% of UK adults believe that managing money is more difficult now than it was 10 years ago, with only 12% finding that it had become easier.
- The shift towards an increasingly cashless society, and more financial products and services than ever before, is making it harder for young people to navigate their personal finances.
- Nearly half (42%) of 14-25 year olds cannot interpret the difference between being in credit and overdrawn on a bank statement.
Foundation
| Key questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| What is money? | · To name different coins and notes.
· To understand that people exchange money for goods and services. |
Coin, note, pound, pence, purse, value, total, How much? |
| How can I look after my money? | · To know how we can keep our money safe.
· To understand the consequences of losing money. |
Coin, pound, pence, safe, money box, bank, save, purse, wallet |
| What happens if we don’t have enough money to pay for something? | · To understand how their choices affect them and other people.
· To begin to understand the consequences of having more or less money. |
How much? Price, pay, save, worth, cost |
Year 1
| Big questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| How do we get money? | · To know that there are both regular and irregular sources of money.
· To know that we earn money from doing different jobs. |
Earn, wage, salary, pocket money, chores, reward |
| Why do we use money? | · To talk about the things we have to spend our money on.
· To know some of the essentials that must be paid for. |
Coin, note, cost, spend, afford, bank, need, want |
| How does using my money in different ways make me feel? | · To know my choices affect how I and others might feel.
· To know that we can have different feelings about money. |
Afford, choice, choose, spend, pay, change, stall, total |
Year 2
| Big questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| What’s the difference between something I need and something I want? | · To understand the difference between something I need and something I want.
|
Needs, wants, essentials, most, least |
| What is saving? Where does money go if I save it? | · To know how I can keep my money safe.
· To know that there are different ways to save money. |
Earnings, spending, saving, bank, building society, post office |
| What is charity? | · To know what charities are for and what some might do.
· To know where my money goes if I give to charity. |
Charity, appeal, welfare, donation, fundraising |
Year 3
| Big questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| Can we afford it? | · to understand what is meant by income and expenses and that this has to be considered when deciding what can be afforded.
· To empathise with different viewpoints about what ‘Can we afford it?’ means. |
Income, expenses, wages, benefits, budget, planning, afford |
| Where does our money come from? | · to know that people earn money through work.
· To know that there are other ways to gain money, including benefits. |
Earnings, wages, salary, benefits, gifts, borrow, save |
| How are things different for other people? | · To know that people have similarities and differences in their life experiences.
· To know that similar things can cost different amounts of money in different countries. |
Cost, amount, essentials,, compare, cost of living, currency |
Year 4
| Big questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| Where does our money go? | · To know that there are essential expenses which families have to spend their money on.
· To talk about how they might decide to manage a sum of money. |
Budget, balance, income, expenses, utility bills, savings, essential |
| What happens to money in a savings account? | · To know that there are different ways to save money for the future and the risks involved.
· To understand what happens to money in a savings account. |
Interest, planning, savings, account, debt, cash card |
| What is value for money? | · To know that it is a good idea to compare costs before buying something.
· To understand how to make a comparison of costs and value. |
Value for money, cost, comparison, special offer |
Year 5
| Big questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| Can I keep all the money I earn? | · To know what is deducted from earnings and why.
· To understand what the key deductions are. |
Earnings, deductions, payslip, income tax, national insurance, pension, benefit(s), PAYE |
| What is debt? What is credit? | · To consider the degrees of risk and the possible consequences of borrowing and lending money.
· To differentiate between manageable and unmanageable debt. |
Manageable, unmanageable, predictable, unpredictable, credit, debit, borrow, risk, return |
| Is this a fair choice? | · To know about Fair Trade and what it means.
· To consider the needs of the global environment and the impact of consumer choices. |
Fair Trade, benefit, profit, costs, grower, producer, consumer |
Year 6
| Big questions | Learning objectives | Key vocabulary |
| How much could I earn and what do different people earn? | · To know there is a range of salaries for different jobs.
· To know what is deducted from earnings and why. |
Occupation, earnings, deduction, salary, wages, full/part-time, overtime, cost of living, pay and conditions |
| Is this choice good for me? | · to consider degrees of risk and possible consequences of taking financial risk.
· To understand ‘value for money’. |
Credit card, debit card, budget, expenses, essentials, comparison, consumer |
| How does our money benefit everyone? | · To recognise that financial resources are limited and we need to make choices.
· To know that there are some things we have to pay for through taxation and that we can also choose to give money to charity. |
Deductions, benefit, community, pensions, insurance, goods and services |