Iona Bain
Personal finance education has received much a needed funding boost after a leading body admits there has been “limited understanding” of how best to teach children about money.
The Money Advice Service and the Education Endowment Fund announced the launch of a £700,000 aimed at exploring the most effective approaches to the subject on Friday.
MAS, which is funded by a levy on the financial services sector, said there was still a “limited understanding of which approaches are most effective in improving children’s ability to manage their money both now and in adulthood”.
This is the organisation’s first foray into financial education after it shelved plans to launch a specialist Young Money Advice Service shortly after launch in 2011 (as revealed exclusively here on Y Money Y).
It added: “Teachers and schools need access to information about what works, as well as the link between developing money management skills and educational attainment.”
The fund will be used to trial and “independently evaluate” different strategies for teaching children about money management. There are three different rounds of funding on offer, including one targeted at disadvantaged children specifically. Independent providers are encouraged to submit a proven strategy that can be scaled up to teach children across England by 1 October.
MAS chief executive Caroline Rookes suggested the project marked a new dawn for MAS following questions about its effectiveness and financial management.
This Post Has 2 Comments
It is great to see MAS publicly supporting financial education for children. From my experience schools still have a long way to go and any help is good.
This really is fantastic news for those who care about ‘what works’ in financial education for young people. At MyBnk we’ve developed a finely tuned monitoring and evaluation unit measuring the impact of our workshops in schools, with base and endlines of pupils and teachers alongside independent assessment
The time has come to properly fund effective financial education for young people – this initiative is brings us one step closer.